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Lisa Ann Richey

Professor

Subjects
International relations Politics Crisis Social responsibility Africa

Primary research areas

State-So­ci­ety Re­la­tions: New Act­ors and Al­li­ances in Transna­tion­al Help­ing
My re­search in­vest­ig­ates how states and private act­ors like cor­por­a­tions, phil­an­throp­ists, celebrit­ies and cit­izens de­ploy aid as an en­gage­ment in polit­ics. These en­gage­ments en­twine al­tru­ism with geo­pol­it­ic­al strategy, value -for-money cal­cu­la­tions with feel­ings and pro­fes­sion­al­ism with ’mud­dling through.’ My first key pub­lic­a­tion in this area is New Act­ors and Al­li­ances in De­vel­op­ment (2014) with Stefano Ponte. A dec­ade ago, this ground­break­ing ed­ited col­lec­tion was the first in the field to identi­fy new fund­ing and ideas for aid bey­ond tra­di­tion­al de­vel­op­ment act­ors. My In­tro­duc­tion to the text is an agenda set­ting work that is still reg­u­larly used in teach­ing about gov­ernance in hu­man­it­ari­an­ism and de­vel­op­ment. The art­icles in this col­lec­tion point to im­ages and rep­res­ent­a­tions as in­creas­ingly im­port­ant in hu­man­it­ari­an and de­vel­op­ment 'brand­ing' and sug­gest fruit­ful new ground for crit­ic­al de­vel­op­ment stud­ies. My second key book in this area is Bat­man Saves the Congo: Busi­ness, Dis­rup­tion and the Polit­ics of De­vel­op­ment (2021) co-au­thored with Alex Budabin, Fol­low­ing an ed­ited book on Celebrity Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism and North-South Re­la­tions (2016), I con­trib­uted ori­gin­al Congo-based data and the the­or­et­ic­al frame­work link­ing cor­por­ate part­ner­ships and com­modi­fic­a­tion of hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Bat­man Saves the Congo which was highly-praised in re­views as ‘thor­oughly re­searched and of­ten laugh-out-loud funny.’ The work comes out of my re­search pro­ject Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion: Im­plic­a­tions of Turn­ing People and Causes into Mar­ket­able Things, linked be­low. My re­cent re­search on state-so­ci­ety re­la­tions has been pub­lished in journ­als like Eco­nomy and So­ci­ety, Per­spect­ives on Polit­ics, and De­vel­op­ment and Change.
Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism: Eth­ics, Af­fects and Prac­tices of Cit­izen Help­ing
Every­day hu­man­it­ari­an­ism refers to the ex­pan­ded series of prac­tices in the every­day lives of cit­izens that pur­port to make a dif­fer­ence out­side the tra­di­tion­al bound­ar­ies of hu­man­it­ari­an activ­ity. It high­lights the mor­al re­spons­ib­il­it­ies and mu­tu­al ob­lig­a­tions that drive in­di­vidu­als to re­spond to the suf­fer­ing of oth­ers dur­ing times of ex­cep­tion. My first key pub­lic­a­tion set­ting the agenda for the concept of ‘every­day hu­man­it­ari­an­ism’ is in the 2018 journ­al art­icle “Con­cep­tu­al­iz­ing Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism: Eth­ics, Af­fects and Prac­tices of Con­tem­por­ary Glob­al Help­ing,” New Polit­ic­al Sci­ence which formed the in­tel­lec­tu­al corner­stone for my Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania col­lab­or­at­ive re­search pro­ject, linked be­low. De­col­on­iz­ing the concept of every­day hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in col­lab­or­a­tion with glob­al South schol­ars has deepened and ex­pan­ded this re­search area with pub­lic­a­tions in journ­als in­clud­ing World De­vel­op­ment, Re­view of In­ter­na­tion­al Stud­ies, and Afric­an Af­fairs.
Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion: Eth­ic­al Di­lem­mas of Prof­it­able Help­ing
Un­like in the past when phil­an­throp­ists re­in­ves­ted part of their profits into so­cial good, near home or abroad, com­modi­fy­ing com­pas­sion is about ac­tu­ally profit­ing from the help­ing it­self. There is no sep­ar­a­tion between a hu­man­it­ari­an eth­ic of com­pas­sion­ate help­ing of oth­ers and a cap­it­al­ist eth­ic of profit­ing from the cre­ation of value that you can sell. My re­search on un­der­stand­ing busi­ness as a crit­ic­al play­er in glob­al help­ing has opened a new fron­ti­er of so­cial sci­ence work on hu­man­it­ari­an­ism and de­vel­op­ment. The pro­lif­er­a­tion of schol­ar­ship in these fields we see today was not there when I wrote my sem­in­al book Brand Aid: Shop­ping Well to Save the World with Stefano Ponte in 2011. A dec­ade and four of books later, it is. My re­cent pub­lic­a­tions on com­modi­fy­ing com­pas­sion have ap­peared in the journ­als Big Data and So­ci­ety, In­ter­na­tion­al Af­fairs, and Dia­logues in Hu­man Geo­graphy.

