Reading Emergency Sex (and Other Desperate Measures) was extremely eye-opening. There is something so revealing about hearing a first hand account of what happened to someone, as opposed to hearing academic jargon about it.

Ken’s journey was the key story, in my opinion, in understanding the psychology behind humanitarian aid work. He came into the humanitarian sector with preconceived notions, an a lot of privilege, thinking he could save the world. He was soon humbled as he realized that only one person can do so much.

As Ken starts experiencing violence and comes to the realization of the true reality of humanitarian aid work, I can’t help but noticing the similarities between his experiences and that of our Skype guests. This sense of hope that Ken had at the beginning of the book slowly starts eroding as he experiences the violence and realities of humanitarian aid. Much like Genevieve, who was very optimistic but soon was slapped in the face by reality, the realities of the humanitarian aid sector can not only be more than one bargained for, but also psychologically damaging. Ken explains that he was “hell-bent on being an effective humanitarian in Cambodia and Somalia” but now his “naïve fog” is finally lifting (219).

Ken’s story actually perfectly aligned with the “Mission, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit” concept. Which is basically just a theoretical framework for how humanitarian aid workers mentally navigate through the sector.  This idea of a “moral career” was presented by Erving Goffman. Ken starts out wanting to save the world with very grandiose ideas. Next, after having a traumatizing experience in Somalia, he becomes the mercenary. He then goes to Rwanda, very aware of what happened to him psychologically in Somalia and it much more aware of the challenges that face the humanitarian aid sector. He eventually becomes the misfit finally when he is looking for an escape route. The entire process disillusioned Ken like so many of our Skype guests and other account we have heard, however, this story particularly resonated with me because of the form in which the story was presented. I think all majors  in college should be required to read this book, because the sociological implications are so important and can be applied to so many different disciplines. We also read this around the time in the course when I started to realize how little people are really educated about this sector (even beginning aid workers can be misinformed about the nature of the sector) and what aid workers truly have to deal with. It troubles me that there is not more spotlight on the journey’s of aid workers.

In ‘s Emergency Sex, the reader is introduced to three typical aid workers: Jamie, Blank, and Blank. Each aid worker is stationed on the ground in a different waring countries, full of suffering refugees, immigrants, and IDPs. The book asks us to examine whose experience was the most significant in terms of life changing experience, trauma, and how each individual deals with adversity. While many of my classmates cited one specific individual, I have decided that I believe that none of the aid workers have a more impactful story. Each is equally terrifying and rewarding, but noticeably different. That said, each aid worker experiences the joy and pain that comes with humanitarian work and human connection. While each experience hellish traumas, including Gender Based Violence (GBV)––this is where the book’s almost assaulting/shocking title comes from––it is important to note that these experiences make them better aid workers. Why is this the case? Well, the answer is simple: empathy.

Throughout this book we see three characters go through their development within the humanitarian sector. They each has distinct stories and changes throughout the book but the one that was the most interesting to me was that of Heidi. She, in my opinion had one of the most fascinating developments throughout the course of this book. Compared to seeing the stories of two men, her gender and how that played a role in the book was captivating.

Heidi was so lost in the beginning of the book that going abroad to do something bigger than herself was what she needed at the time. The chance to recreate herself was her draw to essentially fleeing the country (Postlewait, 1991: p 30). She seems to find herself almost immediately once she leaves the United States. We this even more on page 95 when Heidi, in a tourist location, feels out of place even though visibly that is where she belongs within the country. She grapples with her gender about 1/3 of the way through her journey as she is figuring out relationships and things of that nature (Postlewait, 199: p 104). It is interesting to note that for Heidi the relationship aspect of her journey is a large part of the story but cannot be said for the men of this book. Gender roles for men typicall stay the same around the world with varying degrees. But, it is typically that men can do whatever they want without judgment but women have to navigate being sexually liberal and vocally assertive. This is not always accepted in other countries. It is interesting to note that the main Heidi was with in Mombasa had this emotional tie to her but in the end was only interested in money and that Heidi felt guilty for pondering prostitution. This is just something that men in the aid sector do not have to worry about while for Heidi it is something that carries out throughout the book. Further, in America, though she is a straight, white female she was not living this incredibly lavish life after left her husband. But, when she went abroad with stipends and things like that she suddenly was living a lifestyle she thought she wouldn’t really experience again. She didn’t notice her privilege until she went abroad which is quite fascinating. By the end of the novel, Heidi is back in New York and starts to slip into her mundane lifestyle from before. She finds that being around other people from ‘the field’ is what keeps her going (Postlewait, 1991: 284). She found herself while overseas and needs a connection to that former life to keep her getting out of bed each day.

