Handling Big Numbers: The Logistics of Granaries and Famine Relief

Hardly a day passes without the print and broadcast media presenting agonizing images of people in crisis situations. But where the general public sees danger and suffering, the government officials and aid workers responsible for responding to emergencies see numbers. Their knowledge of risk and need is largely shaped by statistics, algorithms, and databases. These forms of quantification are by no means neutral, however. What governments or international agencies decide to measure and the standards of measurement they adopt are decisive in determining who receives help and how much.

The German Historical Institute's Spring 2016 Lecture Series will explore the measurement of human needs from a historical perspective. The four speakers, each taking a different case study, will trace how quantification became a fundamental instrument in responding to famine, war, risk, poverty, and migration. They will consider the different approaches employed to quantify risks to both individuals and communities, and they will highlight the effects and consequences that the growing reliance on quantification has produced in contending with the unpredictable.

The lecture series was organized in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.