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Short abstract

This talk is unearthing the ShelterBox. Ten years ago, this humanitarian innovation was given to flood victims in southern Malawi. My ethnographic engagement with its remnants reveals what recovery entails, how material aid does (not) work, and what it means to live from and despite floods.

Long abstract

Humanitarian aid relies on a growing variety of relief supplies to provide shelter for the increasing number of people displaced by conflicts and natural disasters (Scott-Smith 2019). Since the paradigm shift towards innovation (Müller and Sou 2019), new items should make aid more efficient, secure funding, and offer technical solutions to crises. Design processes and early application of the Ikea Better Shelter (Brownell 2020), the Lifestraw (Redfield 2016), and solar lamps (Cross 2013) have been critically discussed. However, what happens to humanitarian innovations after they are invented or deployed in disaster relief? This talk is unearthing the ShelterBox. Ten years ago, this humanitarian innovation from a British charity was given to flood victims in southern Malawi. For those who lost their homes, the ShelterBox, filled with family tents, blankets, buckets, sleeping mats, and kitchen sets, was meant to provide temporary shelter. My ethnographic engagement with the remnants of these items reveals their own stories about material aid in flood relief. Never-used goods, never-rebuilt houses, or goods that are used far beyond their expiration date disrupt the notion of a disaster relief cycle. Remnants of aid items woven into soils obscure the intention of providing aid with doing environmental harm caused by non-degradable materials. Repurposed goods blur the boundaries between humanitarian and development aid in disaster-prone communities. Looking at the residues of humanitarian innovations shows controversies about the memories of the relief supplies received, wondering about the whereabouts of missing goods, and everyday uses of the found aid items.