Hierarchies of deservingness and the limits of hospitality in the ‘refugee crisis’

Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of hospitality as a metaphor for thinking about the relationship between European publics and refugees. In particular, it explores how audiences in Greece discuss the European ‘refugee crisis’ and how, in doing so, construct hierarchies of deservingness of hospitality among different migrant groups reaching the Greek borders. Drawing upon empirical material from focus group discussions, the paper argues that these hierarchies of migrants draw upon media narratives, broader political discourses and cultural beliefs about religion, gender and class. Hospitality, as a metaphor for engaging with the stranger, is illustrated as embedded in national sociohistorical contexts, underlined by stereotypes both about the ‘other’ as well as the national self, and ultimately limited in constructing relations of solidarity between hosts and newcomers.

Five Years of Voluntary Refugee Aid in Germany

“…Armbruster 2019; Doidge/Sandri 2019; Kleres 2018). Articles on "deservingness" are therefore particularly interesting (Casati 2018;Kyriakidou 2021;Wernesjö 2020). They raise awareness of how the media and political stakeholders distinguish between refugees who deserve help and refugees who do not.…”

Solidarity Actions Based on Religious Plurality

“…Addressing the situation on the North American border, Ahn (2019) calls on members of the Christian and Buddhist communities in the United States to adopt values from their religious traditions to face the migration crisis. In the same vein, Kyriakidou (2021) confronts the European humanitarian crisis concerning refuges in Greece, and stresses the value of hospitality that different religious traditions share, as a driver for increasing the acceptance of receiving refugees and migrants. Mim (2020) examines the impacts of religious practices on protecting the socioeconomic and cultural rights of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh through an empirical study carried out in eight different camps.…”

Local responses to hostility to new asylum seeker centres in Norway

“…The European public is particularly critical of immigrants from Muslim countries (Gusciute et al, 2021) and asylum seekers (Blinder, 2013). However, a tendency to perceive Syrians as more deserving than other asylum seekers has been recorded since 2015 (Kyriakidou, 2021).…”

“…The European public is particularly critical of immigrants from Muslim countries (Gusciute et al, 2021) and asylum seekers (Blinder, 2013). However, a tendency to perceive Syrians as more deserving than other asylum seekers has been recorded since 2015 (Kyriakidou, 2021). It remains unresolved whether Syrians arriving in Europe in 2015 were met with a different attitude than to more racialized asylum seekers or whether this effect was nullified by other marginalized aspects of their identities.…”