Melissa Gatter
@melissagatter.bsky.social
Asking questions about humanitarian aid + forced migration in MENA/US. Author of TIME AND POWER IN AZRAQ REFUGEE CAMP: A NINE-TO-FIVE EMERGENCY. Asst Prof in Anthropology & International Development at University of Sussex.
https://linktr.ee/melissagatter
https://linktr.ee/melissagatter
Pinned
Melissa Gatter
@melissagatter.bsky.social
· Feb 20
Resilience for Whom? Resiliency Humanitarianism and Everyday Resistance in a Carceral Camp
This article pushes beyond critiques of resilience as a neoliberal object and descriptor, approaching the term as an analytical diagnostic of power to open new anthropological query around resilien...
www.tandfonline.com
Who is resilience for? What is the usefulness of calling refugees resilient? Should we avoid the term together? I've attempted to think through these questions in my article with Ethnos, out now and open access 👇 (1/4)
For those at IHSA right now, join us for a panel on 'Ethical Exits' in humanitarianism in 15 minutes - online and in Istanbul. See you there!
The critical timeliness leads this IHSA conference to feel even more poignant than the last 🏥
This year, I'm writing a submission from my 'Ethical Exits' project, exploring the temporal tensions in aid, reach out if you'd like to join forces💫 🙏
ihsa.info #humanitarianstudies
This year, I'm writing a submission from my 'Ethical Exits' project, exploring the temporal tensions in aid, reach out if you'd like to join forces💫 🙏
ihsa.info #humanitarianstudies
IHSA
The International Humanitarian Studies Association is a network engaged with the study of humanitarian crises caused by natural disaster, conflict or political instability.
ihsa.info
October 16, 2025 at 1:46 PM
For those at IHSA right now, join us for a panel on 'Ethical Exits' in humanitarianism in 15 minutes - online and in Istanbul. See you there!
My review of Estella Carpi's book The Politics of Crisis-Making is out now on @antipodeonline.bsky.social! Read for my thoughts on the local vs global, Southism, and humanitarian futures 👇
New book review -- @melissagatter.bsky.social on Estella Carpi's "The Politics of Crisis-Making: Forced Displacement and Cultures of Assistance in Lebanon" antipodeonline.org/category/boo...
October 16, 2025 at 1:44 PM
My review of Estella Carpi's book The Politics of Crisis-Making is out now on @antipodeonline.bsky.social! Read for my thoughts on the local vs global, Southism, and humanitarian futures 👇
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
“The dream of returning home or simply the possibility to end a decade of exile is suddenly within reach. But this dream now comes with existential, practical and legal questions.”
Charlotte Al-Khalili and @melissagatter.bsky.social for @theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/syria-after-...
Charlotte Al-Khalili and @melissagatter.bsky.social for @theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/syria-after-...
Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home
Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.
theconversation.com
May 30, 2025 at 7:03 AM
“The dream of returning home or simply the possibility to end a decade of exile is suddenly within reach. But this dream now comes with existential, practical and legal questions.”
Charlotte Al-Khalili and @melissagatter.bsky.social for @theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/syria-after-...
Charlotte Al-Khalili and @melissagatter.bsky.social for @theconversation.com.
theconversation.com/syria-after-...
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
"How can ordinary citizens fight back? To scout the best approaches, I canvassed activists, lawyers, scholars, politicians, and union leaders for advice."
Great resource here: newrepublic.com/article/1931...
Great resource here: newrepublic.com/article/1931...
Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance
Ordinary people have more power than they know.
newrepublic.com
March 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM
"How can ordinary citizens fight back? To scout the best approaches, I canvassed activists, lawyers, scholars, politicians, and union leaders for advice."
Great resource here: newrepublic.com/article/1931...
Great resource here: newrepublic.com/article/1931...
