Special Event | Book Launch for Above the Fray

"Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian Relief Sector"

Drawing on archival research, Dromi traces the genesis of the Red Cross to a Calvinist movement working in mid-nineteenth-century Geneva. He shows how global humanitarian policies emerged from the Red Cross founding members’ faith that an international volunteer program not beholden to the state was the only ethical way to provide relief to victims of armed conflict. By illustrating how Calvinism shaped the humanitarian field, Dromi argues for the key role belief systems play in establishing social fields and institutions. Ultimately, Dromi shows the immeasurable social good that NGOs have achieved, but also points to their limitations and suggests that alternative models of humanitarian relief need to be considered.  —Book description from University of Chicago Press 

Speaker: 

Shai M. Dromi, Lecturer on Sociology, Department of Sociology, Harvard University.

Commentators:

Jacqueline Bhabha, Faculty Associate. Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Department of Global Health and Population; Director of Research, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School.  

Jocelyn Viterna, Faculty Associate; Harvard Academy Senior Scholar. Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Harvard University.  

Chair:

Charlotte Lloyd, Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Scholars Program; Affiliate, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion. PhD, Department of Sociology, Harvard University.

Cosponsored by the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion and the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. 

Contact:

Sarah Figge Hussain
sfiggehussain@wcfia.harvard.edu