I agree wholeheartedly with my classmates in the assertion that Heidi is in her misfit stage not at the end but right from the beginning of her journey. She does not seem to follow the typical path of the MMMM and I think that has a lot to do with her journey in the states before she goes overseas. We see her living a mundane life trying to fit the model of a good wife. She is just going through the motions of life trying her best to please her husband by doing things like going out with his friends (Postlewait, 1991: p 3). As she goes on I think she goes to the mercenary portion next; she needs to make money because she is severely lacking in funds but still wants to make a difference. Next would be the missionary stage because once she is more into making that difference in the world wherever she has ended up. This is when her work really begins and you see the emotional toll that the work she does has. Last, is the mystic phase when Heidi is fully immersed in her life abroad. She is fully invested to the cause of humanitarian work and that shows in her writing.

It is so important to understand the jouney of humanitarian worker in the MMMM model because it gives us insight into how aid workers may navigate their experiences (Murphy, 2013). For Heidi, she was living behind a mask while in the states but once she left she could finally present a side of herself that felt the most right. As Goffman suggests, it is the context of our situation that explains our behaviors and for Heidi the context was not being in America (Goffman, 1959).

If I were to meet Heidi I would have many questions for her as there are times, since being back from South Africa, that the only time I feel home again is when I am talking to people that have also lived in Cape Town or gone to a shockingly different country. I would definitely ask her in more detail how her gender impacted her experiences in different countries for the reasons mentioned earlier. Last, I would ask her how the long term transition back to the states was. It is something that isn’t talked about really. We always talk about the beginning of the transition but never the long term effects of coming home. Overall, it would be amazing to pick her brain a little bit but for now all we have are her words.

Cain, K., Postlewait, H., & Thomson, A. (2006). Emergency sex: (and other desperate

measures): True stories from a war zone. London: Ebury.

Goffman, E. (1959). Retrieved from http://www.studymore.org.uk/xgof.htm

Murphy, T. (2013, June 12). Book Review: Missionary, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit. Retrieved from http://www.humanosphere.org/basics/2013/06/book-review-missionary-mercenary-mystic-misfit-2/

“I set out to save lives and have ended up collecting the dead. Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of treating people and became obsessed with my own grandiose ideals of service. But there is no redemption in this. I’ve worked myself into the ground only to end up doing the very thing my parents begged me to avoid. I’ve ended up serving myself (Cain 254).”

“I should never have joined the UN thinking we could make peace everywhere… To practice medicine you have to accept that there will always be disease. But because of what I saw on that operating table, I couldn’t accept that there will always be a war (Cain 293).”

“While for me, with each successive mission, individuals somehow got lost; they became Haitians, Rwandas, Bosnians — populations, not people (Cain 293).”

“I tell her, ‘I just can’t do it. I’m a doctor, and this is a mission for a saint (Cain 289).”

After reading Emergency Sex, there were many experiences and emotions shared from the various characters to which helped expand my knowledge of both humanitarian aid and the sociological factors behind it. Accompanying this, I found almost every character to change throughout there humanitarian aid journey despite the differences among them. Although some characters experienced much more emotionally lacking experiences in comparison to others (i.e. Andrew vs. Heidi) I found that their perspectives on the need and efforts put into humanitarian aid were relatively synonymous. Each character was lacking some form of a substance in life and needed to delve into something a bit more exciting however still understood the extent of stress and work involved.

