Feeling the Refugee Crisis: Civic Mobilizations in Germany

Titolo Rivista MONDI MIGRANTI
Autori/Curatori Jochen Kleres
Anno di pubblicazione 2018 Fascicolo 2017/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 24 P. 137-160 Dimensione file 211 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2017-003007
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Germany has been a key destination for refugees during the so-called refugee crisis and has taken on larger numbers of refugees during that period. Civic mobilizations in this context feature the emergence of so-called welcome initiatives. A primary focus of these initiatives has been to provide stop-gap help to incoming refugees, that is chiefly attending to migrants’ basic needs for food, clothing, accomodation, transportation, legal advice, language etc. These are new entries into the field of pro-immigrant civic initiatives, adding to pre-existing interest associations, church-related, leftist and refugees’ self organized organizations and mobilizations. This chapter charts these novel, welcome mobilizations in order to analyze their emotional bases in a comparative perspective. Fundamental to this is the distinction of pity, compassion, and (political) solidarity as emotions of apprehending others’ suffering. With Arendt it can be argued that compassion and pity tend to depoliticize civic action, while solidarity may politicize activists. Applying this analytical lens brings into relief to what extend welcome initiatives are politicized or depoliticized, operating more as political activism or humanitarianism. This comes into particular relief when comparing welcome initiatives with other, pre-existing mobilizations, especially of the radical left and by migrants themselves.

Keywords:Emotion, refugee crisis, solidarity, compassion, pity, Germany.

  1. Alcalde J. (2016). Why the Refugee Crisis Is Not a Refugee Crisis. Peace in Progress, 29; http://www.icip-perlapau.cat/numero29/articles_centrals/article_central_2/ (accessed on August 31, 2017).
  2. Arendt H. (2006). On Revolution. New York: Penguin Books.
  3. Arnold S. and Bischoff S. (2016). Wer Sind Wir Denn Wieder? Nationale Identitäten in Krisenzeiten. Aus Politik Und Zeitgeschichte, 14-15: 28-34.
  4. Balaji M. (2011). Racializing Pity: The Haiti Earthquake and the Plight of ‘Others.’ Critical Studies in Media Communication, 28, 1: 50-67.
  5. Barbalet J.M., ed. (2002). Emotions and Sociology. Oxford, Malden: Blackwell Publishers.
  6. Barbalet J.M. (1998). Emotion, Social Theory, and Social Structure: A Macrosociological Approach. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo: Cambridge University Press.
  7. Bayertz K., ed. (1998). Solidarität: Begriff und Problem. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
  8. Bayertz K. (1998). Begriff Und Problem Der Solidarität. In: Bayertz K., ed., cit.: 11-53.
  9. Berezin M. (2002). Secure States: Towards a Political Sociology of Emotion. Barbalet J.M., ed., cit.: 33-52.
  10. Berezin M. (2001). Emotions and Political Identity: Mobilizing Affection for the Polity. In: Goodwin J., Jasper J.M. and Polletta F., eds., cit.: 83-98.
  11. Billig M. (1995). Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
  12. BMI (2016). 890.000 Asylsuchende Im Jahr 2015. Bundesministerium Des Innern; http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2016/09/asylsuchende-2015.html (accessed on: April 18, 2017).
  13. Boltanski L. (1999). Distant Suffering: Morality, Media, and Politics. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
  14. Bröse J. and Friedrich S. (2015). Der Schmale Grat Der Hilfe. Ak - Analyse & Kritik - Zeitung Für Linke Debatte Und Praxis (Nr. 607); https://www.akweb.de/ak_s/ak607/08.htm (accessed on January 16, 2017).
  15. Calhoun C. (2010). The Idea of Emergency: Humanitarian Action and Global (Dis) Order. In: Fassin D. and Pandolfi M., eds., cit.: 29-58.
  16. Castro Varela, M. do Mar and Heinemann A.M.B. (2016). Mitleid, Paternalismus, Solidarität. Zur Rolle von Affekten in Der Politisch-Kulturellen Arbeit. In: Gritschke C. and Ziese M., eds., cit.: 51-66.
  17. Castro Varela, M. do Mar (2015). Willkommenskultur: Migration Und Ökonomie. In. Zülfukar C. and Taş S., eds., cit.: 87-96
  18. Chouliaraki, L. (2006). The Spectatorship of Suffering. London, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
  19. Collins R. (2005). Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  20. Daphi P. (2016). Zivilgesellschaft¬ liches Engagement Für Flüchtlinge Und Lokale ‘Willkommenskultur’. Aus Politik Und Zeitgeschichte, 14-15: 35-39.
