Compare China Gadabouts by Susan Armstrong-Reid, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

The Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) had a devastating impact on China’s civilian population. Braving bandits, disease, and dangerous roads, the China Convoy – a Quaker-sponsored humanitarian unit and a forerunner of Médicins Sans Frontières – delivered medical supplies and provided famine relief at a hinge point in the development of the modern Chinese nation and humanitarian system. China Gadabouts examines the contested roles played by Western and Chinese nurses in the Convoy’s humanitarian efforts from 1941 to 1951. In so doing, it re-examines the quandaries of Quakers’ purportedly apolitical global engagement that remain salient for contemporary humanitarians. Susan Armstrong-Reid explores how this work gave meaning to the women’s lives and how they attempted to carve out personal and professional space despite a chaotic, unfamiliar, and occasionally hostile environment. Despite their contributions in challenging wartime conditions, these women’s role in the global humanitarian enterprise has been undervalued. Through an array of letters, diary entries, and other materials, this book provides first-hand perspectives on the intersections of power with faith, gender, class, race, and nation that shaped the nurses’ work and life in the field. China Gadabouts illuminates the ethical dilemmas, professional challenges, and opportunities presented by humanitarian nursing within a Western-based relief organization, while acknowledging its contentious imperial role. It also spotlights an understudied area of global nursing – its role within INGOs, now more active than ever, in global health care. | China Gadabouts by Susan Armstrong-Reid, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters