Since fall 2007 the Humanitarian Action Initiative has brought together practitioners and scholars working in the field of humanitarian action for discussions of shared interest. Sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, historians and others dialogue with representatives from the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and research institutes to reflect on such topics as humanitarianism's role in geopolitics, its narrative forms, organizational practices, and ethical commitments.

Beginning in fall 2011, the Initiative is focusing its attention on humanitarian narrative. The IPK has established a partnership with University of Bologna, Italy, and is actively seeking new partners to form an international network and pursue this line of inquiry.

Jointly convened by the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University and The International Center for Transitional Justice, this evening will feature a mini-documentary screening and panel discussion on the intergenerational effects of the Indian Residential School and youth involvement in transitional justice processes.

“Our Legacy Our Hope,” a...

Join activist Bo Kyi and filmmaker Jeanne Hallacy for a screening and discussion of their new documentary, Into the Current: Burma's Political Prisoners.

While a college student in Rangoon, Bo Kyi was arrested for supporting Burma's 8.8.88 Uprising. After seven years in prison, he fled to Thailand, where he co-founded AAPP-Burma, and now...

The wave of unrest throughout the Middle East began in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread to Syria in March 2011, where protesters were met with brutal force from Assad’s government. Events have gone from bad to catastrophic: demonstrations have escalated and the press has been banned. Experts explore possible outcomes.

Speakers:

In late January 2012, MSF published a new book, Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed through Columbia University Press. This book examines the practical realities of dealing with humanitarian crises and MSF’s efforts to reach the most affected people in contexts including Ethiopia, Yemen, Gaza, Somalia,...

In this session of the Global Café, Karina Horsti analyzes the rise of humanitarian discourse in the public communication of migration control agents. This discursive dislocation can be theorized as discursive simulation of language and practice originating from a different context—humanitarian action and philanthropy—into another context—border control.

Since the 1990s European media have...

My presentation examines the visual culture of humanitarianism, and in particular, the way in which notions of consumer citizenship and brand culture influence how humanitarian organizations present international conditions of human suffering to the public. I also consider new ways of conceptualizing humanitarian visual culture that move beyond the spectacle of the suffering body.

Rachelle...

This event is a screening and discussion of "Starved for Attention," a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photo multimedia campaign designed to expose the neglected and largely invisible crisis of childhood malnutrition.

After a screening, there will be a discussion with the Director, Jeremiah Zagar, a...

Much as aid organizations mobilize pictures of human suffering to support relief, a global humanitarian-industrial complex deploys an architectural imagery to depict emergency. While tarps, tents, and camps convey an ad hoc reaction to crisis, they belie a spectacular infrastructure frequently at hand in international aid missions—land cruiser convoys, global supply chains, state-of-the-art...

Please note this event is an evening in two-parts, both of which are sessions in Villa Gillet's Walls and Bridges festival.

Session I: 5:30PM
THE NEED TO SEE AND THE WILL NOT TO KNOW — HOW WE DEAL WITH CATASTROPHES

Over the course of the last year, leading French and American social scientists met several times in...

The Institute for Public Knowledge is hosting a Public Talk on a new photography exhibition at The Department of Photography and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts.

Revolution ثورة Photographs from Libya by Bryan Denton is an exhibition of 50 photographs taken by Bryan Denton while on assignment in...

As part of IPK's two-day conference, Visual Citizenship: Belonging through the Lens of Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, a full-day of panel discussions features leading documentary filmmakers, photographers, architects, academics from a variety of disciplines, and representatives from non-governmental...

As part of IPK's two-day conference, Visual Citizenship: Belonging through the Lens of Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, distinguished scholar W.J.T. Mitchell will deliver the keynote address entitled, “Seeing the Non-Citizen: Migration, Law, and the Image.” Mitchell’s keynote focuses on the issue of what are...

An All-Day Symposium
presented by The New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU

11 AM | Bearing Witness
Leon Botstein
Philip Gourevitch
Lori Grinker
Jonathan Schell

2 PM | Keynote Address
David Rieff

2:30 PM | Literature and the Apocalyptic Imagination
Ruth Franklin
Lewis Lapham
Francine Prose
Peter...

Jude Howell, Director of the Centre for Civil Society at LSE and Director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)'s Non-Governmental Public Action Research Programme, will present key findings from her research on civil society, security and aid post-9/11, drawing on case-studies of Afghanistan, India, Kenya, USA...

This event was recorded, and streaming audio is available:

Michael Dash