MC429 Half Unit
Humanitarian Communication: Realities, Challenges and Critiques
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Lilie Chouliaraki
Dr Suzanne Harris
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and Fudan), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and UCT), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and USC), MSc in Media, Communication and Development and MSc in Strategic Communications and Society. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Priority will normally be given to students enrolled on Media and Communications degree programmes; however, course specific availability is indicated via the 'Availability' section of each individual course guide webpage. The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated at the Department's discretion. Students are advised to have an alternative course in mind in case they are unable to secure their first-choice course selection.
A list of all taught master's courses in this Department are listed on the Department's Course Selection and Videos webpage.
Students who have this course listed as compulsory are guaranteed a place and no written statement is required.
For all other students, places on these controlled access courses will be allocated via a random ballot process with priority given to students with the course listed on their programme regulations, followed by other Department of Media and Communications students, then students from elsewhere in the School. By submitting an application, students are confirming that they meet any pre-requisites specified. Providing an additional written statement will not aid a student's chances of being accepted onto a course that does not require a written statement.
Deadline for application: Students required to take this compulsory course will be automatically enrolled on LSE for You.
All other students must apply by 10am UK time on Friday 26 September 2025. No offers will be made before this deadline. Offers will be made after 10am and will continue until all places are filled.
For queries contact: Contact Media.MSc@lse.ac.uk with queries.
Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.
This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, priority will be given to students who have the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.
Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.
Course content
In this course, we explore the changing practices of humanitarian communication in the 21st century by addressing questions such as: What are the histories of humanitarian communication? How is it changing today and why? What are the tensions and dilemmas that organizations face as they struggle to communicate the plight of distant others? What kind of politics of visibility and voice is played out in humanitarian communication? What are the ideological and ethical positions informing and informed by the digital narratives and spectacles of vulnerable others - and how do these change when ‘others’ speak for themselves? And finally, what are the challenges of 21st century humanitarian communication and can we do it better? Today more than ever, images and narratives of vulnerable people in zones of poverty, disaster, violence and conflict routinely populate our everyday lives. They are produced by a wide range of organisations and individuals, and appear on a wide range of platforms, including NGO websites, news networks, social media and celebrity advocacy.
To explore these issues, students will work with case studies to debate the theoretical principle and empirical realities of humanitarian communication, its contemporary power relations, and the tensions and complexities that underpin its practices and effects.
Teaching
30 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
Formative assessment
All students are expected to complete advance reading, and to prepare and deliver a short presentation.
Indicative reading
- Amin, S. 2011. Maldevelopment: Anatomy of a Global Failure. London: Pambazuka Press.
- Boltanski, L. 1999. Distant suffering: Morality, media and politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Barnett, M. 2020. Humanitarianism and human rights: A world of differences? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Barnett,M. 2011. Empire of humanity: a history of humanitarianism. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
- Bernal, V. and Grewal, I. 2014. Theorizing NGOs: states, feminisms, and neoliberalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Bunce, M. (2019). Humanitarian Communication in a Post-Truth World, Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, Vol. 1(1), pp.49-55.
- Butler, J. 2006. Precarious life: the powers of mourning and violence. London: Verso.
- Calhoun C. 2008. The Imperative to Reduce Suffering: Charity, Progress, and Emergencies in the Field of Humanitarian Action. In Barnett, M. Weiss, T. (eds.) Humanitarianism in Question. Politics, Power, Ethics. Ithaca: Cornell University, pp. 73-97.
- Chouliaraki, L. 2012. The Ironic Spectator. Cambridge: Polity.
- Chouliaraki, L. and Vestergaard, A. (Eds) 2022. The Routledge Handbook of Humanitarian Communication. New York: Routledge.
- Kurasawa, F. 2019. On humanitarian virality: Kony 2012, or, the rise and fall of a pictorial artifact in the digital age. Visual Communication, Vol 18 (3), pp.399–423.
- Giacomelli, E., Parmiggiani, P., Pierluigi, M. 2020. The invisible enemy and the usual suspects: how Covid-19 re-framed migration in Italian media representations. Sociologia della comunicazione, Vol. 60, (2) pp.119-136.
- Kapoor, I. (2013). Celebrity Humanitarianism: The Ideology of Global Charity. Routledge.
- Mignolo, W. 2000. Local histories/global designs: coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Seu,I.B. and Orgad, S. (eds). 2017. Caring in crisis?: Humanitarianism, the public and NGOs. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Silverstone, R. 2007. Media and morality: On the rise of the mediapolis. Pp, 136-161. Cambridge: Polity.
- Sontag, S. 2003. Regarding the pain of others. London: Penguin.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words)
Key facts
Department: Media and Communications
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 31
Average class size 2024/25: 31
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication