The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies welcomes Cecilia Lynch.
Attention to “religion” in the work of humanitarians broadly-conceived (including both development and emergency relief actors) is on the rise, as is interrogating the reasons why humanitarians do what they do, and the role of religious actors in the broader “humanitarian international." Drawing on interviews with Muslim and Christian humanitarians in multiple sites, Cecelia Lynch (Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine and Kroc Institute Visiting Research Fellow) addresses the hermeneutics of religion in contemporary humanitarian action. She focuses on concepts and tensions important for peace-building that emerge from the “popular casuistry” of actors who navigate the principles of their faiths in difficult contexts.