This talk discusses the migrant solidarity movement in Europe. Cultures of welcome and hospitality may challenge notions of migration as economic and cultural burdens, but should, as interventions in migration studies have already pointed out in more general terms, also be critically examined in relation to race and coloniality.
The lecture presents results from fieldwork in community activist groups that aim to create welcoming places outside the larger cities of Sweden, in particular by working towards the expansion of ‘the commons’. It discusses how a critical multiculturalism can be part of this work, when activism engages people with different identifications in terms of migration and race, but how there are no guarantees that hospitality and welcoming cultures present antiracist challenges to status quo local relations. The talk will discuss the concept of conviviality, as it was re-introduced by Paul Gilroy (2005), and how it can highlight hope and potential for political creativity and different futures.
This online lecture is part of the EuMIGS Lecture Series 2022 on migration policy and refugee reception in the (trans-) local context.
Karin Krifors is Assistant Professor at Linköping University.