Re­think­ing Help: Power, Mar­kets, and Glob­al Com­pas­sion

I study how humanitarianism and ethical consumption are shaped by markets, corporations, and culture. My work reveals how business, branding, and celebrity activism transform global “helping” into a profitable industry. 

My research helps organizations critically evaluate corporate social responsibility, cause-related marketing, and ethical branding. I work with companies, NGOs, and governments to rethink how compassion is communicated and commodified. 

With extensive fieldwork in the Global South, especially in Tanzania, South Africa and Uganda, I bring grounded insights into everyday humanitarian practices that challenge top-down, Western-led approaches. 

As a professor, mentor, and public scholar, I aim to create more ethical, inclusive, and transparent models of global development.  

Book Pub­lic­a­tions

Bat­man Saves the Congo: How Celebrit­ies Dis­rupt the Polit­ics of De­vel­op­ment (2021)

Can a celebrity be a “disrupter,” promoting strategic partnerships to foster ideas and funding to revitalize the development field—or are they just charismatic ambassadors for big business? Examining the role of the rich and famous in development and humanitarianism, this book argues that celebrities do both, and that understanding why and how yields insight into the realities of neoliberal development.

Find the book here
Celebrity Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism and North-South Re­la­tions: Polit­ics, Place and Power (2016)

This book examines what the diverse roster of celebrity humanitarians are actually doing in and across North and South contexts. New empirical findings on celebrity humanitarianism on the ground illustrate the impact of celebrity humanitarianism in the Global South and celebritization, participation and democratization in the donor North. By investigating one of the most mediatized and distant representations of humanitarianism (the celebrity intervention) the book underscores the importance of context in international development.

Find the book here
Brand Aid: Shop­ping Well to Save the World (2011)

A critical account of the rise of celebrity-driven “compassionate consumption”

Co-founded by the rock star Bono in 2006, Product RED exemplifies a new trend in celebrity-driven international aid and development, one explicitly linked to commerce, not philanthropy. Brand Aid offers a deeply informed and stinging critique of “compassionate consumption,” arguing that such campaigns advance the expansion of consumption far more than they meet the needs of the people they ostensibly serve.

Find the book here

PhD Su­per­vi­sion

I am interested in supervising ambitious and independent social science PhD projects on transnational helping, private-public partnerships, African politics, humanitarianism, and critical development studies.
I have supervised 14 PhD students from 8 different nationalities. 

Current and most recent projects are:
Valentina Massone (2023-) ‘Humanitarianism Identity, activism and transnational benevolence among LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers in Rome and Copenhagen’ (with Ninna Nyberg Sørensen as co-supervisor)

Lucas Kitula (2021-2025) ‘An Inquiry into Religion and Everyday Humanitarianism in Secular States: The Case of Tanzania’ (with Consolata Sulley and Nandera Mhando as primary co-supervisors), University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Sophie Henriksen (2019-2024) ‘Corporate Humanitarian Aid in the Migration Crisis’ (with Sine Plambach as co-supervisor, DIIS), CBS winner of the Fonnesbech Prize for PhD Research. 

Recent research projects

Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania

Ex­plores how or­din­ary people in Tan­zania prac­tice hu­man­it­ari­an­ism out­side form­al aid sys­tems and how this re­shapes loc­al and glob­al ideas of aid and solid­ar­ity.

Fun­ded by DAN­IDA through The Con­sultat­ive Re­search Com­mit­tee on De­vel­op­ment Re­search (FFU) and Dan­ish Fel­low­ship Centre . Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania (EHTZ) is a joint re­search pro­ject between Den­mark and Tan­zania that delves into every­day hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania.

The pro­ject fo­cuses on how Tan­zani­ans re­spond to crises out­side form­al hu­man­it­ari­an struc­tures, chal­len­ging as­sump­tions about aid pre­dom­in­antly flow­ing from the Glob­al North. Through ex­tens­ive field­work, EHTZ ex­plores di­verse acts of giv­ing by or­din­ary cit­izens, aim­ing to un­der­stand their im­pact on loc­al dy­nam­ics and the broad­er hu­man­it­ari­an nar­rat­ive.

EHTZ uses both qual­it­at­ive and quant­it­at­ive ap­proaches that are cut­ting edge with­in so­cial sci­ences, in­clud­ing in depth field­work, sur­veys, and com­pre­hens­ive sur­vey ex­per­i­ments. A wide range of de­part­ments and re­search­ers are in­volved to cov­er the scope of the pro­ject and to fully un­der­stand and stat­ist­ic­ally ex­plain what mo­tiv­ates people to give hu­man­it­ari­an aid. The part­ner­ship with the Uni­ver­sity of Dar es Sa­laam builds on years of trust and is crit­ic­al to all as­pects, from the lo­gist­ics, aca­dem­ic un­der­stand­ing, the deep know­ledge of the case, and the im­ple­ment­a­tion of data. A large part of the col­lab­or­a­tion is centered around re­cip­roc­al ca­pa­city build­ing, for ex­ample through know­ledge shar­ing and co-au­thor­ing pub­lic­a­tions. The re­search pro­cess uses a de­col­on­ized ap­proach that is re­ward­ing across uni­ver­sit­ies and builds an in­ter­na­tion­al net­work of trust and ex­change. Moreover, it works to­ward de­col­on­iz­ing the concept of hu­man­it­ari­an­ism by re­cog­niz­ing how ac­tions taken by or­din­ary cit­izens works as hu­man­it­ari­an­ism as well.
See the project's publications here

Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion: Im­plic­a­tions of Turn­ing People and Causes into Mar­ket­able Things

Ex­am­ines how hu­man­it­ari­an causes are turned into mar­ket­able products and how busi­nesses, NGOs, and celebrit­ies profit from do­ing good.

