This book explores underexamined sites of interactions and encounters between humanitarians and medical workers during the long Second World War (1931-1953). It traces circulations of humanitarian actors, knowledge, and practices across the world from a conflict to another. In doing so, it demonstrates that the conflict brought about unlikely aid coalitions and intimate networks of aid, and led to a transformation of the relationships between some European organisations and colonial 'peripheries', leading to the emergence of new activities and actors. This book also interrogates the traditional dichotomy between civilian and military cultures of rehabilitation, and readdresses the role of the United States and its rise as a 'humanitarian superpower'.
Edited by:
Marie-Luce Desgrandchamps,
Laure Humbert,
Bertrand Taithe,
Raphaële Balu
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 17mm
Weight: 493g
ISBN: 9781526183477
ISBN 10: 1526183471
Series: Cultural History of Modern War
Pages: 298
Publication Date: 05 November 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Further / Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Introduction: Humanitarianism and Medical Care during the ‘Long’ Second World War, 1931-1953 Marie Luce Desgrandchamps, Laure Humbert, Bertrand Taithe and Raphaële Balu 1 Humanitarianism, Estrangement and Intimacies during the ‘long’ Second World War: New Historiographical Perspectives Laure Humbert 2 Colonial Medicine and ‘Black Strength’ in the French colonies of Africa during the ‘long’ Second World War Delphine Peiretti-Courtis 3 Africa, the Africans, and the Red Cross: Assessing the Impact of the Long Second World War (1935-1950) Marie-Luce Desgrandchamps 4 (Un)Settling Intimacies: Boundaries of Aid in a North African Refugee Camp, 1944–1946 Esther Möller and Katharina Stornigi 5 “National Defense Medicine”: Chinese-style physicians and medical relief during the war against Japan Jean Corbi 6 ‘There is no Enemy Here!’ Humanitarian Rhetoric in South America during the Second World War: Peru/Ecuador François Bignon 7 Unitarian Service Committee’s activities with refugee populations and the Resistance in France during and after the Second World War Jon Arrizabalaga and Àlvar Martínez-Vidal 8 Cultural actors in rehabilitation: WW2 craft therapy and White, ableist, heteronormative masculinity Jennifer Way 9 Trauma of Warfare: Maxillofacial Surgery and Medical Relief in Wartime China, 1948 to 1956 Jinghong Zhang 10 Dying on enemy ground. The ICRC and the German soldiers killed in France during WWII Taline Garibian -- .
Marie Luce Desgrandchamps, Lecturer, University of Geneva, Senior Researcher, University of Fribourg. Laure Humbert, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester. Bertrand Taithe, Professor, University of Manchester. Raphaele Balu, Editorial Manager, Sorbonne University.
