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Paper Short Abstract:

Exploring practices of refugees' support in Switzerland, I will discuss how imaginative repertoires associated with humanitarian volunteerism, with techno-moral administering as well as with an activist ethos interweave in the enactment of 'solidarity' under restrictive conditions.

Paper Abstract:

Drawing on an ethnographic and interview-based study in Switzerland, this paper explores the interplay of depoliticiced and repoliticiced figurations of humanitarian reasoning within a regional support network for undocumented migrants and refugees with temporary permits. Those involved are committed to "safeguarding fundamental rights" guaranteed by the Swiss constitution and the human rights framework. However, they act "within the feasible range", which encompasses both shifting legal constraints and narrowing discursive corridors. Against the backdrop of deterrence-based migration policies, they weigh rationales of humanitarian aid provision and transformative political aspirations, employing varieties of 'solidarity' as an elastic concept.

Is their quasi-humanitarian 'solidarity' a practice of last resort when the state refuses to grant human rights to refugees? Furthermore and nevertheless, it is pertinent to inquire as to the nature of the hope that is entwined with the practices that emerge from this context. As the assignment of responsibilities for basic welfare continuously shifts between state bodies, churches and civil society activists, the latter must navigate volatile grounds. However, they not only address new welfare gaps, but also assume new roles, for example, in raising and distributing funds for public transport tickets, negotiating eligibility and setting out rules. This, I argue, results in both disappointment and the formation of new subject positions from which claims can be articulated differently. Here, the logic of practices merges and collides with imaginative repertoires associated with humanitarian volunteerism, techno-moral administering (Bornstein/Sharma) as well as with an antagonistic activist ethos in the moment of welfare state restructuring.

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This paper traces how the concept of "cultural difference" has been mobilized by different actors in the context of humanitarian aid to Romani refugees from Ukraine. It thus moves the anthropological debate on "cultural difference" towards an emic understanding of related concepts and their use in defining complex social relations.

Paper Abstract:

This presentation examines the complex and paradoxical role of "cultural difference" thesis in the response to presence of Ukrainian Roma refugees in Central Europe following Russia's invasion in 2022. In Czechia state officials have used the argument of "cultural difference" both as a pretext to exclude Roma from the dominant aid system, and to justify the differential treatment of Roma while staving off any possible accusations of racial discrimination. Concomitantly, the responsibility for the care of Romani refugees was gradually transferred to Romani NGOs, which have been cast in the role of cultural experts. However, the concept of "cultural difference" was also invoked by humanitarian workers and Romani organizations themselves, both to explain difficulties in assisting Ukrainian Roma and to advocate for specific needs.

This is one of the very few moments when “culture” became a prime component in a redistributive interaction with the state in Central Eastern Europe. While "culture" has often been used as shorthand for Romani language or folklore, both scholars and activists have generally steered clear of the term to avoid exoticization and to prevent reinforcing folk racist assumptions that blame the socio-economic situation and exclusion of Romani communities on a distinct culture. The resurgence of “cultural difference” raises then important questions about racialisation of humanitarian imaginaries and redistributive claims. It also begs a question of how scholars should consider the relationship between the analytical use of culture, which they generally avoid, and its vernacular refractions and uses often by Roma themselves.

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This talk critically interrogates the conditions of possibility and the limits of medical humanitarianism. I explore how HIV medicine was supplied to the occupied territories of Ukraine since 2014 and how the full-scale invasion of 2022 changed the situation. Building on ethnographic data, archival research, and document analysis, I trace the changes in the on-the-ground processes of supplying HIV medicine to the non-government-controlled areas. I start by discussing the limits of contemporary states to care for their citizens. Then, I zoom in on the small-scale activism of resistance humanitarianism that was maintained by the communities of people who use drugs and people living with HIV both on Ukraine controlled and occupied territories. I argue that the need for a humanitarian intervention is a built-in feature of contemporary sovereignty. By shifting scales of inquiry and focusing on resistance humanitarianism, I show that sometimes humanitarian acts may be accomplished only by disavowing humanitarian identity. Finally, I consider the current situation of people living with HIV on the occupied territories. I conclude by discussing the limits of the humanitarian enterprise in the face of imposition of biological citizenship on HIV patients by the occupying authorities.

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Paper Short Abstract:

In this presentation, I will examine the various forms of "humanitarian borderwork" in the context of the Polish-Belarusian border crisis. I will address the phenomenon of ‘military humanitarianism’, which allows aggressors to become victims and to portray violence as a patriotic endeavour; the discourse of 'humanitarian pushbacks', which allows a ruthless state policy to be presented as a concern for migrants; and the postulated political neutrality of large humanitarian organisations, which prefer not to engage in activities that are not approved by the state.

