ArticleDisasters2025
Public discourse narratives: from 'Secret Aid Worker' discontent to shifting power in humanitarian systems.
Article in Disasters, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Complementing humanitarian staff care with arts-based initiatives? Viewpoints from in-house mental health professionals.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Racism and mental health within humanitarian and development organisations: perspectives from in-house mental health professionals.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Public discourse narratives: from 'Secret Aid Worker' discontent to shifting power in humanitarian systems.Disasters · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Public discourse is rich in meaning, reflecting consensus, dissent, and change. Yet, very little public discourse on the humanitarian sector has been authored by aid workers themselves. We conducted a thematic analysis of the 'Secret Aid Worker' (SAW) series, published in The Guardian newspaper between 2015 and 2018, the only corpus of data on humanitarian life experiences publicly accessible through mainstream media. Our research questions were twofold: how did authors frame their work and appraise humanitarian structures?; and how did they reflect and amplify humanitarian issues of the time? The main themes included: personal challenges of humanitarian life; characterisation of stakeholders; and systemic issues within the humanitarian sector. The SAW narratives reveal a powerful discourse of discontent. They planted seeds of change regarding shifting power, coloniality and racism, sexual abuse, and duty of care. We argue that such public discourse has symbolic power, calling for greater accountability, equity, and justice in remaking the future of the humanitarian sector.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.