This is the first book to examine the shifting relationship between humanitarianism and the expansion, consolidation and postcolonial transformation of the Anglophone world across three centuries, from the antislavery campaign of the late eighteenth century to the role of NGOs balancing humanitarianism and human rights in the late twentieth century. Contributors explore the trade-offs between humane concern and the altered context of colonial and postcolonial realpolitik. They also showcase an array of methodologies and sources with which to explore the relationship between humanitarianism and colonialism. These range from the biography of material objects to interviews as well as more conventional archival enquiry. They also include work with and for Indigenous people whose family histories have been defined in large part by 'humanitarian' interventions.

Introduction: Selective humanity: Three centuries of Anglophone humanitarianism, empire and transnationalism - Trevor Burnard, Joy Damousi and Alan LesterPart I: Transatlantic humanitarianism, 1760-18381 Anthony Benezet: A Short History of Guinea and its impact on early British abolitionism -Trevor Burnard2 An incident at the Sun Tavern: Changing the discourse on Indigenous visitors to Georgian Britain - Kate Fullagar3 Humanity amidst calamity: Humanitarian discourse in New South Wales, 1788-1830 -Jillian Beard4 'Nor do they harbour vermin': Material culture approaches to exploring humanitarian exchanges - Amanda B. Moniz5 The realpolitik of emancipation in the British Empire, 1833-38 - Alan LesterPart II: Humanitarianism and Indigenous peoples, 1838-c. 19506 Humanitarianism in a genocidal age: The tragic story of the Aboriginal prison on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, 1838-1903 - Ann Curthoys7 From humanitarianism to humane governance: Aboriginal slavery and white Australia - Amanda Nettelbeck8 Humanitarian priorities and West African agency in the British Empire - Bronwen Everill9 The origins of exemption: The individual exception in the discourse of humanitarianism - Katherine EllinghausPart III: A new international order, 1918-9510 Gender, personalities and the politics of humanitarianism: Nursing leaders of the League of Red Cross Societies between the wars - Melanie Oppenheimer11 'Springs of love': Sentiment and affect in the development of mid-twentieth-century volunteering - Agnieszka Sobocinska12 Humanitarian activism during the Vietnam War: The case of Rosemary Taylor, Elaine Moir and Margaret Moses - Joy Damousi13 Humanitarianism in the age of human rights: Amnesty International in Australia - Jon Piccini14 Palliation, poverty and child welfare: Human rights and humanitarianism in the 1980s - Roland BurkeIndex