The Biafran War and postcolonial humanitarianism : spectacles of suffering /

"In the summer of 1968, audiences around the globe were shocked when newspapers and TV stations confronted them with photographs of starving children in the secessionist Republic of Biafra. This global concern fundamentally changed how the Nigerian Civil War was perceived: an African civil war...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Heerten, Lasse (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Series:Human rights in history.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:"In the summer of 1968, audiences around the globe were shocked when newspapers and TV stations confronted them with photographs of starving children in the secessionist Republic of Biafra. This global concern fundamentally changed how the Nigerian Civil War was perceived: an African civil war that had been fought for one year without fostering any substantial interest from international publics became "Biafra" - the epitome of humanitarian crisis. Based on archival research from North America, Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, this book is the first comprehensive study of the global history of the conflict. A major addition to the flourishing history of human rights and humanitarianism, it argues that the global moment "Biafra" is closely linked to the ascendance of human rights, humanitarianism, and Holocaust memory in a postcolonial world. The conflict was a key episode for the re-structuring of the relations between "the West" and the "Third World.""--Provided by publisher.
Physical Description:xiv, 398 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-392) and index.
ISBN:9781107111806
1107111803