Three features make the CIHA Blog unique:
First, we are trans-continental, currently based at six research institutions: l’Université Gaston Berger (Senegal), the University of Ghana, Legon, Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations (HIPSIR) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) in Africa, and the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Rochester in the United States. African scholarship and leadership are critical for understanding the pros and cons of humanitarian and development aid on the continent, yet aid debates still too often take place as though they do not exist. We are committed to the kind of inclusive and egalitarian partnerships that we believe should characterize humanitarian, academic, and policy relationships of all kinds.
Second, we strive to include religious as well as secular actors and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), along with academics, students, and other observers, as we highlight religious contributions and problems in the practice of humanitarianism. Religion is of critical importance on the continent, as much if not more so than elsewhere in the world. From the impact of missionary histories to the multiple forms of religious beliefs and practices in humanitarianism today, there is a fundamental need to engage in critical yet productive discussion about the uncomfortable associations of religious humanitarianism with colonialism, slavery, neo-colonial exploitation, and neo-liberal forms of paternalism, as well as more positive associations with commitments to education, healthcare, and the affirmation of human dignity in humanitarian interventions, especially including the dignity of aid recipients. Religious actors and organizations have been involved in harmful practices as well as engaged in resistance to them; many have also been the primary initiators of emancipatory strategies of thought and action. Their histories and commitments, therefore, need to be analyzed and brought into an inclusive yet critical dialogue.
Third, we strive to include the ever-increasing number of university and graduate students in Africa, the West, and beyond, who are eager to engage with humanitarian and development projects. The next generation of African scholars, religious leaders, NGO representatives, and policymakers are the future leaders of the continent, and they should be able to determine its future needs. Moreover, both they and their non-African peers should be provided with opportunities for critically-informed thinking regarding the problematic legacies as well as the possibilities for more egalitarian collaboration in humanitarian endeavors in Africa as well as other parts of the world. The student editorial assistants working on the Blog specialize in areas of religion, gender, and development, forming what we hope will be an ever-expanding, inter-generational collective at the forefront of carrying out the Blog’s commitment to equality, justice and respect. Because our students are anglophone as well as francophone, we strive to make this blog bilingual whenever possible.
CIHA Blog developed out of a conference of the same name organized by one of the editors at the University of California, Irvine, in January 2009. A grant from the Henry Luce Foundation in 2012 enabled us to solidify relationships among institutions in Africa and North America. A subsequent conference held in December 2012, “UCI and Africa: Expanding Engagements, Ongoing Dialogues,” further expanded the Blog’s network, formalizing the relationship by adding new co-editors and editorial assistants, as well as highlighting a number of ongoing questions about humanitarianism, aid, and religion that the Blog will continue to address. We are very grateful to the Henry Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Religion in International Affairs for a second three-year grant, which is funding our current work.