Paper Abstract:

The humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border following the launch of the new migration route by the Lukashenko regime in 2021 is typically framed in terms of the denial of state aid to migrants, which has resulted in the loss of their health and lives. However, it can also be viewed as a crisis of the very concept of humanitarianism, which frequently serves to reinforce border control policies. The use of humanitarianism in the context of securitisation carries inherent risks, particularly where it may result in complacency among those who might otherwise oppose exclusionary and violent practices towards migrants. In this presentation, I will examine the various forms of "humanitarian borderwork" (Pallister-Wilkins) in the context of the Polish-Belarusian border crisis. I will address the phenomenon of ‘military humanitarianism’, which allows aggressors to become victims and to portray violence as a patriotic endeavour; the discourse of 'humanitarian pushbacks', which allows a ruthless state policy to be presented as a concern for migrants; and the postulated political neutrality of large humanitarian organisations, which prefer not to engage in activities that are not approved by the state and to transfer the responsibility for the care of people on the move to grassroots aid initiatives. The perceived hypocrisy of the humanitarian ideals leads these initiatives to reposition themselves as solidarity movements. This transformation seeks to bridge the divide between citizens and strangers, those who are framed as active actors providing aid and those who are perceived as passive recipients of humanitarian assistance.

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Paper Short Abstract:

The Polish-Belarusian border has become a battleground for different understandings of human rights, humanitarianism and national security. Both right-wing and centrist-liberal governments implemented strict border regimes. These policies challenged the relationship between border security, human rights and humanitarianism.

Paper Abstract:

Since 2021, the Polish-Belarusian border has become both a symbolic and practical battleground for different understandings of human rights, humanitarianism and national security. The authorities portray migrants’ attempts to cross the border as a threat to the state. Measures have been taken to prevent ‘illegal’ crossings: a metal barrier has been erected, deportations have been normalised, and civil rights in the border area have been temporarily restricted, including the right to assistance for those who have already managed to cross. This led to many deaths in the border area. A government described as a right-wing nationalist used Islamophobic rhetoric that met the definition of cultural racism/apartheid. The government, which won the 2023 elections on a platform of restoring democracy, abandoned xenophobic arguments but did not change the border regime. War-like exceptionalism continues and is accepted by the EU. This fact suggests that legitimising discourses are secondary to ‘Fortress Europe’ and the modern nation-state’s political, social and economic rationale. By violating rudimentary human rights, those in power ignore moral appeals – raised by humanitarian aid groups, civil rights activists, and the Roman Catholic Church – to extend humanitarian aid to people caught in the cogs of international politics. Didier Fassin (2011) argues that in the modern state, in the triangle of border control–humanitarianism–human rights, humanitarianism replaces human rights, which, according to Hannah Arendt (1949), refugees are deprived of. Polish and, increasingly, European authorities not only abolish human rights but also present securitisation and humanitarianism as incompatible and mutually exclusive.

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Paper Short Abstract:

In this presentation, we will examine the work of a volunteer initiative in the city of Zagreb that provides support to individuals with experiences of homelessness—those who, for various reasons, are currently or have been without a home for an extended period, living in poverty.

Paper Abstract:

In this presentation, we will examine the work of a volunteer initiative in the city of Zagreb that provides support to individuals with experiences of homelessness—those who, for various reasons, are currently or have been without a home for an extended period, living in poverty and unable to survive without the assistance of others, existing at the threshold of subsistence in every sense of the term. The initiative and the work of the volunteers involved are analyzed as an example of vernacular humanitarianism (Brković 2023), explored through the concepts of fragility and vulnerability. These concepts are critically examined, with the argument that fragility is not an inherent characteristic of objects or bodies, but rather a condition that arises from their relational dynamics (Dominguez Rubio 2023). The volunteers are understood as a heterogeneous community, with the interplay between emotional and rational roles in their volunteer work (Pozniak 2020, 2021) identified as a key factor influencing both their engagement and their understanding of the initiative.

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Paper Short Abstract:

Based on ethnographic work with palliative care volunteers of one association in Zagreb (Croatia) this paper discusses the notion of love as a signifier of volunteers’ professionality. Even though Croatia lacks an institutional framework for transmitting an ‘appropriate’ cultivation of love paramount to liberal democracies (Nussbaum, 2013; Brković, fortcoming), this lack of institutionalisation paradoxically enables volunteers to develop a meaning of love as a skill which is nurtured throughout their lives and carefully employed to demarcate their professional boundaries.

