Our Book of the Month choice for August

The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.

 

Imposing aid: emergency assistance to refugees

Barbara Harrell-Bond

Oxford University Press, 1986

Shelfmark: HV640.5.U35.HAR

 

 

 

The Book of the Month for August has been selected by Sarah Rhodes, Subject Consultant for Forced Migration, in memory of Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond who died on 11th July 2018.

 

 

 

Book Overview

Barbara Harrell-Bond’s seminal book Imposing Aid, was the first independent appraisal of an assistance programme mounted by international agencies in response to an emergency influx of refugees – in this case the Ugandans who spilled over the Sudanese border in the early months of 1982. Since its publication in 1986, it has been widely hailed as a key text in Anthropology and Refugee Studies, with far-reaching implications for policy and theory. Today the relevance of the themes raised in Imposing Aid, and its enduring influence on the shape of the discipline continue: the way humanitarian organisations work or do not work; the critical study of how such organisations may be paternalistic or unaccountable; the conflicts of interest and disparities of power which characterise the interactions between refugees and their ostensible helpers; and the place of refugees in the complex order of international emergency relief settings. Thirty years after the publication of Imposing Aid, these issues remain as urgent as ever. (Dr Will Jones, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) Trinity Term Seminar Series, 2016).

Tribute:

Refugee rights were more than just an academic area of study for Barbara, keeping the issue at the centre of the humanitarianism agenda and at the forefront of public consciousness, was a life-long commitment that she advocated for until the day she died. Refugee rights continue to have increasing social resonance today, an age when asylum and protections for refugees are the subject of continuous, fierce debate.

Professor Matthew Gibney, current Director of the RSC, said: ‘The RSC mourns the loss of its founder, a visionary scholar and a guiding light for people across the world who strive for a securer world for refugees’.

Read the full tribute here.

Where can I find it?

We have 5 loanable copies of this book and an additional copy that is for library use only. One of our loanable copies is currently displayed on top of our New Books Display Area (located around the corner from our Library Issue Desk). You are welcome to remove it from the display and take a look at it. The shelfmark for the title is   HV640.5.U35.HAR

We also have an electronic copy of the title. This can be accessed directly from a library computer or if you are accessing the title remotely, sign in with your SSO.  A link to it can be found on SOLO.

What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.

Call for Reading Lists for Michaelmas Term

Please send your reading lists to ssl-orders@bodleian.ox.ac.uk as soon as you can, by 28 August 2018 at the latest.

This will give us time to provide the resources your students need.

New books can take several weeks to arrive so we need to order them as soon as possible. We will be working hard to process the reading lists we receive over the next few weeks.

To find out more about the degree programmes we support, as well as guidance on how you can help us process your reading lists click here.

Maintenance work taking place in our main computer area (Mon 6 to Fri 10 Aug)

In the week Monday 6 August – Friday 10 August, there will be some maintenance work taking place, during Library opening hours, on the fire dampers under the floor in our main computer area.

Main Library PC Area

All the computers in this area (including Bloomberg, Eikon and other computers in our Data Area) will be unavailable during this period. You can instead use the computers in our Information Skills Training Room. Library staff will be happy to direct you to this area of follow the directional signage which will be placed near to the PCs.

The works are expected to include some drilling on both sides of the wall next to the computers, so this area may be noisy during this time. For those studying in the seating area adjacent to our main computer area, you may wish to move to the study spaces at the east side of our library.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

 

Take a look at our New Books web page to see titles added to stock in June

Take a look at our New Books web page to view the list of print and e-book titles that we added to stock in June.

The list is divided according to the subject indicated by the classification of the book.

Here are just a few of our recent purchases:

  

  

To discover which shelfmarks are appropriate for your research and teaching interests, please see our subject browsing guide

 

The New Books web page also showcases one of our Subject Librarian’s choices for the SSL Book of the Month.

Our Book of the Month choice for July

The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.

 

Would the world be better without the UN?

Thomas G. Weiss

Polity Press, 2018

Shelfmark: JZ4984.5.WEI 2018

 

 

 

The Book of the Month for July has been selected by Jo Gardner, Bodleian Social Science Librarian and Subject Consultant for Politics and International Relations.

The choice was inspired by the UN World Population Day on 11 July.

 

Book Overview

Do we need the United Nations? Two “what ifs” anchor this book: One, where would the contemporary world be without its largest intergovernmental organisation? Two, where could it be had the UN performed better? Thomas G. Weiss, a leading analyst of UN history and politics, explores these fundamental questions in Would the World be Better without the UN? He argues that the inward-looking and populist movements in electoral politics worldwide make multilateralism more, not less, compelling. There is a desperate need to reinvigorate rather than jettison the UN in responding to global threats from climate change to pandemics, from proliferation to terrorism. Weiss tells us why and how.

Reviews:

“I salute this book because it helps us to understand the crucial importance of the UN in tackling the considerable challenges facing the world today. Tom Weiss has engagingly and honestly asked a very tough question.. His negative reply is an indispensable guide for anyone worried about the future of the planet and of the UN.”
Kofi Annan

“If you can only read one book on the UN, this is it: Why the UN matters, what it needs to do better, and what we need to do to make that happen.”
Craig Murphy, Wellesley College and University of Massachusetts

Where can I find it?

We have one copy which is for library use only. It is currently displayed on top of our New Books Display Area (located around the corner from our Library Issue Desk). You are welcome to remove it from the display and take a look at it. The shelfmark for the title is  JZ4984.5.WEI 2018

What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.

Temporary disruption to PCAS print defaults on Library computers (Mon 25th June onwards)

The upgrade of our library computers to the Windows 10 operating system (taking place on Mon 25th and Tues 26th June) will affect their default print settings. Rather than black & white and double-sided, the default settings will be:

  • Colour
  • Single-sided

To offset the disruption, colour printing will be charged as black & white until a fix is provided. Prices for PCAS printing can be found here.

A guide can also be viewed here.

The default settings for printing from your laptop or other device via RemotePrint will remain unchanged, only printing from library computers is affected.

Please ask staff if you need any help with changing the settings and we apologise for the disruption to the standard service.

 

Take a look at our New Books web page to see titles added to stock in May

Take a look at our New Books web page to view the list of print and e-book titles that we added to stock in May.

The list is divided according to the subject indicated by the classification of the book.

Here are just a few of our recent purchases:

     

To discover which shelfmarks are appropriate for your research and teaching interests, please see our subject browsing guide

 

The New Books web page also showcases one of our Subject Librarian’s choices for the SSL Book of the Month.
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