A Convivial Journey: From Diversity in Istanbul to Solidarity with Refugees in Denmark

Abstract

This chapter presents my analytical journey from conviviality, a concept used for analysing diversity in Istanbul to overcome the pitfalls of multiculturalism and coexistence theories, to the development of the concept of convivial solidarity for the analysis of transnational civil society organisations that support refugees and migrants in Denmark. Convivial solidarity is my construct and I use it tentatively to argue that it takes its grounds from the daily life and social interactions between people without putting boundaries in between groups, by stressing what unites people, what they share as humans, and their fight for convivial living. Nonetheless, it is not limited to social interactions but has also political and legal grounding.

The Danish Welfare State and Transnational Solidarity in Times of Crisis

“…Solidarity can also take place in-group, and be mutual and reciprocal (Bruni 2008), where people within the group help themselves. In addition to these two types of solidarity, in our sample we have found another type: convivial solidarity (Duru 2020). Convivial solidarity is a collective work in order to fight for a common aim and to find solutions to a common concern in a non-communitarian way without separating/classifying people by ethnicity, religion, citizenship or nationality.…”