Rethinking Humanitarianism and Seeing Beyond the Human
Channel: Simpson Center
Date: 02/06/2021

Rethinking humanitarianism and seeing beyond the human, Nermeen Mouftah and Juno Salazar Parreñas invite us to think about empathy beyond human relations and how human-animal relations are forged and tested in the service of humanitarian work.  In each talk, these scholars explore our theme, Rethinking the Human, by attending to what a common humanity would be if we take into consideration our relations with non-humans and the environment. Recorded from live webinar May 6, 2021.

Part of the Mellon Sawyer Seminar speaker series "Humanitarianisms: Migrations & Care through the Global South." Made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & supported by the Simpson Center for the Humanities.  

*Learn more about the series:* 
✔ https://www.humanitarianisms.org/

*Clickable Chapter Markers*
00:00 Introduction to series
03:14 Introduction to speakers & discussant
05:02 Nermeen Mouftah: Sacrificial Skins: The Value of Pakistan’s Eid Al-Azha Animal Hide Collection
05:48 Al-Kidhmat Foundation: Rethinking humanitarianism in Muslim contexts
06:51 Animal sacrifice as a humanitarian rite, qurbani in Pakistan
07:56 Collection of animal hides as a fundraising practice
09:55 Decline in market value of hides and animal hide collection as a sacrificial act
11:35 Animal sacrifice as organizational ritual, mechanization, and voluntary work
14:48 Reclaiming a cosmological hierarchy, distinguishing the human, caring for the animal as the prerequisite for sacrifice
20:08 Concluding remarks: Sacrifice for God, Service to Humanity
21:32 Juno Salazar Parreñas: A Common Humanity in a Post-Human Era 
23:14 Two crises disturbing the common humanity: extinction of species and fortressing of nation-state borders
24:39 History of racism in science, practices of dehumanization, and animalization of racialized subjects
25:54 Post-humanism, animals  individuality, and humans kept in cages
27:30 Three historical moments: War on terror, microbiology and the three-domain system, and critiques of European liberal humanism
30:45 Questioning the project of common humanity and rethinking the human
34:54 Concluding remarks: An alternative framework of common humanity, humans and ecologies as mutually constitutive

Produced & edited by Simpson Center for the Humanities Program & Events Manager Caitlin Palo; assistance from Simpson Center Communications Manager C.R. Grimmer.

Full Webinar Credits: 
Co-Convened by Professors Arzoo Osanloo (Law, Societies, & Justice; Director, Middle East Center, UW) & Cabeiri Robinson (International Studies, Comparative Religions, & South Asian Studies, UW) & 
Discussant: Jenna Grant (Anthropology, UW)
Moderator: Gözde Burcu Ege (Mellon Sawyer Doctoral Fellow)
Chapter Markings: Mediha P. Sorma (Mellon Sawyer Doctoral Fellow)
Poster & Background Graphic Design: Ana Karina Luna 
Intro/Outro Music:  Lobo Loco, “Night at Sahara Dune” on Diversity of Life. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 
Video Production & Editing by Caitlin Palo 
Video Consultant: C.R. Grimmer

*Description of Nermeen Mouftah's and Juno Salazar Parreñas' prepared remarks*

Nermeen Mouftah, “Sacrificial Skins: The Value of Pakistan’s Eid al-Azha Animal Hide Collection”
In Pakistan, NGOs compete annually to collect and auction the animal skins of Eid al-Azha (Feast of the Sacrifice). This talk examines how the welfare branch of the Islamist party, Jama’at-i-Islami, invests in a risky fundraising ritual that animates the value of sacrifice in their humanitarian work. 

Juno Salazar Parreñas, “Empathy Beyond the Human in an Era of Inhumanity”
Two contemporary crises worry me: species extinction and the fortressing of nation-state borders that deny the nature of people, who like many other earthly beings, move around the world. What empathies can emerge in this contemporary age that is dually characterized by inhumanity towards humans and humanitarianism towards animals? 
 
*Speaker Bios*
Nermeen Mouftah is Assistant Professor of Religion at Butler University. Her ethnographic research examines the political and religious implications of Muslim social welfare practices.
Juno Salazar Parreñas is Assistant Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, and  is the author of Decolonizing Extinction (Duke UP, 2018). 


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