The fifth newsletter of the CNHH was sent out this morning. For any who missed it, the full text can be read below.

Announcements, Events, New Members, and Latest Blogs since our Last Newsletter.

Welcome to the CNHH!

Fifth Newsletter – 20 May 2017

Dear members and readers,
The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History sends you news from the last two months. Please continue to send your own news by using the “Contact us” tab on the website: https://aidhistory.ca/contact-us/

Announcements:

–The CNHH will hold its annual meeting at Congress in Toronto on Monday 29 May 2017 between 11:45-13:15. This will be the occasion to plan the year ahead, especially for future research grants.
Register here if you intend to come and we will serve lunch: Please Register for the Annual Meeting via the Eventbrite Page.

–Humanitarian Photography and Refugees Abroad: A Virtual Exhibition, CNHH Call for Canadian Stories.

The CNHH is launching a call to all partners for pictures of refugees used in humanitarian campaigns. Please consider participating. The deadline is 30 June 2017.

-If you would like to promote the CNHH at an event, please contact us for postcards and posters.

-The CNHH has a new Research Assistant for the Spring and Summer, Sandrine Murray, Undergaduate student in History and Journalism, Carleton University, paid in part by the I-CUREUS program.

Events since the last bulletin:

-The CNHH held a table at the Global Impact Soirée organized by the Canadian Council of International Cooperation to celebrate 50 years of humanitarian aid, at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Reasearch Assistants Julia VanDrie and Sandrine Murray staffed the table. Julia and Tyler Owens contributed preparatory material for the making of the event’s main video presentation by interviewing CNHH historians and veteran humanitarians. Partly thanks to CNHH work of archiving, a selection of the International Development Photo Library was projected on the wall: Twenty-five Years of Excellence in International Development Photography. A blog is on its way about the event. And the CCIC is planning a series of vignettes on the history of aid to which the CNHH will be associated.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and Francophonie, shared her interest for the CNHH work. She is pictured here receiving the CNHH postcard from CNHH coordinator, Dominique Marshall: to her left of Minister Bibeau is Julia Sanchez (CCIC President-CEO), and to the right is Gillian Barth (President-CEO of CARE Canada).
Photo CCIC.

-The CNHH was present at the Colloquium on The Future of Charity Regulations on April 28; Lessons from International Experience in April held at Carleton University by colleagues of Philanthropy Studies.

CNHH banner, postcard and table at Philanthropy Studies event at Carleton University.
Photo: D. Marshall; Postcard and banner design: Sandrine Murray

-On the same day, the launch of our colleague Dr. Sarah Glassford’s book on the history of the Canadian Red Cross, in company of humanitarian workers, archivists, scholars and friends was a success. A blog is on its way about the event.

CNHH founder and author of the history of the Canadian Red Cross, Sarah Glassford, listening to opening address of CRC CEO Conrad Sauvé, at the launch of her book in Ottawa.
Photo CRC.

-We also held a table at the 2017 Institute of African Studies and the African Heads of Mission Conference, this year on “Beyond SDG 5: African Women Innovation and the Future” held at Carleton University on May 18.

-On March 28, Catherine LeGrand shared memories of her journey studying Canadian missions and humanitarianism abroad a month ago. Details HERE.

Catherine LeGrand addresses students, historians and veteran humanitarians at Carleton University. Photo D. Marshal

Research projects and news from members:

–Humanitarian History: Reflections on Somalia (brought to us by CNHH member Kevin O’Sullivan).

National University of Ireland, Galway, 22-23 June 2017

This workshop brings together practitioners and academics to reflect on humanitarian action in Somalia since the 1990s. What did and didn’t work in the field? What contextual factors shaped the practice of humanitarian aid? What lessons can we draw from that experience for contemporary policy-making?

The workshop is organised by the School of Humanities, National University of Ireland, Galway, in collaboration with Trócaire, and is funded by the Irish Research Council New Foundations Scheme. For further details, contact Dr Kevin O’Sullivan, NUI Galway (kevin.k.osullivan@nuigalway.ie) and Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair, Trócaire (reiseal.nicheilleachair@trocaire.org). To register, go to: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/humanitarian-history-reflections-on-somalia-tickets-34726296287

–Citizens of the World? The Place of the International in British Politics since 1918 (brought to us by CNHH member Kevin O’Sullivan).

Queen Mary, University of London, 16-17 March 2017

There were two panels on humanitarianism at this conference. The first, ‘Internationalist Publics and Humanitarian Activism at the End of Empire’, featured papers by Emily Baughan (Sheffield) on the British people and overseas aid at the violent end of empire; by Anna Bocking-Welch (Liverpool) on hospitality and humanitarianism; and by Simon Stevens (Cambridge & Sheffield) on the transnational activism of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. The second panel, titled ‘NGOs, the British State and the Politics of Global Action’ examined a variety of strands of British humanitarian action in the twentieth century. The first paper, by Lukas Schemper (Graduate Institute, Geneva) explored the British government’s response to plans to create an International Relief Union in the inter-war period. He was followed by Bonnie Evans (QMUL), who detailed the history of autism activism in Britain and its international impact. The final paper was by Andrew Jones (Warwick), who spoke about the British public’s motivations for giving to NGOs since the 1960s.

