Limits of Anthropology of Humanitarian Aid and Development : An Overview

The humanitarian aid and development assistance have gain momentum as hot topics and have created expectations as well as problems to policymakers and practitioners of both humanitarian action and development assistance.Both refer to the delivery of humanitarian aid and long-term development assistance to improve the economic well-being of the most marginalized and to alleviate poverty.Distinct actors are motivated to cooperate regardless how the situation is defined.The humanitarian aid and development distinct to each other, but they are characterized by great internal diversity.There is a connection between anthropology and humanitarian action as well as anthropology and development.Then, the anthropology of humanitarian aid and development is considered as a social and global anthropology.The anthropologists involvement as intermediaries between humanitarian aid or development assistance providers/donors and aid recipients/beneficiaries contribute to enhance their results.However, there are limits regarding their actions in practices given the growing complexity of humanitarian aid and development assistance.Therefore, this study attempts to identify the factors that prevent the application of anthropological perspectives to the humanitarian aid and development assistance.This qualitative study uses the secondary data from journals, articles, books, and internet sources.The argument of this study is that development anthropology as a field for practitioners can boost the humanitarian aid and development assistance despite the obstacles that can hinder its actions in their relationship.