Paper short abstract:

This paper represents a first investigatory exploration into the problems of everyday life faced by Western aid workers in relation to their multi-scalar homes - whether that be at destination, at point of origin, or any other real or imaginary places.

Paper long abstract:

Previously neglected, the study of aid workers has sparked a notable amount of academic interest since the beginning of the new millennium, generating a new body of work which analyses the particular problematics and practices of these transnational workers. The context within which their work takes place has been represented symbolically as "Aidland", a term coined by Raymond Apthorpe (Mosse, 2011), or as "Peaceland" (Autesserre 2014), places that are contrasted against a "Homeland", whether real or imaginary, that becomes obscured beneath practices of transnational mobility and hyper-flexibility in complex and dangerous environments. The scales of home have been studied implicitly in much research on aid workers, although the main focus has usually been on other issues.

My piece will be based primarily on a state-of-the-art overview of the topic. Secondly, I will draw on an autoethnography of my own experiences in various settings, homes, periods and roles: as a volunteer in Mexico 2007 and in Kosovo 2008, working in Gambia 2009-2010, as accompanying person in Morocco 2011 and as a researcher in Haiti 2012 and DR Congo 2014. Finally I will also draw on a number of in depth interviews of aid workers - 2014 and continuing into 2015 - which will use "life history" as a methodology aimed to uncover their life paths.

Bibliography

Autesserre, S. (2014) Peaceland. Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention. NewYork: Cambridge University Press

Mosse, D. (ed.) (2011) Adventures in Aidland: The anthropology of professionals in international development. Oxford: Berghahn