Dear colleagues,

We invite you to submit a paper abstract to our panel "Helping in an era of
hostility: Political agency & moral contestations in civil society
movements for & by migrants" at the upcoming RAI-RGS Conference
Anthropology & Geography: Dialogues Past, Present & Future, 4-7 June 2020
in London. We are delighted to have Dr Heidi Armbruster (University of
Southampton) as our discussant.

The panel description is below. To submit a paper proposal, please propose
a paper title, short abstract of <300 words and a long abstract of 250
words at: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/rai2020/p/8343, before the call
for papers closes on *8 January 2020*.

Panel Title: Helping in an era of hostility: Political agency and moral
contestations in civil society movements for and by migrants
Panel AA12 at conference RAI2020: Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues
Past, Present and Future
Stream: Advocacy and Activism

Convenors:
Dr Tess Altman (University of Southampton)
Dr Rachel Humphris (Queen Mary, University of London)
Discussant: Dr Heidi Armbruster (University of Southampton)

Short abstract:
Civil society movements by and for migrants are often critical of hostile
border regimes. Questions have been raised about their ambivalent position
in relation to such regimes. This panel opens up discussion about the moral
and political positionings of civil society actors in Europe and beyond.

Long abstract:
Refusing the medal bestowed by the Mayor of Paris in August 2019, Pia
Klemp, a German captain of migrant search-and-rescue missions in the
Mediterranean, stated "I'm not a humanitarian. I am not there to 'aid'. We
do not need authorities deciding who is a 'hero' and who is 'illegal'. What
we need are freedom and rights." Concurrently, Klemp is being criminalised
by the Italian government for 'aiding illegal immigration' and could face
up to 20 years in prison. Her case brings into sharp focus political
contestations in the heterogeneous civil society space supporting migrants
in Europe that has proliferated since the 2015 long summer of migration
(Vandevoordt and Verschraegen 2019). This panel invites an
interdisciplinary conversation on the moral and political positionings of
civil society actors supporting migrants in Europe and beyond. Though many
civil society actors are critical of hostile border regimes, questions have
been raised about their ambivalent position in relation to such regimes.
Papers may address (but are not limited to):

• Expressions of political agency by civil society actors
• Migrant perspectives on civil society actors
• Intersections of gender, class or religious differences in relationships
between/among civil society actors and/or migrants
• Criminalisation or valorisation of humanitarian efforts
• Distinctions between forms of helping (e.g. humanitarianism, aid,
solidarity, welcome, hospitality)
• Collaborations and/or tensions between civil society actors
• Relations between civil society actors and different levels/scales of
government (e.g. local, urban, state, national, inter/supranational)

We look forward to receiving proposals and to engaging in future
conversations!

Very best

Dr Tess Altman (University of Southampton) and Dr Rachel Humphris (Queen
Mary, University of London)

*Dr Tess Altman *
*ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow*
*Research Project "Humanitarianism against hostility: Volunteer hospitality
in Australia and Europe"*
Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Southampton
University Rd, Southampton SO17 1BJ

Twitter:@Tess_Altman
Personal website <https://soton.academia.edu/TessAltman>
New blog post
<https://allegralaboratory.net/reflections-on-performance-ethnography-and-public-engagement-report/>
<https://allegralaboratory.net/reflections-on-performance-ethnography-and-public-engagement-report/>

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