From their point of view
Caroline Abu-sada
The reasons why we are accepted, tolerated or sometimes rejected in the contexts where we work are often obscure. Caroline Abu-Sada and her team of sociology student shed some light on these issues.
In charge of this research project for MSF Switerzland, Caroline interviewed villagers, local authorities and staff members to find out how they perceive MSF and others humanitarian actors.
With examples from Niger, Cameroun, Liberia, Kenya, Ouganda, Jordanie, Guatemala and Irak, she presents here the initial conclusion of her work.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Results of the study
3. Stable and unstable contexts
4. Unsurprising results
5. Perception and identity
6. International and local staff
7. International or local staff
8. Duration of projects
9. Principles of perception
10. Healthcare quality
11. Humanitarian assistance
12. Social categories
13. Semantic interpretation
14. Can we control our image?
15. Different sections
To cite this content :
Caroline Abu-sada, “From their point of view”, 10 mars 2009, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/conferences-debates/their-point-view
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ContributePast events
Motivations for mass violence: different interpretations
10/03/2019 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMConference – debate, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6-8pm, 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 8 rue Saint Sabin. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
What turns ordinary men into killers? The CRASH team invited you to a conference – debate with the sociologist and historian, Nicolas Mariot, author of an article entitled « Faut-il être motivé pour tuer? Sur quelques explications aux violences de guerre » (Genèses, n°53, 2003, p. 154-177) and books such as “Face à la persécution. 991 Juifs dans la guerre" (with Claire Zalc, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010), “Tous unis dans la tranchée ? 1914-1918, les intellectuels rencontrent le peuple" (Paris, Seuil, 2013). Nicolas Mariot presented two different interpretations of motivations for mass violence in the 20th century, drawn from a series of studies and surveys on the subject.
Third-Worldism and Sans-Frontiérisme 1954-1988
04/11/2019 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PMEleanor Davey, historian of ideas and humanitarianism, senior lecturer at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute, University of Manchester, discusses her book, Idealism Beyond Borders. The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988, devoted to the intellectual history of sans-frontiérisme and Third-Worldism, in France, from the Algerian war to the early years of Médecins Sans Frontières.
Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s
12/17/2018 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMThe CRASH team invited you to the debate-conference “Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s” on Monday 17th of December 2018 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room at the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. We hosted Caroline Izambert, who recently defended, at the EHESS, her PhD thesis focusing on the foreigners’ access to healthcare in France. Her title: “Heal foreigners?” The State and the civil society organisations for the health coverage of the poor and foreigners in France from the 1980s to the present day.
Borders and Hospitality
11/26/2018 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMConference/debate with Benjamin Boudou, political scientist and researcher at the Max Planck institute.
Immunization: new perspectives on vaccines - Conference with Lise Barnéoud
12/05/2017 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMWho profits from vaccination? Individuals? Society? Companies? Is vaccination efficient? Is it dangerous? Profitable? What are the factors influencing public opinion in this domain? Lise Barnéoud, science journalist and author of Immunisés ? Un nouveau regard sur les vaccins, has engaged in an investigation revealing multiple - and sometimes contradictory - realities observed in the French vaccination sector. She has carried out her investigation from three distinct viewpoints: the one of a mother who needs to decide whether to vaccinate her children or not; of a journalist leading an enquiry; and of a scientist analyzing how facts are built.
Lise Barnéoud was a Crash guest speaker at a conference on vaccination held on December 5, 2017. A discussion with Epicentre, Crash and the MSF Medical Department allowed us to exchange views on vaccinal policy, which remains a cornerstone of MSF operations and a recurring subject of discussion and controversy.
Humanitarian anthropology : conference with Sharon Abramowitz
10/23/2017 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMSharon Abramowitz is an anthropologist and a visiting researcher at the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University, co-editor of recently published Medical humanitarianism. Ethnographies of practice. She has devoted much of her work to responding to epidemics - most recently in Ebola, and in West Africa, Liberia in particular.
During the conference organized by MSF-Crash on 23 October 2017, she discussed the contribution of medical anthropology to humanitarian action as well as her latest book and most recent projects.