The ‘need to be there’

Abstract

This chapter explores North-South encounters and mutual imaginations within humanitarian economies, a term I use to refer to the organised systems of assistance provision that address people affected by war and rely on their own repertory of values and norms. Based on the research I conducted in northern Lebanon (Akkar) and Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahiye) between 2011 and 2013, it advances a critical reflection on the tension that exists between the philanthropic spirit of the humanitarian system as it is implemented in the “global South” (Butt 2002) and local and refugee responses to what I call “Southism”. The Southist intent of the Northern humanitarian system to care for, rescue, upgrade, and assist Southern settings – and that, as I will discuss later, partially transcends physical geographies combines personal affection with necessity, and collective compassion with professional aspirations. In this sense, I use the notion of Southism in a way that resonates with the “monumentalisation of the margins” (Spivak 1999, p. 170), which crystallises needs and areas of need in the global South while powerfully acknowledging the good intentionality of humanitarian workers. As such, I propose Southism both as a concept and a mode of analysis which indicates a structural relationship between different sets of providers and beneficiaries, rather than a mere act of assisting the South with a philanthropic spirit. Specifically, Southism, as a mode of analysis, is underpinned by a preconception of the South as disempowered and incapable, while cementing the “global South” as the key symbolic capital of Northern empowerment, accountability, and capability. To some extent, I think of Southism as a peculiar configuration of Orientalism (Said 1978). By departing from Said’s theory which aimed to capture the history and character of Western attitudes, ideologies and imaginations towards the East and by further problematizing West-East/North-South political geographies, I draw on Southism to enhance our