  21. della Porta D., ed. (in print). Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis.’ Contentious Moves. London: Palgrave.
  22. Drücker A., Seng S., and Töbel S., eds. (2016). Geflüchtete, Flucht und Asyl. Texte zu gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen, Flucht- und Lebensrealitäten, ras-sistischen Mobilisierungen, Selbstorganisation, Empowerment und Jugendarbeit, Düsseldorf: Informations- und Dokumentationszentrum für Antirassismu-sarbeit.
  23. Durkheim É. (2016). Über soziale Arbeitsteilung: Studie über die Organisation höherer Gesellschaften. 7. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
  24. Fassin D. (2012). Humanitarian Reason: A Moral History of the Present Times. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.
  25. Fassin D. and Pandolfi M., eds. (2010). Contemporary States of Emergency: The Politics of Military and Humanitarian Interventions. New York: Zone Books.
  26. Fischer A.H. and Jansz J. (1995). Reconciling Emotions with Western Personhood. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour , 25, 1: 59-80.
  27. Flam H. (2013). Social Movements and Emotions. In: van der Heijden H.-A. ed., cit.: 308-333.
  28. Flam H. (2005). Emotions’ Map. A Research Agenda. In: Flam H. and King D., eds., cit.: 19-40.
  29. Flam H. (1990a). Emotional ‘Man’: I. The Emotional ‘Man’ and the Problem of Collective Action. International Sociology, 5, 1: 39-56.
  30. Flam H. (1990b). Emotional ‘Man’: II. Corporate Actors as Emotion-Motivated Emotion Managers. International Sociology, 5, 2: 225-34.
  31. Flam H. and King D., eds. (2005). Emotions and Social Movements. London, New York: Routledge.
  32. Flam H. and Kleres J., eds. (2015). Methods of Exploring Emotions. London, New York: Routledge.
  33. Fleischmann L. and 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.
  34. Gauditz L. (2017). The Noborder Movement: Interpersonal Struggle with Political Ideals. Social Inclusion, 5, 3: 49-57.
  35. Geisen T. (2010). Vergesellschaftung Statt Integration: Zur Kritik Des Integrations-Paradigmas. In: Mecheril P., Dirim İ., Gomolla M., Hornberg S. and Stojanov K., eds., cit.: 13-34.
  36. Goodwin J., Jasper J.M. and Polletta F., eds. (2001). Passionate Politics. Emotions and Social Movements. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.
  37. Graf L. (2016). Freiwillig Im Ausnahmezustand Die Ambivalente Rolle Ehrenamtlichen Engagements in Der Transformation Des Asylregimes. Widersprüche, 36, 3: 87-96.
  38. Gritschke C. and Ziese M., eds. (2016). Geflüchtete und Kulturelle Bildung. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
  39. Hahlen J. and Kühn H. (2016). Die Flüchtlingskrise Als Verwaltungskrise – Be-bachtungen Zur Agilität Des Deutschen Verwaltungssystems. Verwaltung & Management, 22, 3: 157-167.
  40. Hauer D. (2016). ‘Flüchtlingskrise’ Und Autoritäre Integration. Zu Einigen Aspekten Der Reorganisation Staatlicher Kontrollpolitiken. Widersprüche, 36, 3: 49-60.
  41. Herrmann F. (2016). Das Märchen vom überkochenden Brei. Narrative in der medialen Berichterstattung zum Flüchtlingsthema im Herbst 2015. Communicatio Socialis, 49, 1: 6-20.
  42. Hochschild A.R. (1979). Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 3: 551-75.
  43. Hochschild A.R. (1983). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  44. Höijer B. (2004). The Discourse of Global Compassion: The Audience and Media Reporting of Human Suffering. Media, Culture & Society, 26, 4: 513-531.
  45. Hopkins D.R., Kleres J., Flam H. and Kuzmics H., eds. (2009). Theorizing Emotions: Sociological Explorations and Applications. Frankfurt am Main, New York: Campus.
  46. Ismer S., von Scheve C. and Bayer M. (2015). Die Sozialen Konsequenzen Kollektiver Emotionen: Identifikation Und Solidarität Nach Innen Sowie Abgrenzung Nach Außen?. In: Kleres J. and Albrecht Y., eds., cit.
  47. Jahr S. (2000). Emotionen Und Emotionsstrukturen in Sachtexten. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
  48. Jakob C. (2016). Die Bleibenden: Wie Flüchtlinge Deutschland seit 20 Jahren Verändern. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag.
