About the project

Beyond volunteering, relationality: How is mutual aid organized on the margins?

The main goal of this research is to explore how mutual aid is organized on the margins. The aim is to understand the logics of exchange that operate outside the institutionalized voluntary sector, and to identify how they bring together those who engage in them. The project has three specific objectives: (a) to highlight and give visibility to mutual aid practices that are under-researched and under-reported, through three case studies of non-formalized mutual aid communities; (b) to develop, with the actors involved in these initiatives, alternative models to market exchange, which increasingly characterizes volunteering and, more broadly, our contemporary societies; and (c) to shed theoretical light on these new forms of mutual aid organization. The project is divided into three components, corresponding to the three case studies: mutual aid in migration contexts, access to housing, and food security. To find out more.

On this website, you’ll find various resources: research results; research reports; the latest activities of the research team; an overview of academic literature; and a selection of articles on the themes of informal volunteering, mutual aid and relationality. We have included a detailed summary of the articles, suitable for all types of reader. You’ll also find pages devoted to our past activities. To find out more.

Latest news

• Three researchers of our team have published an article in The Conversation on mutual aid in migration contexts
  We often talk about immigration through numbers, but what happens when we take the time to listen to the people… Lire la suite : Three researchers of our team have published an article in The Conversation on mutual aid in migration contexts
• Interview with Sarah Naciri, Research Assistant on the project.
  Sarah discusses the housing component of the research project “Beyond Volunteering, Relationality: How is Mutual Aid Organized at the Margins?”… Lire la suite : Interview with Sarah Naciri, Research Assistant on the project.
• Interview with Gabriela Rabello, Research Assistant on the project.
  Gabriela discusses the migration component of the research project “Beyond Volunteering, Relationality: How is Mutual Aid Organized at the Margins?”… Lire la suite : Interview with Gabriela Rabello, Research Assistant on the project.

Research Open to All

• Mutual Aid as a Strategy of Resistance
  In his article “Solidarity Not Charity – Mutual Aid for Mobilization and Survival », published in Social Text in 2020, Dean… Lire la suite : Mutual Aid as a Strategy of Resistance
• Refugee Assistance: When Humanitarian Action “De-Borders” Solidarity
  In Humanitarian Help and Refugees: De-bordering Solidarity as a Contentious Issue, Maurizio Ambrosini (2024) proposes a more nuanced reading of… Lire la suite : Refugee Assistance: When Humanitarian Action “De-Borders” Solidarity

Research team

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Universities involved