The Nigeria-Biafra War and the Making of a Humanitarian Crisis (1967-70) - (Humanitarianism: Key Debates and New Approaches) (Hardcover)

About the Book

Focusing on the Nigeria-Biafra war, this book analyses humanitarian action at a turning point in its history. It combines individual, institutional, and governmental perspectives to shows how this conflict became a testing ground where humanitarian practices were reshaped for the postcolonial era, making emergency aid central to the redefinition of Africa-West relations.

Book Synopsis

Drawing on rich archival sources from Europe, Nigeria and the United States, this book retraces the international responses to the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970). It brings to life the organizations on the ground and the individuals who shaped their missions, while examining their often complex relations with governments.
From the dramatic images of starving children to the heated debates about the perverse effects of aid and the emergence of sans-frontiérisme, the Nigeria-Biafra war marked a turning point in the history of humanitarian aid. Colonial practices and representations were adapted to a postcolonial world, and humanitarian aid became a central element in the West's relationship with Africa.
By revisiting the Biafra moment, this book sheds new light on the contradictions and enduring dilemmas of today's humanitarian system.

From the Back Cover

This book demonstrates that the conflict was a laboratory in which pre-existing humanitarian practices were reshaped and adapted to the postcolonial world. It provides an in-depth history of the relief operations conducted during the Nigeria-Biafra war and the debates they provoked among aid workers, governments, and public opinion in Europe and the United States.
Drawing on extensive archival research in France, the UK, Switzerland, Nigeria, and the US, the book argues that emergency aid played a central role in redefining relations between Africa and the West in the era of decolonization. To capture the global dimension of the Biafra moment, it follows the humanitarian crisis from the local to the international level and examines the role of NGOs, IOs, and states in the elaboration, deployment, and reception of the relief operations. It revisits controversies over the perverse effects of humanitarian aid and the emergence of 'speaking out' and sans-frontiérisme.
Writing against a less nuanced reading of the Nigeria-Biafra conflict as the birthplace of a "new kind of humanitarianism", this book offers new perspectives on these debates, deepening our understanding of key dynamics and enduring dilemmas that continue to shape the contemporary humanitarian system.

About the Author

Marie-Luce Desgrandchamps is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Geneva