As 2019 draws to a close, we look back on the first six months of our Resilient Humanitarianism Project. This brief overview is part of the report that was presented to the Advisory Group by Professor Melanie Oppenheimer on behalf of the project team.
Project launch
On Wednesday 12 June, the Resilient Humanitarianism Project was launched in Geneva as part of the ‘Histories of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement since 1919 Conference’ held at the IFRC. Members of the project team, members of the Advisory Group, and conference participants attended the launch at the offices of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. We enjoyed the chance to meet members of the Advisory Group during the conference and took the opportunity to spend several days in the IFRC archives working with IFRC archivists, Grant Mitchell and Melanie Blondin, prior to the conference.
A number of us gave papers at the ‘Histories of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement since 1919 Conference’. Rosemary Creswell spoke about ‘The League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/IFRC and the emerging HIV/AIDS pandemic’, and Melanie Oppenheimer presented a paper titled ‘Pioneering the training of public health nurses in the post-war world: the role of the League of Red Cross Societies in the 1920s’.
Advisory Group member Dominique Marshall presented two papers, ‘Understanding the history of the Ethiopian Red Cross, 1935-1975’, and with Beth Robertson, ‘People with Disabilities and the Red Cross Movement, 1945-1985’. Julia Irwin spoke about ‘The League of Red Cross Societies and the Origins of International Disaster Assistance, 1919-1969’.
Andrew Thompson and Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the IFRC, delivered keynote addresses. The Secretary General’s Opening Address can be read via our News page.
Project underway
Since the Geneva conference, team members have been busy commencing their research.
Melanie Oppenheimer’s work has focused largely on the professionalisation of nursing and on the LRCS nursing bureau. As part of this work, Melanie has visited archives in the US and Tokyo in 2019. She is investigating the role of nurses who attended the LRCS’s International courses in Public Health at Bedford College, London, during the interwar period, as well as researching the assistance given by The Commonwealth Fund to enable Austrian nurses attend the courses in the 1920s.
Susanne Schech has started work on a Cuban case study and has also been writing a book chapter based on archival material that she collected in the US in 2018.
Both Melanie and Susanne attended a two-day workshop at Monash University in Melbourne, ‘Histories and Cultures of Humanitarianism and Foreign Aid’ (25-26 July). Melanie presented a paper titled: ‘Resilient Humanitarianism? The League of Red Cross Societies.’ Susanne’s paper was titled: ‘Development volunteering in the 2010s – emotions and politics of being Australian overseas.’
In September, Neville Wylie attended the ‘Humanitarianism & The Greater War Conference’ at the Centre for War Studies, University College Dublin. This 2-day conference (5-6 September) provided an opportunity to debate the ideas, developments and legacy of humanitarianism in the era of the Great War, 1912-1923.
Meanwhile, Rosemary Cresswell has been busy completing her book about the history of the British Red Cross and continuing with her research on the League in the post-World War Two era. Rosemary was also involved in the biennial conference of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham in August, where she presented a paper titled: ‘The Psychology of First Aid – from first aiders’ responses to psychic crises’.
Following the Geneva conference, Romain Fathi travelled to Paris to undertake archival research on the post-war reconstruction of France and on the involvement of the League in that work. Romain will lead a one-day symposium in Paris in June 2020, building on his research on the reconstruction in Western Europe post-WWI.
Lastly, team members are currently working on a joint article that interrogates the LRCS and the concept of resilient humanitarianism.
Welcome to Associate Professor Julia Irwin
We would like to welcome Julia Irwin to our Advisory Group. Julia is based at the University of Southern Florida. Her research focuses on the place of humanitarianism and foreign assistance in 20th century U.S. foreign relations and international history.
PhD Scholarship awarded
Flinders University has provided scholarship funding for a PhD student to join our research team. We are pleased to announce the scholarship has been awarded to Jordan Evans, an Honours graduate from Flinders University School of History. Jordan will take up the scholarship from February 2020 (when our academic year commences). You can read more about Jordan here.
We look forward to expanding our exciting research investigations on the League of Red Cross Societies in 2020.