Humanitarian Crises: Concepts, Communication and Contestation
About the course
Traditional ideas and practices of global humanitarian action are undergoing fundamental changes in today’s polycrisis.
Students will explore contemporary concepts of humanitarianism, apply them to practical communication work and familiarize themselves with a wide range of critical views on the humanitarian system.
The course is structured along three key modules:
1. An introduction to contemporary concepts of humanitarian theory, policy, and practice.
2. An applied exercise that helps students to develop an understanding of ethical, empathetic, and impactful communication strategies in the humanitarian field.
3. A discussion of various contestations of traditional humanitarianism, including decolonial and Southern-led perspectives, or locally based approaches in the Global North.
Upon completion of the course students will have a thorough understanding of key debates around contemporary humanitarianism, global solidarity and “doing good”. Students will also create a communication product to learn first-hand what it means to engage with communication for social change. Lastly, students will be able to engage in complex debates from climate change to migration or development aid from “glocal” perspective that stress interconnectedness and social responsibility to turn support for “distant others” into global humanity.
Course content
The course is structured along three key themes:
1. An introduction to contemporary debates of humanitarian theory, policy, and practice.
2. An applied exercise that helps students to develop an understanding of ethical, empathetic, and impactful communication strategies in the humanitarian field.
3. A discussion of various contestations of traditional humanitarianism, including decolonial, Southern-led perspectives and/or or local approaches in the Global North.
Entry requirements and selection
Entry requirements
Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
The equivalent of Swedish secondary school English 6.
Selection
100% University credits completed
Course literature
Current literature list is available in the syllabus for the course
Course evaluation
Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).
