Global Humanitarianism and Media Culture

Global humanitarianism and media culture interrogates various representations of humanitarian crisis, catastrophe and care. The collection explores the refraction of humanitarian intervention and action from the mid-twentieth century to the present, across a diverse range of media forms including screen media - film, television and online video - newspapers, memoirs, music festivals, and social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. The book explores the historical, cultural and political contexts that have shaped the mediation of humanitarian relationships since the middle of the twentieth century. Together, the contributions illustrate the continuities and connections, as well as the differences, which have characterised the mediatisation of both states of emergency and acts of amelioration. The authors reveal and explore the significant synergies between the humanitarian enterprise, the endeavour to alleviate the suffering of particular groups, and media representations and their modes of addressing and appealing to specific publics. The collection considers the ways in which media technologies and practices reflect and shape the moral, political, ethical, ideological and material dimensions of humanitarian intervention, and have become integral to the relationships between humanitarian organisations, institutions and individual actors.