From Global Problems to Local Solutions: A Comparative Perspective on Immigrants and Refugees Reception

Abstract

During the so-called “refugee crisis”, the presence of migrants in European cities has motivated very different reactions from local authorities and civil society aiming to solve a “global problem”. In this context, humanitarian assistance practices have had a central importance in the reconfiguration of migratory routes in Europe, spaces and exclusion/inclusion processes in different European countries. In different social sciences the interest in the practices and discourses related to humanitarism is evolving. Humanitarian practices and discourses have been presented as the reverse of security policies in Europe; however, the incorporation by European institutions and member state governments of the humanitarian discourse during the “refugee crisis” has led social scientists to question this binary opposition. The humanitarism should be analysing as a part of the complex grammar of governing population and mobilities, securitization, and inclusion/exclusion process. Various actors participate in the configuration of reception policies in Europe, marked by this humanitarian perspective: government authorities, from the local level to supra-national authorities such as the EU; independent voluntary organizations, which develop practices of “volunteer humanitarianism”; NGOs and third sector companies, many of which have been reoriented towards this field of action; groups of migrants, those in transit and also historical communities already established in Europe; political and civil groups of various kinds, from trade unions to neighbourhood or religious groups. The processes of social insertion of migrants are defined by the interaction and confrontation of the subjectivities of the different types of actors involved in the particular cases. This panel focuses on the position of the city regarding migratory project and the reaction(s) of local authorities and civil society in different cases. The presentations that make up this panel will focus different features of migrants’ social insertion and policies at local level: asylum seekers and refugees experiences; local impact of relocation programme; practices of classical philanthropy and initiatives of “volunteer humanitarism”; intercultural communication between stakeholders; interdependence between migrants’ representations and local policies; the limits of humanitarian perspective; among other topics. This panel brings together approaches from psychology, political science, sociology and anthropology. The participants will analyse and discuss cases from different context in the EU