Volunteer humanitarianism by ordinary citizens in support of migrants facing hostile deterrence policies has become an increasingly common feature of the global humanitarian landscape. In this talk I focus on volunteer humanitarianism for people seeking asylum in Australia, a country with one of the most hostile deterrence regimes in the world towards people seeking asylum arriving by boat. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with humanitarian NGOs and volunteers providing services during 2015-16 in Melbourne, I discuss two standout features of their volunteer humanitarianism: a deep ambivalence with unequal relations, leading to humanitarian discourses of need being replaced by equalising cultural tropes such as neighbourliness and fairness; and the proximate and personal nature of humanitarianism undertaken “at home.” Volunteer humanitarianism in this context was a form of intimate politics against Australia’s hostile asylum regime, that was also infused with a complex gendered and racialised everyday politics of helping.
The seminar is at 16.30-18.00 on Thursday 13 February in room JHB303 in the John Henry Brookes building, Headington Campus. (The full list of seminars for this semester is here.)
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