MESA Graduate Student Paper Prize

 

The award committee is pleased to announce “Contaminating Humanitarianism: Cholera, Nationalism, and the (Un)Regulated Life of Syrians in Lebanon” as the winner of the 2024 award. “Contaminating Humanitarianism” presents a theoretically rich and ethnographically nuanced discussion of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, nationalist politics, and the omnipresent threat of contaminations. The author does an impressive job of bridging conversations between environmental anthropology and the anthropology of migration and humanitarianism; as well as creatively reworking and expanding older anthropological theory for new purposes. The paper uses contaminated water as a lens for thinking about the perceived danger posed by (un)regulated Syrians. Through a contemplation of purity, impurity, and contamination, this paper analyzes why it is that some in Lebanon are wary of the presence of Syrian refugees, how the narratives about these refugees take hold, and offers a contemplation of the rituals that may offer a hope towards resolving these anxieties. It offers an original perspective on growing tendencies (not just in Lebanon) towards nationalism and xenophobia directed towards immigrants, refugees, and displaced persons more broadly.