Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AISLES (Archipelagic Imperatives: Shipwreck and Lifesaving in European Societies since 1800)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-11-01 do 2023-04-30
The project pursues the history of humanitarian shipwreck relief in European societies from c. 1800 onward. Around this time, in the context of a wider social movement for the formation of volunteer lifeboat stations a novel moral imperative emerged: to always attempt the rescue of the shipwrecked almost regardless of the personal danger to the rescuers, in short, to risk lives to save lives. Previously, rescues had not been uncommon, but occurred typically in opportune circumstances only. Seeking existential risk had been treated as beyond what could be required of reasonable moral subjects. Some formulations of the ethos of saving lives from shipwreck went so far as to do away with rationality as a key to morality. A "folie de dévouement," a "frenzy (or madness) of devotion" was demanded of volunteers in France, for instance.
Lifeboat associations are an early, neglected case of humanitarian movement. Humanitarian movements are commonly defined as predominantly secular collective initiatives to bring succor to distant suffering strangers. The project makes use of the case of saving lives from shipwreck to explore a peculiar feature of humanitarian movements, in general: their reliance on moral imperatives that are directed exclusively at specific types of situation (shipwreck, but not e.g. the often miserable working lives of sailors). The “single issue” nature of humanitarian concerns is analyzed also through a study of the relations lifeboat associations maintained with other humanitarian movements, concerning proximate matters such as first aid, or, less adjacently, the abolition of slavery. The wider aim is to understand how the tremendous spread of often incoherent humanitarian “issues” over the course of the modern era has created a novel moral culture that also continues to shape our present time.
The project therefore also brings its historical insights to bear on the analysis of the changing perceptions of shipwreck relief in the present. On account of the ongoing, seemingly permanent crisis of refugee and migrant shipwreck especially in the Mediterranean Sea, the rescue of the shipwrecked has of late seen an unprecedented level of politicization. The historical perspective helps us to explain many of the respective patterns of public reaction as following the linguistic and practical patterns produced by the history of humanitarian morality. This appears significant for the improvement of the self-understanding of modern societies.
The primary objective of the project is to work out a comprehensive historical account of the humanitarian saving of lives from shipwreck, in the form of a scholarly monograph by the PI and accompanying studies by the team.
Lifeboat associations are an early, neglected case of humanitarian movement. Humanitarian movements are commonly defined as predominantly secular collective initiatives to bring succor to distant suffering strangers. The project makes use of the case of saving lives from shipwreck to explore a peculiar feature of humanitarian movements, in general: their reliance on moral imperatives that are directed exclusively at specific types of situation (shipwreck, but not e.g. the often miserable working lives of sailors). The “single issue” nature of humanitarian concerns is analyzed also through a study of the relations lifeboat associations maintained with other humanitarian movements, concerning proximate matters such as first aid, or, less adjacently, the abolition of slavery. The wider aim is to understand how the tremendous spread of often incoherent humanitarian “issues” over the course of the modern era has created a novel moral culture that also continues to shape our present time.
The project therefore also brings its historical insights to bear on the analysis of the changing perceptions of shipwreck relief in the present. On account of the ongoing, seemingly permanent crisis of refugee and migrant shipwreck especially in the Mediterranean Sea, the rescue of the shipwrecked has of late seen an unprecedented level of politicization. The historical perspective helps us to explain many of the respective patterns of public reaction as following the linguistic and practical patterns produced by the history of humanitarian morality. This appears significant for the improvement of the self-understanding of modern societies.
The primary objective of the project is to work out a comprehensive historical account of the humanitarian saving of lives from shipwreck, in the form of a scholarly monograph by the PI and accompanying studies by the team.
The project team have undergone an initial period of studying main aspects of the scholarly debate on humanitarianism and on the history of shipwreck relief. This work continues. Although initially impeded by the pandemic, team members have meanwhile also conducted extensive research in archives in various European countries, most prominently the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Ireland. Publications in preparation that result from this research concern various themes, from the social history of lifeboat stations and lifeboat association funders to the significance of maritime search and rescue as a topic of international law in the 19th century, and the uneven fortunes of humanitarian morality in the saving of shipwrecked enemy combatants during the Second World War. Other work is exploring the significance of technological innovation for humanitarian morality, the literary genre characteristics of the humanitarian pamphlet, the significance of distinctions of national vs. imperial politics in lifeboat humanitarianism, and the role of humanitarianism in modern artistic culture.
In 2022 a first project conference on the significance of humanitarian moral culture in the visual history of the sea has been held (as a cooperation with the University of Vienna), and a publication of the results is in progress.
The PI has published a short, explorative monograph on the broad outlines that a history of humanitarianism as moral culture will take and on the consequences this has for our understanding of morality at large.
Various articles have appeared that have, in particular, treated aspects of the cultural significance of “rescue” in European modernity. These article also contribute to the wider understanding of humanitarian moral culture.
A sizeable database has been established on the funders of early lifeboat movements.
In 2022 a first project conference on the significance of humanitarian moral culture in the visual history of the sea has been held (as a cooperation with the University of Vienna), and a publication of the results is in progress.
The PI has published a short, explorative monograph on the broad outlines that a history of humanitarianism as moral culture will take and on the consequences this has for our understanding of morality at large.
Various articles have appeared that have, in particular, treated aspects of the cultural significance of “rescue” in European modernity. These article also contribute to the wider understanding of humanitarian moral culture.
A sizeable database has been established on the funders of early lifeboat movements.
The main contribution to progress beyond the state of the art in historical research concerns the overall perspective on humanitarian moral culture the project develops through the case of saving lives from shipwreck. At the same time, this also means to find novel applications for the study of morality as historical patterns in language and practice, as crucial agents of cultural change. The predominant tendency in scholarship has long been to avoid these patterns by reducing them to the status of secondary expressions of underlying realities, be they economic or political or even religious in nature. As far as the concrete histories of lifeboat organizations and maritime search and rescue are concerned, the project also makes important substantial contributions.
Further envisaged results will include a conference and collective publication on social imaginaries of extreme emergencies at sea; a conference and collective publication on the history of maritime search and rescue in the overall history of sovereignty and international legal order in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and a conference and collective publication on humanitarian morality and moral theory. There will be stand-alone articles by the postdoctoral researchers in addition to their contributions to these efforts. The PI will continue to produce research articles and a monograph on the humanitarian saving of lives from shipwreck.
Further envisaged results will include a conference and collective publication on social imaginaries of extreme emergencies at sea; a conference and collective publication on the history of maritime search and rescue in the overall history of sovereignty and international legal order in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and a conference and collective publication on humanitarian morality and moral theory. There will be stand-alone articles by the postdoctoral researchers in addition to their contributions to these efforts. The PI will continue to produce research articles and a monograph on the humanitarian saving of lives from shipwreck.