Abstract
The authors’ previous work suggested to conceptualise these enactments of solidarity as instances of ‘subversive humanitarianism’: a form of moral humanitarianism which acquires a political character because of its opposition to the social and political climate in which it unfolds. In this chapter, we describe how, over time, these civil initiatives have tried to balance between maintaining their subversive character and solidifying into more professional organisations. Drawing largely on the case of the Brussels-based Citizen Platform, we discuss three particular challenges they have been confronted with: (a) establish horizontal or vertical professional ties with the people they help; (b) challenge or reproduce the subject-categories produced by the state; and (c) contend or substitute governmental policies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agier, M. (2008). On the Margins of the World. The Refugee Experience Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Agier, M. (2011). Managing the Undesirables. Refugee Camps and Humanitarian Government. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Arendt, H. (1973). The Origins of Totalitarianism. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ataç, I. (2016). ‘Refugee Protest Camp Vienna’: Making Citizens Through Locations of the Protest Movement. Citizenship Studies,20(5), 629–646.
Ataç, I., Rygiel, K., & Stierl, M. (2016). Introduction: The Contentious Politics of Refugee and Migrant Protest and Solidarity Movements: Remaking Citizenship from the Margins. Citizenship Studies,20(5), 527–544.
Barnett, M. (2011). Humanitarianism, Paternalism, and the UNHCR. In A. Betts & G. Loescher (Eds.), Refugees in International Relations (pp. 105–132). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barnett, M. (2014). Refugees and Humanitarianism. In E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, G. Loescher, K. Long, & N. Sigona (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (pp. 241–252). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barnett, M., & Weiss, T. G. (Eds.). (2008). Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics. Boston: Cornell University Press.
Bloemraad, I., Korteweg, A., & Yurdakul, G. (2008). Citizenship and Immigration: Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Challenges to the Nation-State. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 153–179.
Castañeda, H. (2013). Medical Aid as Protest: Acts of Citizenship for Unauthorized Im/migrants and Refugees. Citizenship Studies,17(2), 227–240.
De Jong, S., & Ataç, I. (2017). Demand and Deliver: Refugee Support Organisations in Austria. Social Inclusion, 5(3), 28–37.
De Praetere, A., & Oosterlynck, S. (2017). I Finally Found My Place. A Political Ethnography of the Maximiliaan Refugee Camp in Brussels. Citizenship Studies,21(6), 693–709.
Fassin, D. (2011). Humanitarian Reason: The Moral History of the Present. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fleischmann, L., & Steinhilper, E. (2017). The Myth of Apolitical Volunteering for Refugees: German Welcome Culture and a New Dispositif of Helping. Social Inclusion,5(3), 17–27.
Hamann, U., & Karakayali, S. (2016). Practicing Wilkommenskultur: Migration and Solidarity in Germany. Intersections,2(4), 69–86.
Harrell-Bond, B. E. (1986). Imposing Aid: Emergency Assistance to Refugees. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harrell-Bond, B. E. (1999). The Experience of Refugees as Recipients of Aid. In A. Ager (Ed.), Refugees. Perspectives on the Experience of Forced Migration (pp. 136–168). London/New York: Continuum.
Isin, E. F., & Nielsen, G. M. (Eds.). (2013). Acts of Citizenship. London: Zed Books.
Isin, E. F., & Rygiel, K. (2007). Abject Spaces: Frontiers, Zones, Camps. In The Logics of Biopower and the War on Terror (pp. 181–203). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Johnson, H. (2012). Moments of Solidarity, Migrant Activism and (non) Citizens at Global Borders: Political Agency at Tanzanian Refugee Camps, Australian Detention Centres and European Borders. In Citizenship, Migrant Activism and the Politics of Movement (pp. 121–140). London/New York: Routledge.
Koca, B. T. (2016). New Social Movements: Refugees Welcome UK. European Scientific Journal,12(2), 96–109.
Leach, D. K. (2013). Prefigurative Politics. In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements. Hoboken: Wiley.
Leitner, H., Sheppard, E., & Sziarto, K. M. (2008). The Spatialities of Contentious Politics. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,33(2), 157–172.
Macrae, J. (Ed.). (2002). The New Humanitarianisms: A Review of Trends in Global Humanitarian Action. London: Overseas Development Institute.
