The quantification of needs
Joël Glasman
Combining historical research and ethnographic investigations, the Africanist historian Joël Glasman plunges us into the factory of the homo humanitarianus, the average individual, on the basis of which "needs" and aid projects today are assessed. This conversation took place on December 10th 2020, during a conference-debate at Crash.
How did humanitarian organisations come to describe and measure the suffering of victims using numerical indicators ? When did impartiality become synonymous with allocating aid on the basis of universally quantifiable, comparable and prioritised needs ? What are the power struggles, conflicts of interest and value at the origin of the "universal minimum standards" of the SPHERE project? How did a three-colored plastic bracelet, the MUAC, become one of the key instruments for measuring and qualifying the severity of a nutritional crisis?
These questions are central to the latest book by the Africanist historian Joël Glasman entitled Humanitarianism and the Quantification of the Human Needs. Minimal Humanity (Routledge Humanitarian Press, 2019). Combining historical research and ethnographic investigations, he immerses us in the factory of the homo humanitarianus, the average individual, on the basis of which "needs" and aid projects are assessed today. He told us about it on December 10th, 2020, during this conference and debate.
To cite this content :
Joël Glasman, “The quantification of needs”, 10 décembre 2020, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/conferences-debates/quantification-needs
If you want to criticize or develop this content, you can find us on twitter or directly on our site.
ContributePast events
Clinical trials, between science and financial and academic interests
10/08/2020 - 04:00 PM 06:00 PMPierre Chirac, pharmacist and editor of the journal Prescrire, presented his analysis of the pharmaceutical industry's influence strategies and the special interests of university hospital researchers, their consequences on the reliability of drug information and the means now required to rectify a harmful situation.
The quantification of needs
12/10/2020 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMCombining historical research and ethnographic investigations, the Africanist historian Joël Glasman plunges us into the factory of the homo humanitarianus, the average individual, on the basis of which "needs" and aid projects today are assessed. This conversation took place on December 10th 2020, during a conference-debate at Crash.
Territories: the illusion of identity
12/16/2019 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMConference-debate on Monday 16 December 2019, 6-8pm in the 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 14-34 avenue Jean Jaurès 75019 Paris. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
Can we talk about the specificities of the Middle East, Iran or the Mediterranean without reducing these territories to a culture or religion? On December 16, 2019, the CRASH team organised a conference-debate with Jean-François Bayart, a French political scientist who has devoted his work to the sociology of the State and identity illusions.
Motivations for mass violence: different interpretations
10/03/2019 - 04:00 PM 06:00 PMConference – debate, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6-8pm, 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 8 rue Saint Sabin. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
What turns ordinary men into killers? The CRASH team invited you to a conference – debate with the sociologist and historian, Nicolas Mariot, author of an article entitled « Faut-il être motivé pour tuer? Sur quelques explications aux violences de guerre » (Genèses, n°53, 2003, p. 154-177) and books such as “Face à la persécution. 991 Juifs dans la guerre" (with Claire Zalc, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010), “Tous unis dans la tranchée ? 1914-1918, les intellectuels rencontrent le peuple" (Paris, Seuil, 2013). Nicolas Mariot presented two different interpretations of motivations for mass violence in the 20th century, drawn from a series of studies and surveys on the subject.
Third-Worldism and Sans-Frontiérisme 1954-1988
04/11/2019 - 04:30 PM 06:30 PMEleanor Davey, historian of ideas and humanitarianism, senior lecturer at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute, University of Manchester, discusses her book, Idealism Beyond Borders. The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988, devoted to the intellectual history of sans-frontiérisme and Third-Worldism, in France, from the Algerian war to the early years of Médecins Sans Frontières.
Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s
12/17/2018 - 05:00 PM 07:00 PMThe CRASH team invited you to the debate-conference “Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s” on Monday 17th of December 2018 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room at the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. We hosted Caroline Izambert, who recently defended, at the EHESS, her PhD thesis focusing on the foreigners’ access to healthcare in France. Her title: “Heal foreigners?” The State and the civil society organisations for the health coverage of the poor and foreigners in France from the 1980s to the present day.