Has Assad's downfall in Syrian changed anything for Syrians displaced in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey? Charlotte Al Khalili and I share the perspectives of people in all three contexts for @theconversation.com, and the situation is...complicated 👇
Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home
Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.
theconversation.com
March 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Has Assad's downfall in Syrian changed anything for Syrians displaced in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey? Charlotte Al Khalili and I share the perspectives of people in all three contexts for @theconversation.com, and the situation is...complicated 👇
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
On the urgent need to mobilize allies, far beyond campus, of all "who understand that the universities of America are critical to everything that is good about the country: its commitment to freedom, its devotion to excellence, its leadership in science & medicine."
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
How a University Fights an Authoritarian Regime
Viktor Orbán came for me. Donald Trump is coming for you. Here’s what to do.
www.chronicle.com
March 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
On the urgent need to mobilize allies, far beyond campus, of all "who understand that the universities of America are critical to everything that is good about the country: its commitment to freedom, its devotion to excellence, its leadership in science & medicine."
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
Interesting to see the growth of reports on digital and data. Especially when we are still a long way from good practice in the sector.
Also are there inflation-adjusted / real costs figures on humanitarian appeals and spend? That would be interesting.
Also are there inflation-adjusted / real costs figures on humanitarian appeals and spend? That would be interesting.
A deep dive into 25 years of humanitarian data
The good, the bad, and the buzzwords: 25 years of humanitarian data.
www.thenewhumanitarian.org
March 15, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Interesting to see the growth of reports on digital and data. Especially when we are still a long way from good practice in the sector.
Also are there inflation-adjusted / real costs figures on humanitarian appeals and spend? That would be interesting.
Also are there inflation-adjusted / real costs figures on humanitarian appeals and spend? That would be interesting.
Tired of hearing about the free world but it not feeling free.
March 3, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Tired of hearing about the free world but it not feeling free.
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
THE RESIST LIST IS HERE.
Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.
Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.
February 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
THE RESIST LIST IS HERE.
Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.
Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
Also, here's me reminding people about the white supremacist and segregationist legacy of American immigration policy and how Trump fits into it.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/comm...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/comm...
Trump’s obsession with immigration is really an obsession with segregation | Heba Gowayed
His policies are the latest instantiation of a centuries-long American tradition: laws meant to exclude people of color and privilege whiteness
www.theguardian.com
February 20, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Also, here's me reminding people about the white supremacist and segregationist legacy of American immigration policy and how Trump fits into it.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/comm...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/comm...
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
I was happy to speak with @melissagiragrant.com about pushing back against academic censorship in the current moment. @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/1917...
newrepublic.com/article/1917...
Some Institutions Caved to Trump. Their Employees Are Fighting Back.
"Do not obey in advance" was the slogan going into the first Trump administration. Some universities and hospitals seem to be struggling with that advice.
newrepublic.com
February 20, 2025 at 3:18 PM
I was happy to speak with @melissagiragrant.com about pushing back against academic censorship in the current moment. @newrepublic.com
newrepublic.com/article/1917...
newrepublic.com/article/1917...
Who is resilience for? What is the usefulness of calling refugees resilient? Should we avoid the term together? I've attempted to think through these questions in my article with Ethnos, out now and open access 👇 (1/4)
Resilience for Whom? Resiliency Humanitarianism and Everyday Resistance in a Carceral Camp
This article pushes beyond critiques of resilience as a neoliberal object and descriptor, approaching the term as an analytical diagnostic of power to open new anthropological query around resilien...
www.tandfonline.com
February 20, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Who is resilience for? What is the usefulness of calling refugees resilient? Should we avoid the term together? I've attempted to think through these questions in my article with Ethnos, out now and open access 👇 (1/4)
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
Trump's freeze on foreign aid will leave 100,000s in Syria without food, water & healthcare.
“In a normal situation... NGOs would have a heads-up & some time to figure out what to prioritise ..But there is no common sense...about leaving people to die.”
www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...
“In a normal situation... NGOs would have a heads-up & some time to figure out what to prioritise ..But there is no common sense...about leaving people to die.”
www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...