One of the character’s I found particularly interesting in both his background and experience in the humanitarian aid field was Andrew. Having recently visited Cambodia during my Business of the Pacific Rim trip the conditions outlined and his journey was relatively familiar and reminded me of some of the experiences I had undergone. However, despite his journey being seemingly less emotional and demanding, dealing with the deaths of his patients was something that seemed to be overlooked and would drag one’s morale and will to provide aid to the ground. In the passage, Andrew states, “set out to save lives and…somewhere along the line…lost sight of treating people and became obsessed with [his] own grandiose ideals of service” (Cain, 255). I feel as though this passage encompasses our class and the several lessons on the humanitarian aid imperative. Andrew rather than focusing on the health and well-being of his patients, not just only under his care, but afterward fell victim to the imperative. He found more pleasure in promoting himself instead of providing the care and medical aid he was qualified and relied upon for.  Furthermore, in the past following weeks, we have discussed the power of sex as a weapon and how it is used to assume dominance and control over others. Andrew when in Colombia witnesses countless paramilitaries bring in prostitutes to the hotel which he was residing in. The idea that those who were in charge of protecting him, those who were innocent, and those who could not protect themselves brought Andrew to his breaking point. Following this breaking point where Andrew even states how he contemplated his life as he stood on the 4th floor of the hotel, he is forced to uncover the brutal murders and mass killings during the Serbian Ethnic Cleansing. It is at this point where Andrew can see the absolute mockery and flawed system to which not only the United Nations or Red Cross is responsible for, but the humanitarian aid sector as a whole.

Lastly, I found Heidi’s story to be particularly interesting due to her perspective as a woman amongst these massive social and political issues, much of which revolved around gender inequality. Her feeling of absolute aloneness in a country ravaged by Civil War’s and military cou’s which lead to almost half of the Cambodian population being decimated proved her dedication to the role but once again fell victim to the imperative. I’ve also linked a rather long BBC video on the Khmer Rouge and their impact on Cambodia for those interested.

Works Cited:

Cain, Kenneth, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2004. Print.

Arcaro, Tom. The Moral Career of a Humanitarian Aid Worker. 25 Jan. 2016, blogs.elon.edu/aidworkervoices/?p=414

After reading Emergency Sex (and Other Desperate Measures) I learned a lot about the humanitarian aid sector and the real- life journeys of those who are working in this field. The three main characters of the book, Ken, Heidi, and Andrew, all learned a lot throughout the course of the book and through their different experiences. Each story had different aspects that highlighted this journey, but I think the character that transformed the most was Ken.

Ken’s moral career follows a very clear map of the idea of the missionary, mercenary, mystic, misfit model that J has proposed. Goffman defined a moral career as, “Any social strand of any person’s course through life… the regular sequence of changes that career entails in the person’s self and in his imagery for judging himself and others.” One’s identify changes throughout different contexts that they are put through in life. This depends on many factors, but is especially influenced by age and the social context that one is in (Arcaro).

Ken starts out his journey at Harvard Law School, where he has very little knowledge of the humanitarian aid sector and the work that is truly involved in it. However, he is yearning to do more than just become another corporate lawyer and wants to make a difference in the world. Ken states, “I’m 25 and have never done anything of moral significance in my life” (10). Ken starts his moral career as a missionary and goes to Cambodia with the idea that he is ready to do good and make a change. In Cambodia, he is very optimistic and enjoys his time meeting new people, partying, and leading a successful mission. He leaves Cambodia feeling accomplished, where he was able to help get 90% of Cambodians that were registered to vote and the UN got more involved with the government. “We actually made peace” (86) Ken said as he left Cambodia.

Going to Somalia, Ken starts to experience more of what it is actually like doing humanitarian work. Ken starts moving toward the mercenary stage after he is caught in crossfires and witnessed many people dying. He starts to understand the violence that happens, and says, “I hadn’t thought of that yet. How many we killed” (164). The hope to do good that Ken had when going to Cambodia starts to fade here and he starts becoming more skeptical of humanitarian work.

