This event will host a discussion based on Paola Bonizzoni and Giacomo Lampredi’s article ‘Forging care coalitions through boundary work. Volunteers and professionals in the Italian refugee reception system’.

The article theorises the emergence of "care coalitions" as a product of boundary work between voluntary and professional care within the Italian refugee reception system.

Drawing on 33 qualitative interviews conducted at Italian reception facilities employing both volunteer and paid staff, the study explains why volunteers are welcomed by professionals in these settings.

Volunteers can form unique relationships with migrants, broadening opportunities for housing, employment and training, while extending care beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries of institutional reception and softening the disciplinary logic embedded in these programmes.

Authors show, however, that the boundaries between professional and volunteer care are also carefully monitored and managed to seek a mutually beneficial diversity. These efforts aim to prevent care from turning into an excessively individualized endeavour, which could undermine bureaucratic, right-based standards of equity and foster refugees’ dependency instead of autonomy.

The seminar will analyse the synergies and risks in care coalitions formed by volunteers and professionals, contributing to a deeper understanding of refugee reception systems.