Abstract

This seminar will address a theoretical approach to the study of humanitarian field focusing on forced displacement. Bearing in mind the biographical accounts of humanitarianism devices, it will try to outline the brief history of current scenario . Starting from the hypothesis of humanitarianism as a way of perpetuating the colonial system, it will address the construction of the "other", the displaced (turned into refugee, stateless, illegal, etc., after passing through the system's various devices), while regarding the construction of the Western "self" supported on a moral "responsibility" of that "other" in which it not only ends up exerting power of qualification, but also the power of recognition and even of life support. Resorting to some testimonies, this seminar will try to understand the biographical implications that this process of recognition exerts on people who with similar experiences, thus, meeting both sides of the humanitarian framework, the more institutional and legal side along with the experiential of the displaced subject.

Bio note

Ivana Belén Ruiz Estramil holds a degree in Sociology and a MA in Social Sciences from the University of the Basque Country (UPV). She is currently a PhD candidadte (with a grant from the  Basque Government Researcher Training) with the thesis project: "Desplazados forzados: catástrofe e identidad en la Era Humantiaria" (Estado español desde 1979 a la actualidad. Ivana is a visiting doctoral student at CES under the supervision of Silvia Maeso (September-December 2015).

Activity within the  no âmbito do Democracy, Citizenship and Law Research Group (DECIDe)