Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

The mediation of humanitarianism: towards a research framework

Orgad, Shani and Seu, Bruna (2014) The mediation of humanitarianism: towards a research framework. Communication, Culture & Critique, 7 (1). pp. 6-36. ISSN 1753-9129

[img]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Version
Download (437kB) | Preview

Identification Number: 10.1111/cccr.12036

Abstract

The role of mediated narratives and images of distant suffering in cultivating moral response has provoked lively debate within and outside academia. In particular, since the mid-1990s, in the light of “uncivil wars” and the “crisis of humanitarianism”, studies have sought to address the apparent gap between the mediation of humanitarianism – the intense visibility of humanitarian disasters and distant suffering in the globally mediated space – and the lack of commensurate response - action to alleviate that suffering, specifically by western publics. The paper examines existing research in this area, identifying two central strands, namely philosophically-oriented accounts and empirical studies of text, audience and production. The discussion evaluates their contributions, limitations and lacunas. Based on this critical review, we suggest a research framework that simultaneously builds on and departs from existing work and can help to expand and strengthen a programme of research on the mediation of humanitarianism. This framework highlights the importance of: (1) studying mediated humanitarianism as a multi-sited dialectical process; (2) moving away from prescriptive normativity to studying how the mediation of humanitarianism is experienced, affected and negotiated; and (3) “undoing” despair as the motivation and consequent impulse of critique of the mediation of humanitarianism.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(IS...
Additional Information: © 2014 International Communication Association
Divisions: Media and Communications
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited: 29 Oct 2013 12:03
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 14:54
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/53863

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics