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Alexandra Cosima Budabin and Lisa Ann Richey. 2021. Batman Saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 221 pp.
Batman Saves the Congo narrates and analyzes how a Hollywood star (Ben Affleck, of the movie "Batman") formed a strategic team of humanitarians, showing in the process "how celebrities disrupt the politics of development." The authors focus on human rights and conflict resolution and on the universal politics of humanitarianism. Their book analyzes what celebrity strategic partnerships are doing to disrupt the humanitarian space. The authors combine ethnography, political economy, and narrative analysis to push the knowledge of celebrity humanitarianism beyond media space and donor activities.
Chapter One, "Celebrity, Disruption, and Neoliberal Development," captures how Affleck's Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) enabled him to use his public market value to establish strategic partnerships to drive his developmental enterprise. ECI depended on a complex network. Undoubtedly, the intervention is more durable than the previous celebrity engagements. Hence, its effects on the real work of development and humanitarianism were more significant.
Chapter Two, "Narrating the Congo: Dangerous Single Stories and the Organizations That Need Them," narrates events that showcase how celebrities use...