The research outlined in this thesis explores the practice of providing humanitarian aid to refugees and displaced persons in Bangladesh. This aid, offered in a limited way by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) is similar to aid provided to refugees in many other parts of the world, however my research reflects the specificities of research in Bangladesh, the particular conditions of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar (Burma) and the practices of aid work in a Muslim-identified aid organization.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of this kind of aid as a response to protracted refugee situations. Rohingya refugees, the recipients of this aid, fled to Bangladesh in successive waves beginning in the 1970s, leaving villages in Myanmar where they faced extreme levels of persecution, violence and discrimination. Although the government of Bangladesh initially welcomed the Rohingya, in subsequent years, the government has sought to return Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. Approximately 28,000 refugees remain in two camps run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and another approximately 60,000 refugees (without official refugee status) live in camps run by INGOs.
The bulk of my fieldwork was conducted conducted between June 2011 and September 2012 using participant observation, interviews and focus groups in one of these INGO-run camps.
Other research on humanitarian aid tends to focus on either the practical challenges of aid work or the philosophical and ethical shortcomings of the system. In this thesis, I examine the day-to-day practices of aid workers, the challenges they face, the contributions they make and the conflicts that arise from their work. This dissertation argues that humanitarian intervention, as it is currently practiced in Bangladesh, while marked by inefficiencies, corruption and conflict, does improve the material lives of the refugees it seeks to assist. I also argue that humanitarian aid, as currently practiced, is fundamentally weakened by the premise that humanitarian crises are short term and by the shared understanding that host countries can set absurdly impossible restrictions on refugees and aid workers. One key contribution I make is to examine the experiences of expatriate aid workers, situating their work as migrant laborers who cope with precarity and the instability of humanitarian crises.