Aid or Business? The Transformation of Humanitarian Work in the Refugee Camp in Slavonski Brod (Translation)
Aid or Business? The Transformation of Humanitarian Work in the Refugee Camp in Slavonski Brod

Summary/Abstract: This paper will present the starting points for the interpretation of thetransformation of humanitarian work, along with providing examples indicativeof its professionalisation and the close relationship it has developed with thedomain of political activity. Originally conceived as a philanthropic projectand based around the imperative of saving lives and/or reducing suffering,humanitarianism has formalised the concept of providing aid in the past fewdecades and has begun to manifest aspects typical of corporate and businessculture. The practice of professionalisation and the relationship between thetwo terms seemingly presenting contradictory attitudes towards humanitarianwork – seeing it as either aid or business – are problematised on the basisof the ethnography of work and an analysis of the interviews conducted withhumanitarian workers from the refugee camp in Slavonski Brod.

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