Born in France, Professor Bertrand Taithe studied at the Sorbonne with Professor François Crouzet and began his career as a historian of urban sociology. He later moved into the history of medicine and sexuality and is particularly interested in the history of humanitarian aid.Professor Taithe is a prolific author, Editor of the European Review of History, and Executive Director of HCRI.
The central question raised in this discussion relates to two profoundly intermeshed issues for humanitarian practitioners and organisations: the use of history for humanitarian organisations, and the need for them to preserve and maintain archives
The Swiss editor Georg just published in open access a collection of articles edited by Sébastien Farré, Jean-François Fayet and Bertrand Taithe. This book is devoted to the emergence of humanitarian exhibitions either within wider events or in their own right, as an attempt to focus attention and make sense of the aid humanitarians provided. The book argues that this exhibition process was central to the narration of the humanitarian project. It did not simply represent humanitarian work, it helped shape its essential identity and sense of purpose. Entail the development of new ways of thinking about needs and emergencies.
This post was published as a reaction to the attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that took place on October 3rd, 2015.
Bertrand Taithe (HCRI, University of Manchester), Juliano Fiori (Save the Children UK) and Michaël Neuman (MSF-Crash) discuss the important role of constructive criticism in the future of humanitarian assistance.
While MSF has just recently launched a report, 'Where is everyone?', aiming at exposing the limitations and deficiencies of the international aid response to crises, Bertrand Taithe (HCRI) asks whether the approach taken and the question asked are the right ones.