-Using Access to Memory and WordPress-Based platforms, David Webster will be sharing online archival collections and electronic briefing books over the next five years relating to global affairs with a focus on Canada and the global South. Early projects include multi-archival perspectives on the East Timor independence movement (1975-1999) and on international aspects of the 1965 military coup in Indonesia. A key feature will be to showcase the records of Canadian citizen groups working on global issues, beginning with the East Timor Alert Network/Canada. Collaborations with CNHH members are keenly welcomed! Contact: dwebster@ubishops.ca

–Jill Campbell-Miller will begin an AMS Postdoctoral Fellowship beginning in July 2017. During her one-year fellowship, which will be held at the Gorsebrook Research Institute at Saint Mary’s University under the supervision of Dr. Peter Twohig, Dr. Campbell-Miller aims to expand research on Canada’s early aid program by examining the history of Canadian participation in health-related humanitarian and development work in South and Southeast Asia between 1950 and 1968. For more information, read her blog on the AMS website here: http://www.ams-inc.on.ca/history-canadian-healthcare-aid-india-1950s/

-The project on humanitarian photography and refugees is on its way under the guidance of Sonya DeLaat and with the assistance of RA Sandrine Murray: interviews with actors of the CIDA Photo Library, Campaign to collect dozens of significant pictures, plan for a launch in the Fall of 2017, during a LAC event on migrations.

-The joint project on refugees and disability conducted in collaboration with the Carleton University Disability Research Group under the guidance of Research Associate Beth Robertson and with the assistance of RA Sandrine Murray. The aim is one panel of the virtual exhibit Envisioning Technology, and a Fall 2017 workshop to share the draft of the panel and plan future exhibits on this theme. Please share stories and documents by contacting the CNHH. We are currently investigating stories with CNIB, Handicap International and the Canadian War Museum.

-Partners are lined up for a MITACS Accelerate grant application, pending administrative hurdles, with LAWG, CUSO International, CCIC, CIDA, PAC, Match International and others.

Welcome to new members:

–Kristin Bergtora Sandvik S.J.D Harvard Law School (2008), Research Professor in Humanitarian Studies (PRIO), Associate Professor Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law (UiO). Sandvik’s socio-legal research focus on accountability and humanitarian governance (legalization, rights-based approaches, GBV, innovation and technology). She also works on refugee resettlement (Uganda) and IDP legal mobilization (Colombia).

– Oheneba Boateng, PhD Candidate, Free University of Berlin, Transnational Studies. Oheneba is currently writing his dissertation on humanitarian norms and actions by the African Union. Beyond this, his research interests include humanitarianism, international relations of the global South, Global Studies, and international organizations.

–Alexandra Dellios, RA and Assistant Lecturer, University of Melbourne, Alexandra Dellios is an historian of migration and memory studies. She received her PhD in history from the University of Melbourne in March 2015. Her book on migrant settlement in postwar Australia, Histories of Controversy: Bonegilla Migrant Centre, will be published in August 2017.

–Ksenia Fiaduta, Graduate Student, Faculty of Education, Western University (Canada). Interests: Children’s rights, Social context of education and the relationship between education, architecture, and space. Her current research explores how education and architecture intersect in humanitarian contexts. In addition to research, Ksenia collaborates with non-profit organizations such as “Architects without Borders” (Spain) and “TECHO” (Panama).

–John Gilinsky, John is interested in many aspects of this broad field: social medical history, history of the welfare state, history of veterans, history of disabilities, history of war trauma, histories of war philanthropies and war charities, history of war crimes, history of cultural property protections in armed conflicts, history of international humanitarian laws applicable in maritime armed conflicts, etc. He focuses on Canada and World War I, but also has deep interests in the war generally including neutrals. He is currently researching a history of a local war veterans health care facility in Toronto, founded and operated by the Toronto Branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society.

–Valerie Gorin, Universities of Geneva and Lausanne (Switzerland). Interests: A historian and media scholar with a strong interest in the visual culture of humanitarian action and photography in particular. Areas of research are related to the history of communication and humanitarian action and to the evolution and uses of photojournalism in modern times. She has been conducting research on the history and media coverage of famines, and on the link between citizen photojournalism, (eye)witnessing and advocacy strategies in humanitarian settings. She is currently working on a research project related to the shift between amateur to professional imagery among relief agencies (1860s-1960s) and their activist use of images.

–Rhonda Gossen, Visiting Fellow in Residence, Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia. Interests and Research: Rhonda Gossen is a senior consultant with the UNDP Crisis Response Unit. A former career CIDA professional and Canadian diplomat posted throughout Asia and Africa, Rhonda now works on early recovery and resilience within humanitarian response and post crisis recovery. In 2014, She was assigned with UNHCR in Lebanon on the Syrian refugee crisis, in 2015 in Nepal with UNDP post-earthquake and in 2016 in Nigeria, South Sudan and Southern Africa with UNDP. Between 2010-2013, she was Head of Cooperation in Pakistan. She is affiliated with the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC previously heading a conflict and development program and will be a visiting fellow in residence jointly with Green College at UBC.

–Tino Kreutzer, PhD in Global Governance, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfred Laurier University. Interests: Structural and political challenges hampering the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to victims of disaster relief. Making humanitarian aid governance more effective in light of evident challenges and political friction around humanitarian aid. Kreutzer recently co-authored “Two Solitudes: how closed health networks facilitated the spread of Ebola in West Africa’s fragile states;” “Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Polls in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo;” and “Surgical Non-Governmental Organizations: Global Surgery’s Unknown Nonprofit Sector.”

–Stephanie Leclair, Senior Communications Officer – WUSC

–Andrew Nurse, Associate Professor and Director of Canadian Studies — Mount Allison University, New Brunswick.

–Sara Thaw, Special Project Officer at Canadian Council for International Co-operation. Interests: Currently collaborating with the CNHH on “Global Impact: a Canadian Story.”

–Julie VanDrie, Undergraduate Student, Carleton University. Interests: Globalization, Humanitarian aid, Religion and Conflict, and Canadian domestic and international policy.