US aid freezes escalate Syria’s crisis
Aid officials involved in the response say people are already suffering and predict huge problems ahead due to the abrupt end of programmes.
www.thenewhumanitarian.org
February 18, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Trump's freeze on foreign aid will leave 100,000s in Syria without food, water & healthcare.
“In a normal situation... NGOs would have a heads-up & some time to figure out what to prioritise ..But there is no common sense...about leaving people to die.”
www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...
“In a normal situation... NGOs would have a heads-up & some time to figure out what to prioritise ..But there is no common sense...about leaving people to die.”
www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...
I have some very cool colleagues 👇
🥳 Here's a starter pack with some friends and colleagues at Sussex University doing fascinating research on energy transitions, green militarism, climate change, the history of the British empire, war and violence and lots more. If I missed anyone let me know and I'll add them! go.bsky.app/CA5ENwu
February 18, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I have some very cool colleagues 👇
Tonight!!
I'll be at @ucl.ac.uk next Thursday to discuss my book with Estella Carpi and Anne Irfan and talk about what's next for the Syrian refugees whose stories shape my research. Register here 👇
IAS Book Launch: Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp
Join us for the launch of Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp. A Nine-to-Five Emergency by Melissa Gatter
www.ucl.ac.uk
February 13, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Tonight!!
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
And not to give this more thought than it deserves, but it would be worth it for some enterprising journalist in the position to do so to ask Trump just who the US would buy Gaza from.
It could get him on the record endorsing a sovereign Palestinian state.
It could get him on the record endorsing a sovereign Palestinian state.
Trump says US is 'committed to buying and owning Gaza'
There has been global condemnation of his plan to take over the strip and move its Palestinians out.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
And not to give this more thought than it deserves, but it would be worth it for some enterprising journalist in the position to do so to ask Trump just who the US would buy Gaza from.
It could get him on the record endorsing a sovereign Palestinian state.
It could get him on the record endorsing a sovereign Palestinian state.
Saturday morning reading: Charlotte Al Khalili describes reuniting with her interlocutors for the 1st time in Syria, one of whom she quotes:
“Charlotte, we are meeting in Damascus! Damascus!”, Bilal exclaimed as we greeted. “Can you believe it?! Who could have thought we would meet here one day!” 🥹
“Charlotte, we are meeting in Damascus! Damascus!”, Bilal exclaimed as we greeted. “Can you believe it?! Who could have thought we would meet here one day!” 🥹
Snapshots of Post-Assad Syriaby Charlotte Al-Khalili - American Ethnological Society
“Welcome to Syria,” greeted the robust man as he took our passports. He was seated at a counter, behind security glass. The man, unlike the young men carrying
americanethnologist.org
February 8, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Saturday morning reading: Charlotte Al Khalili describes reuniting with her interlocutors for the 1st time in Syria, one of whom she quotes:
“Charlotte, we are meeting in Damascus! Damascus!”, Bilal exclaimed as we greeted. “Can you believe it?! Who could have thought we would meet here one day!” 🥹
“Charlotte, we are meeting in Damascus! Damascus!”, Bilal exclaimed as we greeted. “Can you believe it?! Who could have thought we would meet here one day!” 🥹
I'll be at @ucl.ac.uk next Thursday to discuss my book with Estella Carpi and Anne Irfan and talk about what's next for the Syrian refugees whose stories shape my research. Register here 👇
IAS Book Launch: Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp
Join us for the launch of Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp. A Nine-to-Five Emergency by Melissa Gatter
www.ucl.ac.uk
February 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I'll be at @ucl.ac.uk next Thursday to discuss my book with Estella Carpi and Anne Irfan and talk about what's next for the Syrian refugees whose stories shape my research. Register here 👇
Back at the desk today with Monday morning reading: Ruben Andersson gives us anthropologists a roadmap for studying humans in an increasingly inhumane world.
Much needed motivation as we stare down the barrel of 2025, full of monsters we've seen before (and some we haven't).
