Voluntary Work in Migration Society: Paradoxes and Power Relations

The goal of the project is to illuminate and reflect on relationships of dependency and inequality in voluntary work that focuses on refugees. Programs of voluntary work and the dominant structures inherent in them as well as power asymmetries, solidarity, support and dependencies resulting thereof are focused within different contexts and analyzed in a comparative manner. The project offers a multi-perspective design. On the one hand, documents such as project concepts and other materials made available are analyzed; on the other hand, the perspectives of different involved actors are gathered using interviews. In addition, selected contexts are observed using an ethnographical approach in order to take aspects of implementation into account. This allows for the correlation of the actors’ perspectives and experiences as well as (discursive) practices against the background of global relationships of inequality.

Project lead: Dr. Anna Schnitzer

Staff: Selin Kili and Eveline Zwahlen

Laufzeit: 03/2018-02/2020

Contact:
Dr. Anna Schnitzer
Freiestrasse 36
CH-8032 Zürich