Do you have a book recommendation for a college class called "The Literature of...?

Question

...Humanitarianism"?
I want to pull together about five secular books and/or films, either fiction or memoir, on the theme of humanitarianism. My baseline book is "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time." The film "Ghandi" is my other core text. Clinton's new book "Giving" will be included in some way. I'm not interested in Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa or other church-affiliated figures. Good writing in English is a must. Translations okay if great. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Your choices are many but my top picks are below.



Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadwai. She is an Egyptian writer and the story is beyond amazing. It is hard for me to articulate about it, but I included it below. This would be my number one pick if you want something that shows what happens when a person's humanity is abused and how it changes them.



Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.



Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck



Island by Huxley



I also have a movie recommendation. I know you didn't ask for one, but it is actually quite amazing. The movie is Once Were Warriors and while it is a great sociological study, I think that it can show what happens to a people's humanity when they go from having a collective group dynamics where they are the warriors to one where the are the undesirables and the truly subjegated. It is hard to watch but I love it.



I hope that these help. Goog Luck

Answer 2

You might look at The Kite Runner. While it deals with a lack of humanitarianism in a certain way, it also shows the nature of compassion and guilt over a lack of compassion. I have taught it with great success. The students were compelled by it and also disturbed, which I think is a good combination. Also, Ann Patchett's Bel Canto is wonderful. Again, the students did not want the book to end. And, it looks at the nature of terrorism, what makes a terrorist, etc. And, there was an interview with her on NPR this morning (9/20) as well as a story on the making of the file The Kite Runner.



Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Books:



I, Robot by Isaac Asimov-- (not the movie, but the book)--It seems like an ironic suggestion considering its more about robots then humans. But I think it will add dimension to your paper. Humanitarianism is all about being kind and compassionate to all human beings, but you will find in this story, that the robots in Asimov's story sometimes act very human. It raises the question whether being in the species of Homo Sapiens enough to be called Human, and can the definition be also extended to creature who share the same capacities of "Human Beings".



I also will recommend any of the philosophical essays written by Peter Singer. Especially:

"Famine, Affluence, and Morality" by Peter Singer -- where he argues that people living in abundance should give away the part of their income they have in excess (and are usually used for luxury items) and give it to the poor to end World Poverty.



"Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer. Probably not a title you will expect for an assignment on humanitarianism (which is of course the point). Singer coined the word "speciesism" or the concept of human superiorty compared to animals. Singer tears apart this conception and asks us the question on how we define humanity and if animals can be defined as "human beings" as well. Will provide good arguments to defend your concepts once you read "I, Robot".



And my last suggestion would be a book about the villains of the holocaust in World War II. Sure the S.S. where cruel, but about the neighbors and friends who did nothing? What about the children who joined Hitler's youth and betrayed their parents? Nothing else can describe the opposite of humanitarianism. By defining what something is, it helps to describe what it isn't. Cant think of any books at the top of my head though.



Movies:



"The boy with the Striped Pajamas". The movie or the book. Its about a boy who befriends a boy in a concentration camp, and meets him (on the other side of the fence) to play. Perfect for the assignment. You can either concentrate on how unhumane the villains are to humans or you can concentrate on the kindness and courage in the boy.





well I hope this helps. Good luck

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I’m not sure if this is secular enough, because the short animal tales are all stories about the lives of the Buddha. But they are not presented as religious. They are much like fables and involve morals and self-sacrifice for the good of others.



The back cover says:

The stories ... tell of highly dramatic adventures that are resolved by non-violent and compassionate means. Challenging circumstances bring forth courage and the capacity to love, opening the way to solutions against seemingly impossible odds. They were retold in English by a Sufi princess (Noor's mother was American so she spoke English). She was very dedicated to humanitarian ideals, a pacifist who fought against the Nazis and was killed for it. Her story is amazing and inspiring, and the stories in her book were very meaningful to her.



I first heard about her when I read the book Between Silk and Cyanide, written by Leo Marks who trained her in how to encode her messages back to England, while she was a spy in occupied France. He wrote passionately about her and her beautiful book, although that wasn’t the main part of his story.

Answer 6

You may wish to consider the following book:





Civilians Under Fire: Humanitarian Practices in the Congo Republic, 1998-2000 (Paperback)

by Pierre Salignon (Editor), Marc Le Pape (Editor)







Editorial Reviews:



Book Description taken from from amazon.com

"How can we improve the aid we provide to victims of armed conflict?" asks Jean-Hervé Bradol, MD, in the opening pages of Civilians Under Fire, a new book released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Dr. Bradol, President of the international medical aid organization’s office in Paris, and several other medical experts from MSF try to answer this question by taking an introspective and self-critical look at the medical programs MSF ran in the Congo Republic (also known as Congo-Brazzaville) during a severe phase of the civil war that devastated the country from 1998-2000. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by the fighting, and many were killed.



In particular, Civilians Under Fire sheds light on the important ethical, medical, and practical considerations with which doctors and nurses struggled when making decisions about providing assistance to victims of rape, a group often overlooked by humanitarian organizations. The mission in the Congo Republic represented the organization’s first experience of setting up a specific program to assist the victims of sexual violence.



In the face of such massive displacement and a nutritional emergency in an atmosphere of extreme violence, MSF’s overall aid operations in the Congo Republic were impressive. But as Nicolas de Torrente, Executive Director of MSF-USA, notes in the introduction, "One of the main points conveyed in this collection of essays is that MSF could have, and should have, acted more quickly and assertively to address the specific medical needs of … the large number of women who were raped during this episode of the Congo Republic’s civil war." These essays not only offer tremendous insight into the limitations of emergency assistance but also how aid workers must adapt their programs in a rapidly evolving situation to help those in most need.



Such honest and sobering assessments make Civilians Under Fire a significant contribution to the study of humanitarian assistance, a book that will interest policy-makers, scholars, and general readers. Most important, though, the book will prove to be an invaluable resource for those on the front lines of humanitarian aid work concerned with improving the quality of emergency assistance delivered to people whose lives and dignity have been shattered by war."



This book is available at amazon.com or the Doctors Without Borders website.

Answer 7

anything by Khaled Hosseini, and perhaps check out some ethnographies on the subject, I see you have the middle east and s. asia covered in your material perhaps something from the lost boys of Sudan.