Much needed motivation as we stare down the barrel of 2025, full of monsters we've seen before (and some we haven't).
January 6, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Back at the desk today with Monday morning reading: Ruben Andersson gives us anthropologists a roadmap for studying humans in an increasingly inhumane world.
Much needed motivation as we stare down the barrel of 2025, full of monsters we've seen before (and some we haven't).
Much needed motivation as we stare down the barrel of 2025, full of monsters we've seen before (and some we haven't).
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
Another must-read story on the end of the Assad regime, in which palace insiders talk about the final hours, by the New York Times’s Ben Hubbard, Christina Goldbaum, and Hwaida Saad. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/w...
@nytimes.com
@benhubbard.bsky.social
@nytimes.com
@benhubbard.bsky.social
Inside the Final Days of the Assad Regime in Syria (Gift Article)
President Bashar al-Assad, who wielded fear and force over Syria for more than two decades, fled the country under the cover of night — and a fake political address.
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2024 at 10:30 PM
Another must-read story on the end of the Assad regime, in which palace insiders talk about the final hours, by the New York Times’s Ben Hubbard, Christina Goldbaum, and Hwaida Saad. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/w...
@nytimes.com
@benhubbard.bsky.social
@nytimes.com
@benhubbard.bsky.social
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
In "The Time beneath the Concrete," Nasser Abourahme argues that settler colonialism in #Palestine is always as much an attempt to conquer time as it is to conquer land. Read the introduction for free now.
https://buff.ly/3BwdKyr
https://buff.ly/3BwdKyr
December 18, 2024 at 2:03 PM
In "The Time beneath the Concrete," Nasser Abourahme argues that settler colonialism in #Palestine is always as much an attempt to conquer time as it is to conquer land. Read the introduction for free now.
https://buff.ly/3BwdKyr
https://buff.ly/3BwdKyr
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
I had an open and honest conversation with @mdelbosque.bsky.social about the state of immigration headed a GOP controlled Washington and the urgent need to get a better understanding of nativists now in power.
Facing Trump 2.0: The Immigrant Rights Movement Needs to Step Up Its Game
Mutual aid isn’t enough, says Zachary Mueller, political director for the nonprofit America’s Voice. We need a new coalition that studies the Right’s strategy, and builds a viable counterstrategy.
open.substack.com
December 17, 2024 at 5:27 PM
I had an open and honest conversation with @mdelbosque.bsky.social about the state of immigration headed a GOP controlled Washington and the urgent need to get a better understanding of nativists now in power.
My feed is a mix of celebration in Syria and destruction in Palestine. How I wish to see Palestinians share the joy of liberation in the very near future 🍉
December 13, 2024 at 4:35 PM
My feed is a mix of celebration in Syria and destruction in Palestine. How I wish to see Palestinians share the joy of liberation in the very near future 🍉
Reposted by Melissa Gatter
If you want to fill your Friday with something truly remarkable, take a moment to look at the images and videos from across Syria today, where Syrians are celebrating the first Friday following the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule.
✊❤️
✊❤️
December 13, 2024 at 1:33 PM
If you want to fill your Friday with something truly remarkable, take a moment to look at the images and videos from across Syria today, where Syrians are celebrating the first Friday following the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule.
✊❤️
✊❤️
Like clockwork, European countries have started halting the processing of Syrian asylum claims. Is it surprising how quickly otherwise slow immigration systems can implement change if they want to? No! Let's nerd out about time, shall we? 🧵 (1/8)
European countries put Syrian asylum bids on hold after Assad's fall
European countries put asylum applications from Syrians on hold until further notice on Monday after rebels seized the Syrian capital and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia following 13 years of civil war.
www.reuters.com
December 12, 2024 at 2:33 PM
Like clockwork, European countries have started halting the processing of Syrian asylum claims. Is it surprising how quickly otherwise slow immigration systems can implement change if they want to? No! Let's nerd out about time, shall we? 🧵 (1/8)