Anthropology of religion and humanitarian aid

[xx Little Wanderer]

Anthro friends,

After years of exploring various fields, I'm finally closing in on my longtime dream of breaking into the field of humanitarian aid (through anthropology). 

I'm interested in applying to doctoral programs this fall to research humanitarian aid, ethics, and the role of religion with a focus on China/Asia. I majored in English in undergrad and have a first master's in religion. I did a one-year conversion course in social anthropology because I was drawn to the anthropological research method but still feel relatively ignorant about the field, particularly in terms of strong universities, programs and better known faculty. Eventually I would like to transition into doing research for a large international NGO to improve humanitarian practices.

Any advice? What are some great Anthropology programs for studying humanitarian aid, ethics, and religion, hive-mind? (I am applying for PhD programs)

Thanks in advance for your response(s)! 

[yezzy123]

I typed a whole thing and the page timed out ?

So shortened: I have a related but not matching research interest. Here are some folks you may want to take a look at that study the anthropology of specifically medical humanitarianism:

Catherine Panter-Brick

Peter Redfield

Joao Biehl (less about humanitarianism and more about global health, but I believe he has a background in religion)

Byron Good (recent work on medical Humanitarianism and has done a ton of work on E. Asia)

Nicole Berry (again, not humanitarianism but her work on medical missions may be of interest. She discusses "warm-glow giving" which you may find interesting)

 

Hope this helps!

[xx Little Wanderer]

Awesome, thanks for re-typing for me!

That's helpful and I'm excited to look into a few of these names. I just came across Redfield independently of this, so it's cool to see his name.

Btw, just discovered Nitsan Chorev, who works in int'l dev at Brown. Brown has a Graduate Program in Development, which is not a separate degree but would enable anthro and other social sciences students to take courses and training related to development. Just FYI.

 

It does help. Cheers!