Today’s mar­ket­place is in­und­ated with products sup­port­ing hu­man­it­ari­an causes that prom­ise to give aid to be­ne­fi­ciar­ies, provide ‘good feel­ings’ to con­sumers and pro­mote the brands of cor­por­a­tions and hu­man­it­ari­an NGOs. Fun­ded by the Dan­ish Coun­cil for In­de­pend­ent Re­search (DFF), Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion re­searched how the com­modi­fic­a­tion of hu­man­it­ari­an­ism (turn­ing people and causes into mar­ket­able things) has been linked to the privat­iz­a­tion of help (re­pla­cing pub­lic donors with private phil­an­thropy) with sig­ni­fic­ant and as of yet poorly un­der­stood con­sequences. Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion ex­plored these dy­nam­ics in three dif­fer­ent con­texts where hu­man­it­ari­an­ism has been a realm tra­di­tion­ally dom­in­ated by the state (Den­mark), the church (Italy) and the mar­ket (United States). The over­all ob­ject­ive of Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion was to un­der­stand how ‘help­ing’ has be­come a mar­ket­able com­mod­ity and how this im­pacts hu­man­it­ari­an­ism sym­bol­ic­ally and ma­ter­i­ally.
See the project’s publications here

Re­search-based teach­ing

As Head of Stud­ies for Glob­al Busi­ness and Polit­ics and as part of the Edu­ca­tion­al For­um work­ing dir­ectly with the Dean of Edu­ca­tion, I have also or­ches­trated a cross-CBS group of col­leagues (with Lind­say Whit­field PI) who brought to CBS a DKK 35.9 mil­lion edu­ca­tion grant from the Min­istry of For­eign Af­fairs’ Know­ledge and In­nov­a­tion Pro­gramme (KIP) for Africa, Busi­ness and So­ci­ety, a multi-year part­ner­ship with uni­ver­sit­ies in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
Read the article here

Links

Per­son­al web­site
Lisa Ann Richey is a re­search­er and au­thor on the busi­ness of aid, hu­man­it­ari­an­ism and chan­ging North-South re­la­tions. She is cur­rently work­ing on Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania and has re­cently com­pleted a re­search pro­ject on Com­modi­fy­ing Com­pas­sion.
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Every­day Hu­man­it­ari­an­ism in Tan­zania Pod­cast Series
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Outside activities

Visiting Professor, Dept. of Cultures, Politics and Society, Univ. of Turin, Italy , 2025–present

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Societal Engagement in Popular Media, December 2025–present

Pop­u­lar Art­icle with Elisa Pas­cucci "Sweden’s push for an ex-IKEA CEO to lead UN­HCR sig­nals a new refugee or­der"

Here’s our take from Al Jaz­eera Eng­lish on wheth­er the UN­HCR needs les­sons from a fur­niture deal­er

It is the first time a busi­ness lead­er is pro­posed to such a high-pro­file UN po­s­i­tion. And the nom­in­a­tion comes at a time when the UN­HCR faces an un­pre­ced­en­ted cash crunch, and with polit­ic­al pres­sures and anti-refugee sen­ti­ments in­creas­ing glob­ally. Sweden’s move is not sur­pris­ing. Since the fall of the Ber­lin wall, hu­man­it­ari­an­ism has in­volved part­ner­ships with cor­por­a­tions—in­creas­ingly ‘do­ing good’ and ’do­ing well’ have be­come one and the same. But can a busi­ness­man save the UN refugee agency?
Read the article

Societal Engagement in Popular Media, Februar 2026–present

How much does a liter of com­pas­sion cost at the su­per­mar­ket?

In a new pod­cast, Pro­fess­or Lisa Ann Richey shares in­sights from her re­search pro­ject on how com­pas­sion has be­come a mar­ket­able com­mod­ity – and what con­sequences this has for con­sumers, busi­nesses, and hu­man­it­ari­an causes.
The pro­ject has ex­amined de­vel­op­ments in Den­mark, Italy, and the US and shows, among oth­er things, how the UN's glob­al goals have made it easi­er for com­pan­ies to take on the role of her­oes in the nar­rat­ive of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment.
The pod­cast is pro­duced by Medie­cent­ralen on be­half of Dan­marks Frie For­sknings­fond (Dan­ish Coun­cil for In­de­pend­ent Re­search).
Listen to the podcast