Exploring the Frames of Altruistic Action, 2017-2019

The transcripts of 72 in-depth interviews conducted with volunteers active in different refugee support charities in London, Birmingham, Sheffield and the Midlands. The interviews were conducted between May 2017 and November 2019.This research project seeks to analyse what motivates volunteers to engage with charities that support asylum seekers and refugees, as well as how they define their engagement and reflect upon their experience. In particular, the study wants to analyse whether and how these actors distinguish between altruistic action and social or political protest. In doing so, it seeks to explore how the frontiers between different forms of engagement in society are constructed and negotiated. Looking at immigration and asylum politics ‘from below’, it also aims to analyse how public debates and policies on these issues are reflected in the forms of engagement in support of asylum seekers and refugees.