ABSTRACT
The chapter is based on nine years (on and off) of ethnographic fieldwork in Karen State, in eastern Myanmar, and examines the grassroots efforts of Karen community-based organizations to alleviate suffering of displaced civil Karen villagers who are caught in the protracted, decades-long brutal conflict. Decades of civil war and repression in southeast Myanmar have created a particular sort of humanitarianism in the borderlands that is characterized by the dense presence of local and international humanitarian organizations. How do humanitarian regimes work on the ground? How are humanitarian regimes in the Southeast Asian Massif influenced by larger geopolitical factors? And most significantly: How did the majority of Karen villagers benefit from humanitarian assistance and how were their livelihoods influenced?
