TY - JOUR
T1 - A world of emergencies
T2 - Fear, intervention, and the limits of cosmopolitan order
AU - Calhoun, Craig
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2004/11
Y1 - 2004/11
N2 - Interventions into "complex humanitarian emergencies" have become a central part of global society. This article provides an account of the construction of "emergencies" in terms of a social imaginary that gives characteristic form to both perception and action. This imaginary shapes the definition and rhetoric of emergencies, the ways in which they are produced and recognized, and the organization of intervention. It reflects both anxiety in the face of risk and a pervasive modern faith in capacity to manage problems. Though the events demanding these interventions - for example, in Sudan - are often presented as transparently compelling, the "social imaginary of emergencies" conceptually structures this system.
AB - Interventions into "complex humanitarian emergencies" have become a central part of global society. This article provides an account of the construction of "emergencies" in terms of a social imaginary that gives characteristic form to both perception and action. This imaginary shapes the definition and rhetoric of emergencies, the ways in which they are produced and recognized, and the organization of intervention. It reflects both anxiety in the face of risk and a pervasive modern faith in capacity to manage problems. Though the events demanding these interventions - for example, in Sudan - are often presented as transparently compelling, the "social imaginary of emergencies" conceptually structures this system.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1755-618x.2004.tb00783.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1755-618x.2004.tb00783.x
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:12344288036
SN - 0008-4948
VL - 41
SP - 373
EP - 395
JO - Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology
JF - Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology
IS - 4
ER -