Project leader: Mette Louise Berg, University College London, United Kingdom
Project duration: 2020-2025
Participating countries: Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom
Funding from NordForsk: 12,208,201 NOK
Project website: Solidarities
Solidarities examined how solidarities are imagined and practiced in negotiations of migrant deservingness. It explored the fundamental question of who is, and who is not, considered deserving of welfare services, how deservingness is negotiated and with what implications, in a context of increasing diversity driven by migration, welfare restructuring, and austerity. Such negotiations serve to draw boundaries between those migrants who have access to the support and services of the welfare state, or are believed to have access, and those who are excluded, e.g. because they are deemed as ‘not belonging’ or are seen as responsible for their own neediness. The study examined these questions across six case-studies including different groups of migrants and welfare providers in Denmark, Sweden, and the UK.
Key Findings
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, and significant political and legislative shifts in the three countries in the study, the project tracked how boundaries of inclusion and exclusion were redefined, with all three countries moving towards further restrictions on migration and asylum. Public and political debate around migration and asylum remained highly politicised and polarised in all three countries, and often at the centre of political debate. In this highly charged context, key findings include:
- Notions of deservingness were negotiated and contested in encounters between migrants and refugees, frontline workers, and third sector volunteers.
- A degree of disconnect between national politics and the many local encounters where people meet, see, and relate to each other as human beings rather than flat stereotypes. This has in different ways been the case in all three countries.
- Tensions and contestations between local and national governments over integration policies and practices, as well as between migrant support organisations and local and national governments in all three countries.
- Inequalities of welfare inclusion related to generational status and age for minority and migrant ethnic elders.
- Uneven and unclear protection statuses for different groups of people seeking asylum with considerable complexity and uncertainty for individuals depending on their country of origin and time of arrival.
In Denmark the so-called ‘paradigm shift’ from 2019 and a new focus on ‘repatriation’ instead of ‘integration’ created challenges for the cohort of Syrian refugees that came to Denmark in 2015, leading to existential uncertainty and insecurity. The ways refugees navigate Danish society, in which they might not have a future, became an important topic for the study. COVID-19 resulted in various forms of exclusion and ‘corona-racism’ vis-àvis Muslim migrants and refugees. The concept of ‘samfundssind’ (civic consciousness/ community spirit), which became prominent in political rhetoric during the pandemic contributed to the exclusion of ageing migrants.
In Sweden the 2022 elections led to a substantial change in discourse and policies on migrants and refugees, translating into tougher rhetoric, legislation, and implementation with the aim of reducing refugee migration, a shift from permanent to temporary refugee permits, and an increased focus on identifying and expelling irregular migrants. There were continuous tensions between local and national policies and practices. Migrant and refugee advocacy representatives navigated uncertainty and also felt the impact of declining refugee solidarity.
In the UK, legislative and policy complexity around entitlements to services and support are challenging at the local level. The country’s system of privatised accommodation and support provision for people in the asylum system is fragmented, experienced as highly stigmatising by those within the system, and puts pressure on local communities. For migrants with limited leave to remain in the UK, as well as those who are undocumented, COVID meant increasing hardship. At the same time, the pandemic made exclusionary policies more visible in public debate resulting in some contestations and calls to reform.
In all three countries, the arrival of Ukrainians seeking protection in the wake of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion affected political debate, public perceptions, policies, and practices. In light of these national and international developments, the project’s focus on contestations around deservingness and solidarities was timely.
Key outputs
Berg, Mette Louise, Eve Dickson, Faith Nyamakanga, Nelson Gómez (2023). ‘My name is not ‘asylum seeker’: countering silencing, unhearing, and labelling in the UK asylum system through co-research’, in Claire Cameron, Alison Koslowski, Alison Lamont, and Peter Moss (eds) Social Research for our Times: Thomas Coram Research Unit Past, Present and Future, pp 209-226. London: UCL Press. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/211074.
Mulinari, D, A Neergaard (2022). The Swedish Racial Welfare Regime in Transition. In Fabio Perocco (Ed.), Racism in and for the Welfare State (p. 91–116). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06071-7_4
Rosen, R, E Dickson (2024). The exceptions to child exceptionalism: Racialised migrant ‘deservingness’ and the UK’s free school meal debates. Critical Social Policy, 44(2), 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1177/02610183231223948
Rytter, M (2023). “At the borders of the coroNATION: Samfundssind, Muslim immigrants and suspicious solidarity in Denmark”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol 46(12): 2791-2812.
Exhibitions
My name is not ‘asylum seeker’! Halifax, Doncaster, Huddersfield, London May 2024–May
2025.
Fast grund under fødderne Dokk1, Aarhus, Denmark. 1–19 March 2023.
Ethnographic film
Hatem, A. & Grüner. L (2023) Thresholds of Belonging