95. A Night on Earth

In his 2021 book, Night on Earth, Davide Rodongo, professor of international history and politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute, writes about humanitarian action during the 20th century interwar period. “What they aimed to do was delusional”, he told Lars Peter. “The reality is they did a few little good things in a few places…And they aimed to civilize the entire Near East.”

According to Davide, historians often argue that the past teaches us nothing. And yet, his recounting of the humanitarian sector’s inter-war period rhymes with the major themes we talk about on this podcast: localization, professionalism, paternalism and technology. Together, he and Lars Peter talk about what (and who) has changed, cracks in the humanitarian narrative, and how to tell the story right.

Davide’s book:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/night-on-earth/2BB5FC4E3AAE925C0AD6875F519BFD4B

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