Médecins Sans Frontières and Humanitarian Situations

This book explores the interaction between anthropology and humanitarianism, focussed on the organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The emphasis of the collection is on practising anthropology within humanitarian situations, reflecting on how anthropology contributes to the development of operational response. Each chapter presents an experience of working within a particular MSF project and highlights the real issues that anthropologists of humanitarian practice confront. The volume will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, development studies and global health, as well as to NGO staff and health professionals.

Jean-François Véran is Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Between 2013 and 2019, he served as Anthropology Advisor in the Brazilian Medical Unit (BRAMU) of MSF Brazil. Doris Burtscher has worked as a medical anthropologist with MSF since 2001. She is a medical anthropology referent in the MSF Vienna Evaluation Unit and lectures at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Beverley Stringer is a social anthropologist and trained nurse based in London. With extensive field experience, she set up and leads the Social Science team for the Dutch operational section of MSF. She is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex, UK.

Introduction - Anthropology in humanitarian situations; 1. Changing contexts in humanitarianism: a challenge for anthropology; 2. A medical operational perspective on anthropology in the setting of MSF; 3. Ethical considerations and anthropology: the MSF experience; 4. Emergency in practice: doing an ethnography of malnutrition in South Sudan; 5. The paradox of safe birth: The interaction between anthropology and medical humanitarianism - the dilemma of an MSF medical strategy versus health-seeking behaviour of Pashtun women in Khost province, Afghanistan; 6. Whose culture needs to be questioned? Access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Homa Bay, Kenya; 7. Back to Life. Ebola survivors in Liberia: from imaginary heroes to political agents; 8. Invisible Dengue: Epidemics and Politics in Léogâne, Haiti; 9. Revealing causes beyond culture: An MSF surgical project through the lens of anthropology and health promotion; 10. 'Yaya hankuri da mutani?' (How is your patience with the people?) A medical anthropological inquiry into treatment challenges in the Anka Local Government Area, Zamfara Heavy Metal Treatment Project, Nigeria; 11. Dealing with the body social: an ethnography of dialogue in a health clinic, south Tehran, Iran; 12. The New Missionaries. An Anthropological Reflection on Humanitarian Action in Critical Situations