Heading to the mystic phase, Ken goes to Rwanda with a much different attitude than when he entered Cambodia or Somalia. He is much more aware of the challenges that there are with humanitarian work and although he is more hesitant, he still goes. After Matt dies in Rwanda, Ken has to tell his Dad what has happened. “Sitting in Matt’s dad’s office, I managed to convince myself to believe in this work again. But I don’t. It’s a lie” (225). This is a changing point for Ken as he becomes a skeptic and leaves Rwanda as a misfit (J.).

Emergency Sex (and Other Desperate Measures) comes to an end with Ken being very aware of humanitarian work and all the issues involved with it. He became very wary of the aid sector and understands the realities around it. Ken’s journey ends with him saying, “Perhaps I should just admit that I now understand the world is corrupt and brutal, that most nations look out only for their own interest, and people seldom rush to dangerous act of selfless sacrifice” (294). This is a very different attitude than the beginning of the book, and I wonder if his attitude has changed? Or if he still is a skeptic of the aid sector and believes the world is “corrupt”?

Rwanda

Works Cited:

Cain, Kenneth, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2004. Print.

Arcaro, Tom. The Moral Career of a Humanitarian Aid Worker. 25 Jan. 2016.

J. Missionary, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit. Evil Genius Publishing, 2013. Print.

Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures) was a valuable complement to the speakers we have been having in class, to broaden my knowledge on the experiences of humanitarian aid workers.  Particularly I enjoyed Heidi’s stories the most, and really felt a shift in her character from the beginning to the end of the book. Heidi as introduced is, a thirty year old woman living in New York, working for the UN and stuck in a dull marriage trying to revamp her cyclical lifestyle.  

From the beginning we see that Heidi is misfit to her home, after evictions and late payments she is in need of turning her life around.  Heidi’s abrupt decision to sign up for a peacekeeping mission would change her life more than her first intention, of monetary reason, and give her drive in a new lifestyle.

Erving Goffman talks about the evolution of self identity for the aid worker, “…any strand of any person’s course through life… the regular sequence of changes that career entails in the person’s self ad in his imagery for judging himself and others.” Heidi’s situation applies to this sequence of changes that her new career will entail, which is going to shape her character and morph her moral career.  Arcaro extends on Goffman’s work, and says that an identity “depends on the social context in which we are in”. The social context of her career is unlike New York, and is going to strain more from her, and bring out sides of her that she has yet to see.

Jon Langstrom noted that there are four stages, missionary, mercenary, mystic, and misfit, that are states of being that point along a journey which will anticipate the utility for the moral career concept (J.).  The sequence of the changes that Heidi has experienced do not flow exactly like Jon Langstrom laid them out to be, they are almost exactly in reverse.

Heidi’s urgency to turn her life around and make more money as a drive to applying to the peacekeeping mission in Cambodia, shines a light on her stage as a misfit and a bit of a mercenary.  Despite her pure efforts in New York, being out in the field of Manhattan helping the homeless, she dove into the opportunity to go to Cambodia to listen to her boss and make money. Upon arrival Heidi’s thoughts rush her head, “This is the first time I am truly alone and dependent on my survival- in this country, hell, in Asia for that matter. It’s exhilarating. Before me is the opportunity to recreate myself”(Postlewait, 29). Here Heidi fully realizes, she is alone, she is misfit, no longer having New York as a home, and not feeling welcomed in Cambodia.  Although, her acknowledgement of this as an opportunity of personal growth, automatically implanted a positive feeling in myself about the journey Heidi was about to take on.  

For some time Heidi experienced a feeling of exclusion, and felt as she was at a “modeling party wearing the wrong clothes” (Postlewait, 38), similarly to how she felt in her past life in New York. Over some time, she got over this fear of the other people, and got into the work.  Heidi now was going through the mystic stage, as she became immersed into her job as a humanitarian aid worker, and the thought of being less impactful off the field, in New York, diminished.  Heidi criticized the work of her past life, “I can’t end up back at UN HQ in New York while those two overeducated, overzealous undersexed adolescents get to play save-the-world for God and the American way” (Postlewait), she was fully pledged to service and work on the field.  

