Human(c)ity, as a primarily ethnographic project, is inspired by the long-term anthropological work of the Principal Investigator Evthymios Papataxiarhis in Skala Sykamias, a small fishing community in Northern Lesvos,which became the focal point of the so-called European ‘refugee crisis’. It builds on his more recent research (Papataxiarchis 2016a, 2016b) on the multi-scalar impact of the “refugee crisis” at local, regional and national levels, and his subsequent theoretical conceptualization of the “humanitarian village/city”, a nexus for the interconnections between the various components of the humanitarian arena in areas with great numbers of asylum seekers and a large concentration of humanitarian actors (Papataxiarchis 2017).

In Skala the PI continues this research through a deeper focus on the formation of the assemblage of official and unofficial initiatives, mechanisms, and structures that compose the humanitarian scene of this small community. He explores the process of founding the first reception and transit camps as well as the other ‘structures’ of humanitarian assistance in the locality, by foreign and local humanitarian actors during the first phase of the ‘refugee crisis’.

Research in Skala has a double objective. On the one hand, it attempts the historical reconstruction of the humanitarian microcosm in Skala through a combination of ethnography with oral history. The realization of the above objective is also based on the PI’s ethnographic knowledge of long-established cultural schemes of social (inter)action and exchange, studied by the PI during his initial fieldwork in Skala a few decades ago, and is methodologically informed by a particular attention to the perspective of locals and humanitarians.

On the other hand, research in Skala discusses the formation of the humanitarian arena in terms of social interaction between a multiplicity of actors. In this regard, it gives emphasis to the role of mediation in the humanitarianization process and examines the strategies of mediators and their interactions with local society as well as their effects on the form and content of the humanitarian arena. Mediation offers an angle to grasp what is socially, politically and culturally generated at the local level by the ‘refugee crisis’ and the potentialities that are inherent in its current management.

References

Evthymios Papataxiarchis, “Being ‘there’: At the frontline of the ‘European refugee crisis’”, Parts 1 and 2, Anthropology Today 32(2): 5-9 and 32(3): 3-7, 2016a. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301235252 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303747467

Evthymios Papataxiarchis, «Μια μεγάλη ανατροπή; Η ‘Ευρωπαϊκή προσφυγική κρίση’ και ο νέος πατριωτισμός της ‘αλληλεγγύης» [“A big reversal: The ‘European refugee crisis’ and the new patriotism of ‘solidarity’”]. Synchrona Themata 132-133: 7-28, 2016b. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301235252

Evthymios Papataxiarchis, «Ασκήσεις συμβίωσης στην ‘ανθρωπιστική πόλη’: Άτυπες εκπαιδευτικές πρακτικές και διακυβέρνηση του ‘προσφυγικού’ μετά το 2016». [“Living together in the ‘humanitarian town’: Informal educational practices and refugee governance after 2016”]. Synchrona Themata 137: 74-89, 2017. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320288485

The research in Mytilene and Lesvos attempts an extensive mapping of the humanitarian field on the island in two different time periods using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. It has been carried out through both ethnographic fieldwork and online research. The research is focused on gathering, analyzing, and presenting the “humanitarian landscape” of Lesvos in its multiple dimensions, and at different times, the results are recorded in a dynamic interactive atlas of the island.

The two different time periods studied -summer 2019 to the beginning of 2020 and March 2020 to today- follow the transformation in the shaping of the island’s humanitarian landscape, which is associated both with changes in migration policy and the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, they refer to moments of dramatic change, like the destruction of Moria camp (Reception and Identification Center – RIC) in September 2020 and the consequent construction of the new “Mavrovouni” camp.

The process of documentation and analysis concerns three distinct levels: documentation and presentation of quantitative data about asylum seekers on the island; qualitative and quantitative mapping of the actors who produce “humanitarian work”; and, finally, analysis of the social and political impact of humanitarian governance and of the presence of asylum seekers in the island on local society.

References

Karathanasis, P. (2020), ΚΥΤ Μόριας 2020: Ανάμεσα στο «Hotspot» και τον «καταυλισμό-πόλη», Refugee Observatory Blog (in greek).

In Athens, HUMANcITY studies the on-the-ground socio-cultural interaction and political negotiation between asylum seekers, humanitarian actors, and local societies through a comparison of two different forms of mediation and corresponding forms of accommodation.

On the one hand, the focus is on official forms of mediation by municipalities, the UNHCR, major NGOs and other official humanitarian actors. This part of the project examines two important models of accommodation for asylum seekers: a) the municipal camp of Eleonas and b) apartments of the ESTIA project, which is funded by a special EU program and is implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum in cooperation with different partners (e.g., the Municipality of Athens and several NGOs).

On the other hand, the focus is on unofficial forms of mediation by collective initiatives, migrant collectivities, or private actors. The project examines forms of accommodation such as apartments, squats and other arrangements. It ethnographically investigates forms of sociality of Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers, in relation to existing migrant networks, collectivities and places of religious activity.

Ethnographic research on two different models of asylum seekers settlement

Ethnographic research on the settlement of asylum seekers in Athens, in the camp of Eleonas and in ESTIA program apartments, was undertaken by Marica Rombou-Levidi. Research involved ethnographic fieldwork in the two “spaces”; nevertheless, the conjuncture of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated important modifications in methodology. Part of the research in Athens had to be carried online. The researcher’s interlocutors were asylum seekers, people working for state or private institutions, humanitarian actors, and members of local society. Fieldwork −on the ground or online− was carried out between June 2020 and July 2021. In both cases, communication between the researcher and the interlocutors was facilitated by interpreters, who translated oral interviews from Farsi, Dari, Pashto, Urdu, and Arabic into Greek. In the case of Greek, English and French speaking asylum seekers, communication was not mediated by interpreters. In total, ninety-five interviews have been collected. Seventy of these were recorded and transcribed; the audio folders and written transcripts have been integrated in the Archive of the Observatory of the Refugee and Migration Crisis in the Aegean.

Ethnographic research on unofficial forms of Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers’ settlement.

The ethnographic research aimed to study (inter)mediation in the case of informal forms of Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers’ settlement in Athens and was undertaken by Ervin Shehu. In terms of methodology, this research was largely carried out on the ground, focusing on four distinct spaces: Victoria Square, a neighborhood in Metaxourgeio, the “Patogh” as an ethno-cultural spatial category, and the Afghan Migrant and Refugee Community of Greece. It drew on the lived experience of the researcher’s interlocutors, the sharing of their everyday life, and narrative interviews with them; the latter bring to light both the qualitative characteristics as well as the time frame of the period during which the researcher followed his interlocutors’ course. It is an ethnography “in motion”, which reflects the researcher’s participatory and supportive engagement with the management of everyday life issues.

Fieldwork began at the end of February 2020 and coincided with the peak of the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, thirty-eight interviews were conducted. The audio recordings have been integrated in the Archive of the Observatory of the Refugee and Migration Crisis in the Aegean. Some material has also been collected through desktop research, including reports and other documents about the asylum seekers, written by humanitarian organizations, solidarity groups, activists, volunteers, and academics. Finally, networking with online communities gave the researcher access to online conversations and initiatives of the people under study.