  49. Jasper J.M. (1998). The Emotions of Protest: Affective and Reactive Emotions In and Around Social Movements. Sociological Forum, 13, 3: 397-424.
  50. Jungk S. (2016). Willkommenskultur: Von Neuen Chancen, Alten Fehlern Und Versäumnissen. Widersprüche, 36, 3: 99-108.
  51. Karakayali S. (2016). Rights or Philanthropy: Emotions of Solidarity with Refugees – Compas; https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2016/rights-or-philanthropy-emotions-of-solidarity-with-refugees/ (accessed on August 31, 2017).
  52. Karakayali S. and Kleist O. (2016). Efa-Studie 2. Strukturen Und Motive Der Ehrenamtlichen Flüchtlingsarbeit (Efa) in Deutschland. Berlin: Berliner Institut für empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung.
  53. Katz J. (1999). How Emotions Work. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
  54. Kleres J. (2017). The Social Organization of Disease: Emotion and Civic Action. London, New York: Routledge.
  55. Kleres J. (2015a). Emotional Expertise? Emotions and the Expert Interview. In: Flam H. and Kleres J., eds., cit.: 90-100.
  56. Kleres J. (2015b). Globalization and Emotions. Paper presented at the 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Prague.
  57. Kleres J. (2015c). Narrative Des Mitgefühls. Methodischer Ansatz Und Anwendung. In: Kleres J. and Albrecht Y., eds., cit.: 267-287.
  58. Kleres J. (2011). Emotions and Narrative Analysis: A Methodological Approach. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41, 2: 182-202.
  59. Kleres J. (2009). Just Being There: Buddies and the Emotionality of Volunteerism. In: Hopkins D.R., Kleres J., Flam H. and Kuzmics H., cit.: 291-314.
  60. Kleres J. and Albrecht Y., eds (2015). Die Ambivalenz der Gefühle: Über die verbindende und widersprüchliche Sozialität von Emotionen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  61. Kleres J. and Albrecht Y. (2015). Die Verbindende Und Ambivalente Sozialität Der Gefühle. In: Kleres J. and Albrecht Y., eds., cit.: 1-15.
  62. Kleres J. and Wettergren Å. (2017). Fear, Hope, Anger, and Guilt in Climate Activism. Social Movement Studies, 16, 5: 507-519.
  63. Kleres J. and Albrecht Y., eds. (2015). Die Ambivalenz der Gefühle: Über die verbindende und widersprüchliche Sozialität von Emotionen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  64. Kleres J. (in print). Emotions in the Crisis: Mobilizing for Refugees in Germany and Sweden. In: della Porta D., ed., cit..
  65. Kövecses Z. (2003). Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Hu-man Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  66. Krause M. (2014). The Good Project: Humanitarian Relief NGOs and the Fragmentation of Reason. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.
  67. Lambert L., Liebig M. and Schwiertz H. (2015). Willkommen Um Zu Bleiben?. Ak - Analyse & Kritik - Zeitung Für Linke Debatte Und Praxis (Nr. 609). Retrieved January 16, 2017; https://www.akweb.de/ak_s/ak609/10.htm.
  68. Mayer M. (2017). Cities as Sites of Refuge and Resistance. European Urban and Regional Studies. pre-print publication online.
  69. Mecheril P., Dirim I., Gomolla M., Hornberg S., and Stojanov K., eds. (2010). Spannungsverhältnisse: Assimilationsdiskurse und interkulturell-pädagogische Forschung. Münster, New York, München, Berlin: Waxmann.
  70. Nicholls W.J. and Uitermark J. (2016). Cities and Social Movements: Immigrant Rights Activism in the Us, France, and the Netherlands, 1970-2015. Chichester, Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
  71. Oulios M. (2016). Blackbox Abschiebung: Geschichte, Theorie und Praxis der deutschen Migrationspolitik. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
  72. Popp M. (2016). ‘Refugees Welcome!’…? Protokoll Einer Zäsur. In: Reschke A., ed., cit.
  73. Pries L. (2016). Migration Und Ankommen: Die Chancen Der Flüchtlingsbewegung. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.
  74. Procter L. and Yamada-Rice D. (2015). Shoes of Childhood: Exploring the Emotional Politics Through Which Images Become Narrated on Social Media. In: Vis F. and Goriunova O., eds., cit.
  75. Reddy W.M. (2001). The Navigation of Feeling: A Framework for the History of Emotions. Cambridge University Press.
  76. Reschke A., ed. (2016). Und das ist erst der Anfang. Deutschland und die Flüchlinge. Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag.
