C3-Bibliothek für Entwicklungspolitik, Foyer
The Ideology of Celebrity Humanitarianism - Kapuscinski Development Lecture
with Ilan Kapoor, Professor of Critical Development Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
Celebrity charity work is deeply tainted and ideological. Its altruistic pretensions are belied by several accompaniments: its tendency to promote both the celebrity’s brand and the image of the ‘caring’ (Western) nation; its entrenchment in a marketing and promotion machine that helps advance corporate capitalism and rationalizes the very global inequality it seeks to redress; its support to a ‘post-democratic’ liberal political system that is outwardly democratic and populist, yet, for all intents and purposes, conducted by unaccountable elites; and its use and abuse of the 'Third World', making Africa, in particular, a background for First World hero-worship and a dumping ground for humanitarian ideals and fantasies. But what about our own complicity in this ideological work? As audience members and fans, or indeed even as detractors or critics, we too easily carry on our lives, consoled that someone is doing the charity work for us, just as long as we don’t have to.
organzied by the Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE) and the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna, the European Commission and UNDP
› Videos:
› Interview mit Prof. Ilan Kapoor
› Kapuscinski Development Lecture
› Interview Ilan Kapoor "Wiener Zeitung"
› Ilan Kapoor in der Ö1-Sendung „Praxis – Religion und Gesellschaft“
› Madonna, Bono und Co. in Afrika – Wohltätigkeit im Kapitalismus. (Artikel zur Veranstaltung)