“Turning fear to purpose: organised responses to recent refugee arrivals in the EU”
More than 1 million refugees fleeing war and persecution, along with some migrants escaping poverty, crossed the borders of Europe in 2015 where local communities together with international networks of volunteers worked closely to address the most urgent needs of the newly arrived refugees (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aP_Ug11La4). The project I have conducted over the last two years in Greek islands sets out to examine how such initiatives emerge, what motivates local communities and volunteers and how collective and individual histories might influence their responses. Wanting to better understand how participants themselves interpret these events I propose an approach combining oral stories of involvement in humanitarian activities by volunteers and ethnographic research into locally organised responses to refugee arrivals, with macro-level historical analyses. The overall aim is to learn from the successful solutions attempted to manage the logistical challenges and tensions between refugees and local inhabitants to guide the present and future policies.
Bio: Marianna holds degrees in medicine, health economics, and a PhD in public policy from London School of Economics and Political Science. Before joining academia in 2003 she has worked as a medical doctor in Greece, China, and the UK, as a volunteer and manager for humanitarian organizations Médecins du Monde and Médecins sans Frontiers in Iraq and Albania, and as the EU senior resident adviser to governments in transition (in Russia, Georgia and Armenia). Marianna is at present a Senior Editor for Organization Studies, and co-directs pro bono an online think tank Centre for Health and the Public Interest a charity that aims to disseminate research informing the public and policy makers (http://chpi.org.uk). Marianna is a Network Fellow at the Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University in 2014-2015.