Limiting Chaos: Humanitarianism and the Organization of Refugee Crises

• In Event: 495 - Regular Session. Organizations: Actors and Decision-Making

Abstract

Although sociologists have long addressed the dynamics of on the ground service provision by organizations and documented the often ad hoc nature of street-level bureaucracy across many contexts, the mechanisms of service provision in light of overwhelming needs and restricted resources in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) remains understudied. Drawing upon interviews with aid workers in NGOs that assist refugees in Kenya and ethnographic observation in a refugee camp, this article proposes that staff manage the many varied needs of a large refugee population by enacting a system of organizational limits. These limits are rooted in and depend on the physical layout of service facilities, which aid workers use to manage needs and numbers by restricting their contact with refugee clients Limiting contact, they restrict scheduling and clients and limit goals to qualitative measures. These limits have the dual function of creating bottlenecks to manage refugee demands, as well as to help workers guard against emotional burn out. Controlling emotions is especially essential for staff in the case of a refugee camp, where they both live and work. These limits are constructed and reinforced by co-workers and breeching a limit risks censure from colleagues, accusations of fraud and chaos.

Author

• Blair Suzanne Sackett, University of Pennsylvania