Doing Good and Doing Harm
Fiona Terry, “Doing Good and Doing Harm: The Paradox of Humanitarian Action”
2008 Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics
September 18, 2008
Fiona Terry delivered the 2008 Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics in which she discussed her analysis of the ethical dimensions of the humanitarian aid system, drawing both on her book Condemned to Repeat? and her recent work in Myanmar and the Sudan.
Terry has spent most of the past 15 years involved in humanitarian relief operations in different parts of the world, including in Northern Iraq, Somalia, the Great Lakes region of Africa, Liberia, and along the Sino-Korean border. From 2000 to 2003 she worked as a research director with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) in Paris, before spending three years in Myanmar (Burma) with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). She is currently based in Sudan, working as an independent researcher conducting a study for the ICRC.
Terry holds a PhD in international relations and political science from the Australian National University and is author of Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action (2002). She won the 2006 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
Watch or listen to Fiona Terry’s talk and the post-lecture discussion on iTunesU or on the YouTube video below.
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This Month at Duke (pdf)
