Humanitarian encounters: Biafra, NGOs and imaginings of the Third World in Britain and Ireland, 1967-70
Date
2014-08-21Author
O'Sullivan, Kevin
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O'Sullivan, Kevin. (2014). Humanitarian encounters: Biafra, NGOs and imaginings of the Third World in Britain and Ireland, 1967–70. Journal of Genocide Research, 16(2-3), 299-315. doi: 10.1080/14623528.2014.936706
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Abstract
This article examines the influence of the
Biafran humanitarian crisis on British and Irish conceptions of the Third
World. Drawing on evidence from NGOs in both countries, it argues that the
explosion of non-governmental activity in this period, combined with the
unprecedented attention afforded to the relief effort, crystallized a popular
vision of the Third World that was rooted in Western internationalism and the
legacies of the imperial world. The model of humanitarian action pursued by Oxfam,
Save the Children, Africa Concern, and others, transformed non-governmental
actors into key mediators between the West and the Third World. Yet, this
article argues, the image they presented, and the tactics they pursued, can
only be understood as part of a broader adjustment to a decolonized world. From
very different beginnings (British postcolonial responsibilities versus a
strong anticolonial narrative in Ireland) considerable similarities emerged
between British and Irish NGOs. The response to Biafra was an extension of the
missionary and colonial service ethos, and generated a model of relief that
privileged humanitarian action over local political and human agency. That
paternalistic approach further reinforced traditional attitudes to the Third World
through renewed emphases on donation, dependency, expatriate volunteers, and
Western concepts of needs and development . This article concludes,
therefore, by arguing that Biafra played a vital role in the shift from
imperial humanitarianism to neo-humanitarianism and the rise of liberal
humanitarian governance. The vision of an inclusive common humanity the NGOs
espoused was in practice rooted in a very Western understanding of humanitarian
responsibilities and a very Western image of the Third World.