Paper Abstract:

Based on ethnographic work with palliative care (PC) volunteers of one association in Zagreb (Croatia) in 2021 and 2022 this paper discusses the notion of love as a signifier of volunteers’ professionality. For the philosopher Martha Nussbaum (2013) love is the means through which liberal democracies acquire justice, with a ‘right’ form of institutionalised pedagogy being crucial in that process. Drawing from here, anthropologist Čarna Brković (forthcoming) in her work on humanitarian practices in Montenegro argues that such pedagogy of love has not been entirely successful in the post-Yugoslav region as these countries still have some work to do in educating their citizens to love ‘properly’, which prevents them to become full members of Western democracies. Even though Croatia lacks an institutional framework – particularly in the field of PC – for transmitting an ‘appropriate’ cultivation of love, this lack of institutionalisation paradoxically enables volunteers in Zagreb to develop a meaning of love that is not simply ‘there’, an inexhaustible (self-renewable) source of energy, but a skill that is nurtured throughout their lives and employed to demarcate their professional boundaries. This understanding of love is also shaped by the Catholic context of the association and the country’s ‘custodial’ relationship to volunteerism manifested in the need of state to control volunteering and civil society, while simultaneously not providing sufficient conditions for its development.

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Paper Short Abstract:

Civil search and rescue organizations engage in political activism and provide humanitarian assistance to migrants and refugees on the deadly central Mediterranean route. In recent years, they have faced increasing repression and criminalisation. Some NGOs developed inconspicuous and pragmatic everyday grassroots humanitarian practices, which have proven to be an effective strategy for maintaining good relationships with state authorities. This observation prompts reflections on what it means to decentre humanitarianism.

Paper Abstract:

The central Mediterranean route has often been described as the deadliest migration route. When the end of the Mare Nostrum rescue operation in 2014 left a research gap, civil search and rescue (SAR) organizations established to provide humanitarian assistance and critical monitoring of the situation at sea. There are now around 20 SAR NGOs active in the Mediterranean Sea, some of which position themselves as humanitarians, while others reject the label in favour of political activists. Over the last seven years, SAR NGOs have faced increasing repression and criminalisation in the context of securitisation and militarisation of the Mediterranean border. There is a research gap on how the different types of SAR NGOs (humanitarian and political) have responded to these developments. In my PhD project, I analyse the relations between state and civil actors in search and rescue. Participant observation on Italian shores and in ports is combined with interviews with activists and representatives of the Italian Coast Guard and document analysis. In this contribution, I argue that in the context of shrinking humanitarian spaces in the Mediterranean and increasingly repressive and restrictive border regimes, inconspicuous and pragmatic everyday grassroots humanitarian practices have proven to be an effective strategy. By staying out of major media discourses and keeping their (critical) voices low, NGOs following this approach manage to maintain unproblematic relations with state authorities. In making this argument, I contribute to the question of what it means to decentre humanitarianism for the Mediterranean Sea and for border spaces in general.

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Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation explores the "structural amnesia" surrounding 1990s humanitarian aid in the Magadan region, Northeastern Russia, during post-Soviet crises. Based on interviews (2015–2022) and local press, it examines forgotten aid from the USA to the region and from Moscow and Magadan to the mining town after the 1993 boiler plant failure. I argue that Soviet narratives of heroic progress, framing welfare as a "modern gift" (Ssorin-Chaikov 2017), shaped selective memory, highlighting the interplay between humanitarianism, memory, and ideology.

Paper Abstract:

Research on memory and humanitarianism often focuses on the use of past trauma in reconciliation politics and "lessons learned" (Daudin 2023; Ferreira 2014; Taithe and Borton 2016), or on the right not to remember (Rieff 2019). However, the memory of humanitarian aid itself remains underexplored. This presentation addresses this gap by examining the "structural amnesia" (Barnes 1947) surrounding humanitarian aid received in the 1990s in the Magadan region of Northeastern Russia. Drawing on interviews (2015–2022) and local press and literature analysis, I explore how this amnesia reflects the broader Soviet ideology of humanitarian aid.

During the Soviet era, the Far North was a cultural frontier showcasing socialist progress. The Magadan region, then including Chukotka, was key due to its proximity to the USA. After the USSR’s collapse, the region faced mass migration (losing two-thirds of its 1989 population within two decades), factory shutdowns, and critical food and fuel shortages.

This talk examines two scales of humanitarian aid. First, it analyzes aid from the USA, the USSR’s former Cold War rival, during the early 1990s. Second, it contrasts local press accounts with interviews conducted 20 years later to highlight the forgotten aid from Moscow and Magadan following a 1993 boiler plant failure that endangered a mining town. I argue that Soviet narratives of heroic progress toward communism, which framed welfare as a "modern gift" (Ssorin-Chaikov 2017), discouraged acknowledgment of crises and external aid. This case sheds light on the interplay between humanitarianism, memory, and ideology.