Public discourse narratives: from 'Secret Aid Worker' discontent to shifting power in humanitarian systems.

IF 4.6 Q2 MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS ACS Applied Bio Materials Pub Date : 2024-07-15 DOI:10.1111/disa.12651

Hannah Strohmeier, Unni Karunakara, Catherine Panter-Brick

{"title":"Public discourse narratives: from 'Secret Aid Worker' discontent to shifting power in humanitarian systems.","authors":"Hannah Strohmeier, Unni Karunakara, Catherine Panter-Brick","doi":"10.1111/disa.12651","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Public discourse is rich in meaning, reflecting consensus, dissent, and change. Yet, very little public discourse on the humanitarian sector has been authored by aid workers themselves. We conducted a thematic analysis of the 'Secret Aid Worker' (SAW) series, published in The Guardian newspaper between 2015 and 2018, the only corpus of data on humanitarian life experiences publicly accessible through mainstream media. Our research questions were twofold: how did authors frame their work and appraise humanitarian structures?; and how did they reflect and amplify humanitarian issues of the time? The main themes included: personal challenges of humanitarian life; characterisation of stakeholders; and systemic issues within the humanitarian sector. The SAW narratives reveal a powerful discourse of discontent. They planted seeds of change regarding shifting power, coloniality and racism, sexual abuse, and duty of care. We argue that such public discourse has symbolic power, calling for greater accountability, equity, and justice in remaking the future of the humanitarian sector.</p>","PeriodicalId":2,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12651","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Public discourse is rich in meaning, reflecting consensus, dissent, and change. Yet, very little public discourse on the humanitarian sector has been authored by aid workers themselves. We conducted a thematic analysis of the 'Secret Aid Worker' (SAW) series, published in The Guardian newspaper between 2015 and 2018, the only corpus of data on humanitarian life experiences publicly accessible through mainstream media. Our research questions were twofold: how did authors frame their work and appraise humanitarian structures?; and how did they reflect and amplify humanitarian issues of the time? The main themes included: personal challenges of humanitarian life; characterisation of stakeholders; and systemic issues within the humanitarian sector. The SAW narratives reveal a powerful discourse of discontent. They planted seeds of change regarding shifting power, coloniality and racism, sexual abuse, and duty of care. We argue that such public discourse has symbolic power, calling for greater accountability, equity, and justice in remaking the future of the humanitarian sector.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

公共话语叙事：从 "秘密援助工作者 "的不满到人道主义系统的权力转移。

公共讨论具有丰富的内涵，反映了共识、异议和变化。然而，很少有关于人道主义领域的公共话语是由援助工作者自己撰写的。我们对《卫报》在 2015 年至 2018 年间发表的 "秘密援助工作者"（SAW）系列文章进行了专题分析，该系列文章是通过主流媒体公开获取的关于人道主义生活经历的唯一资料库。我们的研究问题有两个方面：作者是如何构思他们的工作和评价人道主义结构的；他们是如何反映和放大当时的人道主义问题的？主要主题包括：人道主义生活中的个人挑战；利益相关者的特征；以及人道主义部门内部的系统性问题。SAW 的叙述揭示了一种强烈的不满情绪。他们在权力转移、殖民主义和种族主义、性虐待和关爱责任方面播下了变革的种子。我们认为，这种公共话语具有象征性的力量，呼吁在重塑人道主义部门未来的过程中加强问责、公平和正义。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