Reframing Humanitarian Action in Digital Spaces

Reframing Humanitarian Action in Digital Spaces: Fandom mobilization for humanitarian activities in the Philippines

Investigators: Dr. Maria Carinnes P. Alejandria (DAS, FASS), Khairunnisa Haji Ibrahim (GED, FASS), Dr. Rommel A. Curaming (HIS, FASS)

LIST OF OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify the modalities of humanitarian action the community engages in.  
2. Determine the contexts informed the community in their decision for humanitarian action.
3. Examine the forms of negotiations with other actors the community engages in to deliver humanitarian action.
4. Determine the intersection between identification with a KPop fandom and motivations towards social activism and humanitarian work.
5. By using the case study of NGOs represented by BTS ARMY, evaluate how fandom provides an effective platform for mobilizing disaster response.
6. Identify the possible implication of this case on understanding the nature of fandom and humanitarian action, and how politics are implicated in them

BRIEF METHODS:

This study will employ qualitative methods of interviews, content analysis, and discourse analysis to document the group narrative of Borahae from Manila (BFM) as they engaged in humanitarian action during selected complex emergencies in the Philippines. As a study of an online informal organisation, interviews will be conducted with members who served critical roles for the group during periods of humanitarian action. 

One of the projects I’m actively doing is documenting the narratives of the members of a newly established civil society organization called Borahae from Manila® which is an online community for Filipino/a/x ARMYs. With all the gloomy work I do related to disaster and health insecurities, this project has really been a respite. Our first paper (of 3) has been accepted to the 2nd International Asian Stardom and Celebrity Conference organized by Deakin University and Tsinghua University. We are grateful for the massive support we are receiving from the admin and members of BFM. Despite having overlapping commitments, we carry on because, as we lovingly joke, we have personal vested interest. We can’t fail our beloved BTS and fellow ARMYs. Sharing with you our abstract and our very first interview with the BFM admin.