Local responses to the European refugee crisis
Since the summer of 2015 a wave of voluntary engagement with refugees has spread throughout Europe. In this context, tensions and concerns around the issue of help, power and solidarity have been debated. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on volunteering in the context of a so-call...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2016 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:167548 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/167548 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.5565/rev/grafowp.29 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Volunteering Migration Critique on humanitarianism Moral obligation New urban arrangements Voluntariado Migración Crítica al humanitarismo Obligación moral Nuevos arreglos urbanos |
| Sumario: | Since the summer of 2015 a wave of voluntary engagement with refugees has spread throughout Europe. In this context, tensions and concerns around the issue of help, power and solidarity have been debated. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on volunteering in the context of a so-called European refugee crisis.Based mostly on participant observation and informal interviews, this study explores the need to help from the point of view of volunteers and different actors within emerging formal and informal networks. In particular, my research aims at understanding the complex meanings of volunteering and its contested social role.On the one hand, based on data gathered during several months of fieldwork in Bern, Switzerland, this study examines volunteers' perceptions, expectations and motivations. On the other hand, it focuses on ongoing negotiations of the role of volunteering, within an emerging network of established aid organizations, faith-based institutions, community organizations and volunteers.The anthropological critique on humanitarianism provides a theoretical basis for analyzing the moral obligations perceived by volunteers and the effects of the resulting relationships. Political theory will be employed in order to investigate emerging urban arrangements linked to volunteering in Bern. Based on my preliminary conclusions, I propose that by looking at humanitarian interventions, such as volunteering, the current position of civil society and its social and political potential can be demonstrated |
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