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Medical care, humanitarianism and intimacy in the long Second World War, 1931-1953

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This book offers fresh perspectives on the history of humanitarianism and medical care during the long Second World War, tracing circulations of humanitarian actors, discourses, knowledge, and prac...
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  • 29 July 2025
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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’.
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Price: £25.00
Pages: 298
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Series: Cultural History of Modern War
Publication Date: 29 July 2025
ISBN: 9781526183477
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:

Diplomacy, Public international law: humanitarian law, History of medicine, General and world history, Second World War

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'Good international history challenges our interpretations of the past, deepens our understanding of contemporary developments, and sets new paths for future research. For all these reasons, this landmark volume deserves a wide readership. By investigating the imperial context and multi-faceted development of humanitarianism (1931–52), it provides essential context for the debates and challenges in the contemporary humanitarian sector.'
Susan Armstrong-Reid, Social History of Medicine

Introduction: 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. Africa, the Africans, and the Red Cross: Assessing the Impact of the Long Second World War (1935-1950), Marie-Luce Desgrandchamps

3 (Un)Settling Intimacies. Boundaries of Aid in a North African Refugee Camp, 1944–1946 Esther Möller and Katharina Stornig

4 “National Defense Medicine”: Chinese-style physicians and medical relief during the war against Japan Jean Corbi


5 ‘There is no Enemy Here!’ Humanitarian Rhetoric in South America during the Second World War: Peru/Ecuador François Bignon

6 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

7 Cultural actors in rehabilitation: WW2 craft therapy and White, ableist, heteronormative masculinity Jennifer Way

8 Trauma of Warfare: Maxillofacial Surgery and Medical Relief in Wartime China, 1948 to 1956 Jinghong Zhang

9 Dying on enemy ground. The ICRC and the German soldiers killed in France during WWII Taline Garibian

Index