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Lisa Ann Richey

Professor

Subjects
International relations Politics Crises 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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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