Voices of Humanitarianism: British Responses to Refugees from Chile

迄今为止，人道主义的历史倾向于特权精英的观点，关注政治人物、外交官和谈判代表；大型国际组织（例如难民专员办事处、红十字国际委员会、拯救儿童会、乐施会）；引人注目的危机时刻（越南、埃塞俄比亚、卢旺达、科索沃），以及影响行动和反应的国际法律结构。今天，人道主义往往与提供国家援助或人权工作密切相关，甚至混为一谈。然而，人道主义被认为是“关心遥远的他人”（Haskell 1985），其范围比上述任何一种都要广泛得多，因为它往往依赖于大量的专业现场工作者、基层行动者和社区组织。这些行动者的经验、贡献和远见以及他们所帮助的人的观点在高级别研究中被遗漏，限制了我们对实地人道主义工作的性质和影响的理解。缺乏对人道主义工作的代理人和接受者的关注导致他们沉默，这不仅可能扭曲我们对他们的动机和经历的看法，而且可能扭曲我们对关键事件、方法及其历史意义的理解。该项目将对人道主义进行定性评估，从而能够评估表面上的干预目标可能在多大程度上与其对实地的实际影响有关、改变或偏离。本研究以1973年智利政变后英国对智利难民困境的反应为例，作为一个案例研究，既可以阐明20世纪后期在冷战结束的关键时刻英国的人道主义，也提供了一个难得的机会，建立一个内部历史，从而为参与这项工作的行动者、代理人和接受者提供发言权。这种方法不仅可以考察他们在激烈的行动主义时期的经历和行动，以及他们与英国基层社会运动和智利抵抗运动的关系，还可以深入了解塑造他们工作的信仰、思想和动机。该项目将口述历史和对情感研究的关注结合在一起，开发了一种人道主义历史的文化研究方法，以恢复人道主义支持的接受者和代理人的声音，并提供对其历史机构的详细了解。该研究通过影响和参与活动进一步深化了这一文化视角，这些活动使用实验、物理戏剧来探索和传达智利人对镇压和流亡的反应，以及他们处理这种情况的策略。项目团队将与肢体戏剧团体Ephemeral Ensemble合作，在圣地亚哥的MMDH创作一场演出，但他们不使用剧本。它利用真实的故事、采访和纪录片材料来创作探索社会问题的戏剧表演。它的方法结合了表演者的高技能身体，有趣的舞台工艺和原创音乐，以一种强大而发人深省的方式与公众观众交流。

Histories of humanitarianism have to date tended to privilege elite perspectives, focusing on political figures, diplomats and negotiators; large international organizations (e.g. UNHCR, ICRC, Save the Children, Oxfam); high-profile moments of crisis (Vietnam, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kosovo), and international legal structures shaping action and response. Today humanitarianism is often closely associated - even conflated - with the provision of state aid or with human rights work. Nevertheless, conceived as a 'concern for distant others' (Haskell 1985), humanitarianism is much broader in scope than either of these, as it often depends upon large numbers of professional field workers, grassroots actors and community organizations. The experiences, contributions and vision of such actors as well as the perspectives of those they help are lost in high-level studies, limiting our understanding of the nature and impact of humanitarian work on the ground. Lack of attention to the agents and recipients of humanitarian work leads to their silencing, potentially distorting not only our vision of their motivations and experiences, but also our understanding of key events, approaches, and their historical significance. This project will offer a qualitative assessment of humanitarianism, enabling an evaluation of the extent to which the ostensible aims of intervention may relate to, modify, or diverge from, its lived impact on the ground.The research takes the example of UK responses to the plight of Chilean refugees in the wake of the 1973 coup d'état in Chile as a case study which can both illuminate late 20thC British humanitarianism at a pivotal moment towards the end of the Cold War, and offer a rare opportunity to build an internal history of - and thus give voice to - the comprehensive range of actors, agents, and recipients involved in that work. This approach will not only permit an examination of their experiences and actions during a period of intense activism, as well as their relationship to grassroots social movements in the UK and resistance movements in Chile, but will offer insight into the beliefs, ideas and motivations that shaped their work. The project brings together oral history and a concern for the study of the emotions, developing a cultural studies approach to humanitarian history in order to recover the voices of the recipients and agents of humanitarian support and offer a detailed understanding of their historical agency.The research further deepens this cultural perspective through impact and engagement activities which use experimental, physical theatre to explore and convey Chileans' responses to repression and exile, and their strategies for dealing with such scenarios. The physical theatre group, Ephemeral Ensemble, with whom the project team will collaborate to create a performance in the MMDH, Santiago, does not work with scripts. It builds up performances using real-life stories, interviews and documentary materials to create theatrical shows that explore social issues. Its methodology combines the high-skilled physicality of the performers, playful stage craft and original music, to communicate with public audiences in a powerful and thought-provoking way.