News IRC New Foundations Award

Congratulations to Dr Kevin O'Sullivan and PhD student, Maria Cullen, from the History Department who have been awarded an IRC New Foundation award for their project  What do we mean by Global Solidarity? Historical Research into Humanitarian Practice

This project aims to historicise the concept of ‘global solidarity’ in humanitarian aid. What does humanitarian solidarity signify? How have humanitarian organisations interpreted the concept differently in the past, and how did it manifest in practice? These are timely questions, given the globally simultaneous experience of the pandemic and climate crisis, along with the ongoing Mediterranean refugee crisis and renewed conversations about racial justice.

This project attempts to answer these questions in a collaborative way. It is supported by Dóchas, the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, and will engage both academics and humanitarian practitioners in discussion on the concept of global solidarity in historical perspective. Did the idea of solidarity-based response come naturally to different humanitarian NGOs? What contextual factors shaped how practitioners interacted with aid recipients on the ground? Were approaches to ethical action born of a human rights or a grassroots development perspective more likely to manifest in a solidarity-based response? Given the historic association between political solidarity and the Left, how was humanitarian solidarity understood differently? Through a workshop and subsequent publications, this project will historicise the concept of humanitarian solidarity, and create forums through which to continue these discussions.