  77. Scheff T.J. (1994). Bloody Revenge: Emotions, Nation, and War. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
  78. Schmitt C.S. and Candace Clark (2006). Sympathy. In: Stets J.E. and Turner J.H., eds., cit.: 467-492.
  79. Scholz S.J. (2010). Political Solidarity. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  80. Schröder C. (2014). Flüchtlingsproteste in Deutschland. Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 27, 2: 100-104.
  81. Schwarz-Friesel M. (2007). Sprache Und Emotion. Tübingen, Basel: A. Francke (Utb).
  82. Seng S. (2016). Normalisierungsmaschine Integration. Eine Rassis muskritische Analyse Des Integrationsdiskurses. In: Drücker A., Seng S. and Töbel S., eds., cit.: 24-30.
  83. Sharifi B. (2016). Deutungshoheit Und Die Deutsche (Willkommens-)Kultur - Warum Eine Nuancierte Rassismus-Debatte in Deutschland Unmöglich Erscheint. In: Drücker A., Seng S., and Töbel S., eds., cit.: 20-24.
  84. Simmel, Georg. 1992. Soziologie. Untersuchungen Über Die Formen Der Vergesellschaftung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
  85. Spelman E.V. (1997). Fruits of Sorrow: Framing Our Attention to Suffering. Boston: Beacon Press.
  86. Stets J.E. and Turner J.H., eds. (2006). Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions New York: Springer.
  87. Sutter O. (2017). ‘Willkommen!’ Emotionale Politiken Des Zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements Für Flüchtende. Zeitschrift Für Volkskunde, 113, 1: 3-23.
  88. Terkessidis M. (2010). Interkultur. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag.
  89. van der Heijden H.-A., ed. (2013). The Handbook of Political Citizenship and Social Movements. Cheltenham (UK): Edward Elgar Publishing.
  90. Vis F. and Goriunova O., eds. (2015). The Iconic Image on Social Media: A Rapid Research Response to the Death of Aylan Kurdi. Visual Social Media Lab.
  91. Wettergren Å. (2015). Protecting the Self Against Shame and Humiliation: Un-wanted Migrants’ Emotional Careers. In: Kleres J. and Y. Albrecht Y., eds., cit.: 221-246.
  92. Yıldız E. (2010). Über Die Normalisierung Kultureller Hegemonie Im Alltag. Warum Adnan Keinen‚ normalen Bürgersmann’spielen Darf. In: Mecheril P., Dirim I., Gomolla M., Hornberg S., and Stojanov K., eds. cit.: 59-77.
  93. Zülfukar C. and Taş S., eds. (2015). Gespräche über Rassisumus. Perspektive & Widerstände. Berlin: Verlag Yılmaz-Günay.

  • Research group as helpers due to the war in Ukraine: Focus group experiences of women researchers Xenia Roszik-Volovik, Anna Paula Brandão, Nóra Kollárovics, Bernadett Frida Farkas, Eszter Frank-Bozóki, Lili Olga Horváth, Zsuzsa Kaló, Lan Anh Nguyen Luu, Judit Balazs, in Frontiers in Psychiatry 1139252/2023
    DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1139252
  • Humanitarian Help and Refugees: De-Bordering Solidarity as a Contentious Issue Maurizio Ambrosini, in Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies /2024 pp.517
    DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2022.2059823
  • Revealing activist experiences through film-viewing: emotional geographies at the border of Ceuta and Melilla Silvia Almenara-Niebla, in Social & Cultural Geography /2025 pp.119
    DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2024.2384399
  • The Urban Governance of Asylum as a “Battleground”: Policies of Exclusion and Efforts of Inclusion in Italian Towns Maurizio Ambrosini, in Geographical Review /2021 pp.187
    DOI: 10.1080/00167428.2020.1735938
  • The battleground of asylum and immigration policies: a conceptual inquiry Maurizio Ambrosini, in Ethnic and Racial Studies /2021 pp.374
    DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1836380
  • The transnationalized social question and immigration policies: three comments and one question in regard to an outstanding study Maurizio Ambrosini, in Ethnic and Racial Studies /2021 pp.1382
    DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2021.1875135
  • Solidarity with Ukrainian war refugees in Polanders’ epistolary narratives (based on the study of southern and eastern regions of Poland) Artur Fabiś, Dorota Gierszewski, Liliya Morska, in Media, War & Conflict /2024 pp.292
    DOI: 10.1177/17506352231203642

Jochen Kleres, Feeling the Refugee Crisis: Civic Mobilizations in Germany in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2017, pp 137-160, DOI: 10.3280/MM2017-003007