Paper short abstract:

Based on field research among humanitarian workers in refugee camps in Greece, the paper focuses on practices and perceptions of care and neglect, on empathy and dehumanization, to address the tensions aid workers experience in contexts where power is perceived and exercised in multiple ways.

Paper long abstract:

Based on five years of field research among humanitarian aid workers in refugee camps in Greece-both in mainland Greece and the islands- the paper seeks to address the tensions felt by humanitarian workers-especially the ones with background in anthropology-during their daily encounters with the people they support, with volunteers and other agencies. Focus will be given on practices such as ‘camp management’ and ‘case management’ that involve specific understandings of the ‘other’- the ‘patient’, the ‘beneficiary’, the ‘person of concern’- as well as certain types of engagement with the latter and eventually, with the self. Making a living in precarious settings-especially after the Greek economic crisis- often involves feeling lonely in the company of others, fostering fragile solidarities and collaborations with coworkers or refugees, managing feelings and practices of care and neglect and handling bureaucracy. As such, the paper will discuss the painful tension and the conflicts between empathy and dehumanization, practices of self-care and self and other management and transformations that allow us to examine power as it is felt and exercised in multiple forms. Finally, the paper will inquire into how social anthropologists position themselves in contexts characterized by power asymmetries and the tools and skills that enable them to survive in the field and hope/work for a better world.