By the end of the novel, when it is time to leave, Heidi is fully absorbed into the culture of being on the field as a humanitarian aid worker and her mission to better the lives of people around her, she stays on the field even when she could be vulnerable to danger.  At first, I recognized this stage in her journey as the missionary stage, where she is a “self styled warrior for truth and light” (Langstrom). Heidi is a warrior as she lets herself be in a dangerous spot, not listening to her commander, and remarks that “I don’t know whether he is concerned for my safety or angry that I doubt his judgement. But it’s too exciting to leave now. I want to stay and see what happens” (Postlewait, 193).

After thinking more into the journey, I begin to see crossovers with stages in the evolution of Heidi’s moral career as an aid worker.  In her missionary stage, an indulgent and hardworking humanitarian aid worker, she is also prone to being in the position of a misfit. Because Heidi has become so involved in this one area of her life, it seems she has forgotten about the normalcy she once experienced.  As her efforts and actions continue to be pointed more toward humanitarian aid, she is also becoming misfit as she cannot stay forever in the areas of danger, and would not choose to return home to a place where she cannot execute this lifestyle.

Sources:

2013. Missionary, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit. Evil Genius Publishing, 2013. Print.

Cain, Kenneth, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2004. Print.

Arcaro, Tom. The Moral Career of a Humanitarian Aid Worker. 25 Jan. 2016, blogs.elon.edu/aidworkervoices/?p=414.

“I set out to save lives and have ended up collecting the dead. Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of treating people and became obsessed with my own grandiose ideals of service.”

Reading Emergency Sex (and Other Desperate Measures) was extremely eye-opening. I think that we can learn about the aid sector in class and have meaningful discussions, but reading about first-hand accounts sheds an entirely new light on this line of work.

Throughout reading this book, I was very intrigued by Ken’s journey particularly. He came into the humanitarian sector with a naïve perception about what this work would be like, and throughout the book begins to realize that he could only do so much as one person. Ken is a white male who was studying at Harvard Law School. He appears to have had privilege handed to him and is aware that he has a lot to learn while going into humanitarian work. It is apparent throughout the book that he does gain a large amount of respect from fellow workers, probably stemming from his demographics, especially being a white male (Arcaro).

Starting off in Cambodia, Ken appears to be enjoying life and the work that he is doing. He is meeting new people, drinking, and hosting parties. He seemed to believe that all of his missions would end like this and refers back to this success several times throughout the book as he experiences less successful missions and the tragedies of war. His privilege beforehand appears to account for some of his preconceived notions. Going from Cambodia to Somalia, Ken experiences more truth to what this work really looks like. After being caught in crossfire in Somalia and losing 18 Somalis in the process, he says “Why am I taking this all so personally? […] How many successful peacekeeping missions will never be sent now? How many lives could we have saved that will be lost now? (172). This sense of hope that Ken had at the beginning of the book slowly starts eroding as he experiences the violence and realities of humanitarian aid. Later on in the book he travels to Rwanda post-genocide and gets to see first hand the terrors that occurred there and the lack of aid that was given by the UN. He explains that he was “hell-bent on being an effective humanitarian in Cambodia and Somalia” but now his “naïve fog” is finally lifting (219).

“We weren’t the first, and we won’t be the last, to venture forth overseas with grand ideas,” (289).

Ken’s moral journey throughout the book followed a clear path of the idea of the moral career presented in “Mission, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit.” This idea of a “moral career” was presented by Erving Goffman and is “the regular sequence of changes that career entails in the person’s self and in his imagery for judging himself and others.” Our identity is in fact, in flux and depends on the social context in which we are in, (Arcaro). Several accounts from this book reflect similar attitudes as Ken. He sets out to be a missionary in this field and to make the world a better place. He wanted to “harness the power of an ascendant America to personally undo the Holocaust,” (289). However, somewhere along the way, amidst the realities of the lives he was affecting, he realized that this was much bigger than one person and started to see this bigger picture, especially after his near-death experience in Somalia. The next stage, becoming a mystic, can be seen as he decides to go to Rwanda. He becomes cause-oriented and knows the challenges he faced in Somalia and the truths about the aid sector but still chooses to go. Lastly, becoming a misfit, he uses his “not from here” status as an excuse to see everything clinically but yet still have a way to leave, as he left Rwanda, (J.). Ken’s journey comes to an end as he is more aware of himself and of the aid sector. He came in with a naïve sense of hope but slowly realized that he personally could not win a war or restore order, thus weakening his faith in humanity.

