Daring to care? How volunteers and civil society organisations are shaping asylum seekers’ access to citizenship through social support

Abstract

Since the notable increase of asylum seekers in Germany in 2015, volunteers in civil society organisations (CSOs) have come to play an increasingly important role in the provision of social services and support structures for refugees in the country. By framing volunteers’ activities in the field of social support as practices of care and by linking these activities theoretically to acts of citizenship, the paper discusses whether and how CSOs and volunteers are able to challenge hegemonic discourses and practices of citizenship and migrants' rights. The paper is based on an on-going, qualitative study in a city in Germany, involving different CSOs and volunteers. Findings include that volunteers' activities done on behalf of asylum seekers may further the constant enacting of rights and citizenship through practice on the local level - even if volunteers' and CSOs original intentions are not necessarily geared towards this end.