Abstract
This paper is an account of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Brussel’s projects in Johannesburg from 2007 to 2013, drawing on the ethnographic research of an external researcher (Wilhelm-Solomon) and MSF health worker and project leader (Pedersen). We argue, based on this case study—spanning responses including interventions targeted at mass migration, xenophobic violence, cholera and finally involving health, waste and sanitation interventions in inner-city unlawfully occupied buildings—that urban humanitarianism in inner-city Johannesburg evolved from reworking contested humanitarian principles in dense and diverse urban spaces. We argue here that humanitarian interventions in urban spaces not only require a departure from short-term biomedical operations and evaluations but also a questioning of the politics and principles of humanitarianism. In particular, this requires emphasising solidarity over neutrality, and committing to long-term engagements without immediate and verifiable medical outcomes, in which sustaining relations of trust are paramount and adaptation is a key. In the case of MSF in inner-city Johannesburg, we argue that operations crossed the present borders of humanitarianism, and that this was tied to their achievements but also eventual limitations and project closure.
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Interview with Sharon Ekambaram, conducted by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, November 2012, Johannesburg
Operational analysis and advocacy strategies—mobile populations and urban violence in South Africa, Draft two 26th March 2010
We will use the more neutral term ‘vertical informal settlements’ unless referring to policy documents using the term ‘bad buildings’. However, it must be noted that in state policies like the Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme (UISP), these buildings are not formally classified as informal settlements.
Ibid
Interview with Lynn Wilkinson, by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, December 2010, Johannesburg.
Conversation with SERI representatives, September 2014.
Interview with Sharon Ekambaram, December, 2010, Johannesburg
Interview with MSF community worker, December 2010, Johannesburg
Milton Court Meeting Minutes August 2012
Interview with Dark City committee member, January 2013, Johannesburg
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Acknowledgments
The original research by Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon was conducted on an AW Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand. Follow-ups and final revisions were conducted as part of follow-up research and final revisions as part of Volkswagen Foundation grant ‘Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities in Sub Saharan Africa and North Africa’ also hosted by the ACMS in collaboration with the institute. Thank you to all the MSF staff and inner-city residents, both named and unnamed, who shared their experiences for this article. Thank you to Professor Jo Vearey for her editorial input on this article and to the two blind peer reviewers. This paper is a part of the Urban Forum special edition entitled “(Well)Being in the City: a focus on health and migration in Johannesburg”.
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Wilhelm-Solomon, M., Pedersen, J. Crossing the Borders of Humanitarianism: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Inner-City Johannesburg. Urban Forum 28, 5–26 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-016-9285-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-016-9285-9