McAdam, D., Tarrow, S., & Tilly, C. (2001). Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Malkki, L. H. (1996). Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization. Cultural Anthropology,11(3), 377–404.
Malkki, L. H. (2015). The Need to Help. The Domestic Arts of International Humanitarianism. Durham: Duke Press.
Marchart, O. (2007). Post Foundational Political Thought: Political Difference in Nancy, Lefort, Badiou and Laclau. Edinbrugh: University Press.
Michels, R. (1962). Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Collier Books.
Millner, N. (2011). From “Refugee” to “Migrant” in Calais Solidarity Activism: Re-staging Undocumented Migration for a Future Politics of Asylum. Political Geography,30(6), 320–328.
Morris, L. (2010). Asylum Welfare and the Cosmopolitan Ideal. A Sociology of Rights. Abingdon/New York: Routledge.
Nash, K. (2009). Between Citizenship and Human Rights. Sociology,43(6), 1067–1083.
Rancière, J. (1999). Disagreement. Politics and Philosophy (Julie Rose, Trans.). Minneapolis: Minneapolis University Press.
Rigby, J., & Schlembach, R. (2013). Impossible Protest: Noborders in Calais. Citizenship Studies,17(2), 157–172.
Rozakou, K. (2012). The Biopolitics of Hospitality in Greece: Humanitarianism and the Management of Refugees. American Ethnologist,39(3), 562–577.
Rygiel, K. (2011). Bordering Solidarities: Migrant Activism and the Politics of Movement and Camps at Calais. Citizenship Studies,15(01), 1–19.
Rygiel, K. (2012). Politicizing Camps: Forging Transgressive Citizenships in and Through Transit. Citizenship Studies,16(5–6), 807–825.
Sigona, N. (2015). Campzenship: Reimagining the Camp as a Social and Political Space. Citizenship Studies,19(1), 1–15.
Swerts, T., & De Praetere, A. (2016). Burgerschap in het Maximiliaanpark. Sociologie Magazine, 24(1), 12–14.
Tarrow, S. G. (2011). Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ticktin, M. (2005). Policing and Humanitarianism in France: Immigration and the Turn to Law as State of Exception. Interventions,7(3), 346–368.
Ticktin, M. (2006). Where Ethics and Politics Meet: The Violence of Humanitarianism in France. American Ethnologist,33(1), 33–49.
Ticktin, M. I. (2011). Casualties of Care: Immigration and the Politics of Humanitarianism in France. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ticktin, M. (2014). Transnational Humanitarianism. Annual Review of Anthropology,43, 273–289.
Tyler, I., & Marciniak, K. (2013). Immigrant Protest: An Introduction. Citizenship Studies,17(2), 143–156.
Vandevoordt, R. (2016). Moral cosmopolitanism and its others. On refugees, responsibility and immunisation. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen.
Vandevoordt, R. (2017). The Politics of Food and Hospitality: How Syrian Refugees in Belgium Create a Home in Hostile Environments. Journal of Refugee Studies,30(4), 605–621.
Vandevoordt, R., & De Praetere, A. (forthcoming). Subversive Humanitarianism. Understanding the Civil Refugee Support in Europe. Unpublished manuscript.
Vandevoordt, R., & Verschraegen, G. (forthcoming). Citizenship as a Gift. How Syrian Refugees in Belgium Make Sense of Their Social Rights. Unpublished manuscript.
van Dyk, S., & Misbach, E. (2016). Zur politischen Öknomie des Helfens. Flüchtlingspolitik und Engagement im flexiblen Kapitalismus. Prokla. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft,183, 205–228.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (Vol. 1). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wilson, R. A., & Brown, R. D. (2009). Introduction. In R. A. Wilson & R. D. Brown (Eds.), Humanitarianism and Suffering. The Mobilization of Empathy (pp. 1–28). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Weizman, E. (2013). The Least of All Possible Evils. Humanitarian Violence Form Arendt to Gaza. London: Verso Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vandevoordt, R., Verschraegen, G. (2019). Subversive Humanitarianism and Its Challenges: Notes on the Political Ambiguities of Civil Refugee Support. In: Feischmidt, M., Pries, L., Cantat, C. (eds) Refugee Protection and Civil Society in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92741-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92741-1_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92740-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92741-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)