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- Convenors:
-
Marie Sandberg
(University of Copenhagen)
Tine Damsholt (University of Copenhagen)
Fredrik Nilsson (Åbo Akademi University)
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- Formats:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Resistance
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 22 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Helsinki
Short Abstract:
Grass-root initiatives and volunteer networks for refugee relief, climate activism and most recently 'corona-networks' are on the rise. Discussing previous examples of social and religious activism in history, this panel explores 'the vernaculars' of everyday mobilisation in past and present.
Long Abstract:
Human mobility, climate change and pandemics are increasingly putting questions of collective responsibility and joint decision making to the test. At civil society level grass-root initiatives, refugee relief networks and climate activism have been on the rise within the past decade. Most recently the covid-19 pandemic has spurred a wide range of 'corona networks' and neighbour to neighbour assistance with e.g. grocery shopping and home cleaning aimed at vulnerable co-citizens. These mobilisations are local reactions to global issues. They create new forms of everyday activism and informal modes of volunteering. In order to capture the plurality of such small-scale and less organized modes of helping out in everyday life, terms like "vernacular humanitarianism" (Brkovic 2017) or "everyday humanitarianism" (Richey 2018) have been suggested. Whereas the activities mentioned above can be seen as new modes of everyday mobilisations, mobilising the everyday into social movements is not a new phenomenon. During WWI, the everyday was mobilised in order to help prisoners of war and is described as the great humanitarian awakening. In the 19th century, philanthropic organisations mobilised especially bourgeois females in order to help, but also to educate and improve the working class. We invite papers exploring 'the vernaculars' of everyday mobilisation in past and present. We will in particular be looking for papers with perspectives of culture history on everyday mobilisations and/or papers who aim to discuss current events in light of previous examples of social and religious activism, movements, citizens risings or the like.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 22 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
The aim of this paper is to discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and territorial restrictions challenged people's daily lives, and what local voluntary initiatives emerged in in small town communities. The paper is based on research in two towns of Lithuania -Josvainiai and Ramygala.
Paper long abstract:
A small-town in Lithuania is a tightly-knit community
united by kinship, friendship, neighboring, and communal ties with its
life located in that particular place. However, the everyday practices
and sociality of their residents today extend to much wider territory
than the town. They work, attend schools, and travel for shopping or
entertainment to the larger cities, which are at a distance. They meet
their family members who emigrated for work to other countries. The
Covid-19 pandemic crisis and the lockdown is a challenge that
unexpectedly locked up their lives. Some of them lost their jobs or
started remote work, students switched to remote learning, travel
restrictions were issued, and public places were closed. Isolation at
home and concerns about their own health disrupted people's social
relationships, and sociality.
The paper will discuss local initiatives and volunteering that serve the
most urgent needs of those in isolation, keep the daily lives undamaged
as much as possible, and stimulate sociality: by helping the elderly
people who are at risk, and those who are in self-isolation; sewing
masks for community needs; helping with remote learning; sharing ideas
about creative activities at home; or establishing informal emotional
support groups. The paper is based on ethnographic research in two towns
of Lithuania - Josvainiai and Ramygala.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the formation of informal solidarity networks that originated in Sweden, as a response to the increasing refused asylum applications of young Afghans. A group of static individuals has become a moving ally, expanding their local care beyond borders.
Paper long abstract:
Since the so-called refugee crisis of 2015, Sweden has
fallen from its prestigious symbol of "generosity", by
severely harshening its asylum reception policies. Many afghan asylum
seekers have gone from
"wanted" to "refused", after rebuilding their lives and learning the Swedish
language. A group of civil society volunteers and activists
organized local supports to help these younsgsters.
Throughout the process, a complex, multi-sited network of care
was established, beyond Swedish borders, to support Swedish-Afghans on
the move in Europe. Close relationships were kept between the
youngsters and their informal supporters, who helped them financially,
through crowdfundings and bank transfers; emotionally, by keeping in
touch through digital platforms, and frequent WhatsApping; and
pragmatically, by finding them new friends in transit, and providing
guidance throughout complex decision-making processes.
I have been following these
informal solidarity networks since May 2019, through my PhD fieldwork in
Lisbon and in Paris. Based on participatory observations, informal
solidarity initiatives, digital media platforms and in-depth interviews
with Swedish solidarians and Afghan asylum seekers; I explore these
relationships of care, its transformative impact on individuals and
local communities and its political significance. The relationships between participants are
contrasted with relevant anthropology literature, to make sense of their
symbolisms and nuances. I suggest that care and transgression are
modulated by particular intersubjectivities, shown in the singularity of
these very particular relationships, in a wider context of structural
violence, political resistance and mobility across borders.
Paper short abstract:
Exploring the mobilisation of the everyday in humanitarian aid work, this paper will discuss aid work during WWI as an emotional gift economy. I will show how gifts carried emotional and moral significance thereby making it possible to mobilise the everyday.
Paper long abstract:
During WWI, the everyday was mobilised in order to help prisoners of war and it has been described as the great humanitarian awakening (Irwin 2013). In Sweden, where the Swedish Red Cross was responsible for the humanitarian efforts, mobilising the everyday merged into an idea of Sweden as a moral superpower. This paper will discuss humanitarian aid work as an emotional gift economy in order to understand the mobilisation of the everyday. Everyday mobilisation is understood as an emotional practice permeated by moral. Knowing how to perform moral is, as argued by Ahmed, a result of “of moral training” (2010:27) and management of emotions. You learn, Ahmed argues, “to be affected in the right way by the right things” (2010:129). Based on this assumption, I will show how material and immaterial gifts in the Red Cross’s humanitarian aid work carried emotional and moral significance thereby making it possible making it possible to mobilise the everyday. I will focus on three questions: How was it possible to arouse emotional commitment for humanitarian aid work, and thus a stranger in distress?: what was defined as valuable gifts, what could the vernacular offer? and; how was the idea of reciprocity performed by the receiver (in order to maintain the commitment among the “vernaculars”)?