Aya Jamaleddine

Animal welfare organizations assert themselves as a prominent sphere of social work in Lebanon—a country burdened by widespread poverty, corruption, and refugee crises—leaving its proponents faced with the criticism that “there are more important things.” This ethnography analyzes the discourse and practice of two local shelters to understand how they navigate the moral ambiguities of working in a context of pervasive human suffering.

I was contracted to research the situation of migrant workers in Lebanon and evaluate ARM’s casework to address the following question: “What are the best strategies for feminist casework in this context and beyond?”