Ken with troops in Liberia

Arcaro, Tom. The Impact of Gender on the Lives of Aid Workers. 15 Nov. 2015, blogs.elon.edu/aidworkervoices/?p=360.

Arcaro, Tom. The Moral Career of a Humanitarian Aid Worker. 25 Jan. 2016, blogs.elon.edu/aidworkervoices/?p=414.

Cain, Kenneth, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2004. Print.

J. Missionary, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit. Evil Genius Publishing, 2013. Print.

Emergency Sex:  applying the concept of the moral career

According to Erving Goffman, we all manage our identity moment to moment but, and here’s the twist, be says that “The social situations we find ourselves in do not so much support the self, but constitute it.”  His statement provides support for -and is supported by- the work of Zimbardo and Milgram, stressing the point that how we behave has much to do with context. Indeed, that is the classic defense attorney’s argument, as seen in the court martial of Lt. William Calley for his part in the My Lai Massacre.

Goffman defines and makes use of the concept of moral career in his book Asylums, and I used his idea to probe into the lives of aid workers in Aid Worker Voices (and also, in another lifetime, here in Self Identity of the Female Prisoners: the Moral Career of the Inmate).  In our conversation with Mahmoud (‘Moody’) we observed that he had changed -and continues to change- in terms of who he is as he becomes older and more experienced, making an application of the moral career concept.

In Emergency Sex we meet and get to know three very different people who chanced to become life-long friends, each telling their own stories.

Which of the three -Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson- seems to have been more changed by their experiences by the end of the book?  Which would you like to meet in person, and what questions would you ask them?  Who was the most complicated?  How did the circumstances in which they found themselves bring out different behaviors?

Most importantly, how can you use the concept of moral career as you describe their journeys?  How do their race, class, and gender impact their journey?

For this post address any of the questions above, but then choose one of the three main characters -Andrew, Heidi, or Ken- and map out their moral career using specific examples from the book (cite page number), illustrating how they transitioned from one stage of their moral career to the next. With an emphasis on the very last chapters, explain where they ended up in terms of their sense of self.  Keep in mind the moral career idea presented in “Missionary, Mercenary, Mystic, Misfit”.  If you do deviate from the MMMM model, explain why, labeling your own stages. Make explicate use of the insights of Goffman (et al) to support your characterization of their moral career.

Rubric:

• Due by class time Monday, March 11th.
• Late posts will be downgraded at least one letter grade.
• Comments to at least three colleague’s posts by March 12th by 10:00PM EST.
• At least three citations: at least one from text and/or other assigned reading, and at least two from outside academic sources.  Note:  you are to read/watch/listen to all of the material in the hyperlinks in the parent post above; your contact with the material should be apparent in your post.
• List references at the bottom of the page (MLA format).
• At least one photo and/or video link.
• Minimum 0f 500 words (excluding references).
• Grade will be based on quality and quantity of response to the post prompt including adherence to the above benchmarks.
• Keep in mind that you are writing for a broad audience that is educated and interested in this topic; infuse your post with the sociology you are learning/have learned in a non-jargonistic manner

As a shorthand for the longer, more detailed grading rubric above this SOC summary may be useful.

• S = demonstration of understanding and application of sociological concepts, theories, etc. germane to the topic, especially those taking about in the text and in class
• O = organization and structure overall; flow of ideas, appropriate and contextualized use of images and videos, proper documentation of sources
• C = analytical creativity; going beyond obvious restatement or simple examples and pushing boundaries of thought and perspective; finding outside academic sources beyond the obvious

Please check Assignments/Assignment 6 before you Publish.