The Humanitarian Informant

This chapter argues that humanitarianism asserts the authority not just to speak of and for suffering others, but speaks in place of the sufferer. The humanitarian informant asserts the authority of the native, but native to an experience and ethic rather than a place. Focusing on the memoir-festo, life narratives about humanitarians such as Henri Dunant, Paul Farmer, James Oribinski, and Oxfam GB donors, the chapter identifies how the humanitarian fable invites empathic identification between the audience for these narratives and the humanitarian figure, rather than those who suffer. These narratives distinguish humanitarians as those who notice the suffering, where noticing is to care and provide care. Further, they reflect the way the problem of global inequality is shaped by the “white gaze” of the humanitarian orientation. From this orientation, the suffering other, and particularly women and girls in the global South, are positioned as an object to be transformed rather than a subject to be engaged with.