Volunteer, Citizen, Human: Volunteer Work Between Cosmopolitan Ideal and Institutional Routine

Post-2015 Refugees Welcome Initiatives in Sweden: Cosmopolitan Underpinnings

“…A study comparing the situation in Sweden and Germany focuses on emotional aspects of pro-refugee mobilisations (see Kleres 2018), while a recent volume presenting the state of the art of research on Refugees Welcome initiatives in Europe (Feischmidt et al 2019) provides insights into manifold tensions between motives, idea(l)s and outcomes in the field of volunteering (see e.g. Karakayali 2019;Turinsky and Nowicka 2019;Vandevoordt and Verschraegen 2019) that are highly pertinent to the discussion this volume invites on perceptions of difference, practices of inclusion and feelings of obligation, and the ways of theorising them. This chapter contributes to the literature that seeks to understand the social and political developments of Refugees Welcome initiatives beyond the immediacy of "crisis" (e.g.…”

Contested Solidarity

“…Such loosely constituted citizens' initiatives in support of refugees formed in almost every corner of Germany in the course of 2014 and 2015, when the number of people willing to volunteer rose sharply (cf. Turinsky & Nowicka 2019). Similar tendencies occurred in other European countries, such as in Italy (Sinatti 2019), Sweden (Kleres 2018;Povrzanović Frykman & Mäkelä 2020), Belgium (Vandevoordt 2019), France (Sandri 2018;Doidge & Sandri 2019) and Greece (Parsanoglou 2020).…”

“…Around the long summer of migration, many volunteers regarded their practices of refugee support also as a means to build a 'better' alternative in their village or neighbourhood, an alternative characterized by mutual support, togetherness and hospitality towards strangers (cf. Turinsky & Nowicka 2019). They often emphasized the act of being 'here', of an imagined personal connection among all those present on the ground, regardless of national origin or cultural belonging.…”

Volunteering in the front line of the Ukrainian refugee crisis: A brief report from Poland

“…This should come as no surprise, because previous research has shown that although volunteers are aware of the personal benefits derived from volunteering, (i.e., gaining new knowledge and skills or making new contacts that might help them in the future), these are not their primary motivations but are rather additional benefits ( 40 , 44 – 47 ). Similarly, most studies conducted among volunteers during the migration and refugee crisis in 2015 emphasized the importance of humanistic and democratic values over other motivations ( 8 – 16 , 26 – 28 , 48 – 50 ). On the other hand, recent studies conducted among volunteers who engaged in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that in times of a global health crisis people's primary motivations for becoming involved in voluntary service were altruism and the ethical imperative to serve their community and their fellow citizens ( 17 – 21 , 51 ).…”