Doctoral Dissertation Research: Managing Crisis: When Humanitarianism Becomes Government, the Politics of Humanitarian Relief in Balata Refugee Camp

根据联合国的预测，约旦河西岸和加沙地带一半以上的巴勒斯坦人依靠国际人道主义援助，而且对外部援助的依赖程度还在继续上升。本项目对以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突中人道主义措施的概念、组织和制度化进行了创新性的考察。报告分析了国际人道主义援助在管理巴勒斯坦人流离失所方面的作用，以及长期人道主义救济对巴勒斯坦难民人口的社会政治影响。特别是，它通过一个协调地点的跨国网络追溯人道主义政策，从纽约市的联合国总部到安曼的联合国救济和工程处（近东救济工程处）总部，最后到近东救济工程处在西岸最大的实地地点——巴拉塔难民营。这项研究借鉴了政治地理框架，并采用了档案研究、民族志方法和数据分析的混合。这种混合方法可以深入研究近东救济工程处的人道主义活动，因为这些活动是国际援助机构所打算的，也是受援国所经历的。一个联合理论的方法将被用来理解在塑造身份形成的话语和物质过程之间的相互作用，以及巴勒斯坦难民的日常生活和经验。具体而言，本项目以以下研究目标为指导：(1)确定近东救济工程处的人道主义政策和项目如何在不同的地理尺度和文化背景下转化为巴拉塔难民营的制度结构和治理模式；(2)确定近东救济工程处制定的分类区分（“难民”和“非难民”）如何与巴勒斯坦政治身份的表达相交叉，并评估巴勒斯坦难民如何在日常生活中协商这些身份。这项研究为人道主义机构、受援者和人道主义活动发生的更广泛的社会背景之间的关系提供了一个综合的观点。这样一项研究有可能突出捐助机构所打算和设想的人道主义政策与这些政策在冲突地区的实际表现之间的严重脱节。更广泛地说，这项研究有可能改变在饱受战争蹂躏的社会中人道主义措施的概念和实践方式，特别是当这种援助融入实地的体制结构和社会结构时。通过这种评估，可以设计出改进的人道主义模式、政策和做法，使人道主义活动更有效地符合受援国的需求，并减少人道主义措施助长或延长军事冲突的可能性。这种研究有可能推进人道主义理论和实践，并影响国际人道主义政策，因为它具体涉及以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突，以及更广泛地涉及饱受战争蹂躏的社会。

According to United Nations projections, over half of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip relies on international humanitarian assistance, and dependency on outside aid continues to rise. This project provides an innovative examination of the conception, organization, and institutionalization of humanitarian measures in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It analyzes the role of international humanitarian aid in managing Palestinian displacement and the socio-political effects of prolonged humanitarian relief on the Palestinian refugee population. In particular, it traces humanitarian policy through a transnational network of coordinated sites from United Nations Headquarters in New York City, to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Headquarters in Amman, and finally to UNRWA's largest field site in the West Bank -- Balata Refugee Camp. This research draws from a political geographic framework and employs a mix of archival research, ethnographic methods, and data analysis. This mixed-method approach allows for in-depth study of UNRWA's humanitarian activities as they are intended by international aid institutions and experienced by aid-recipients. A joint-theoretical approach will be utilized to understand the interplay between discursive and material processes in shaping identity formation, as well as the daily lives and experiences of Palestinian refugees. Specifically, this project is guided by the following research objectives: (1) to determine how UNRWA's humanitarian policies and projects translate across various geographical scales and cultural contexts into institutional structures and modes of governance in Balata Refugee Camp, and (2) to determine how categorical distinctions instituted by UNRWA ("refugee" and "non-refugee") intersect with articulations of Palestinian political identity, and assess how Palestinian refugees are negotiating these identities in their everyday lives. This research provides an integrated view of the relationship between humanitarian institutions, aid recipients, and the wider social context within which humanitarian activity is taking place. Such a study has the potential to highlight critical disjunctures between humanitarian policies as they are intended and conceived by donor institutions and their manifestation on the ground in conflict-zones. More broadly, this research has the potential to transform the ways in which humanitarian measures are conceptualized and practiced in war-torn societies, especially when this assistance becomes woven into the institutional structures and social fabric of the field site. From this type of assessment, improved humanitarian models, policies and practices can be devised to more effectively align humanitarian activities with the needs of aid recipients, as well as decrease chances that humanitarian measures contribute to or prolong military conflict. Such research has the potential to advance humanitarian theory and practice and influence international humanitarian policy, both as it relates to the Israel-Palestinian conflict specifically, as well as to war-torn societies more broadly.