This seminar presents very preliminary and partial findings from an ongoing British Academy funded study to examine the impulses which led so many to volunteer their time and energy to welcome and make Syrians and other refugees feel ‘at home’ upon arrival in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Rather than focus on the suffering of Syrians and other displaced people seeking safety (Chatty, 2018; Rabo et al, 2021; Beck, 2021; Cantat, 2021), it turns to interrogate the motivations which drove so many citizens and residents to step forward and be generous to those in need (Chatty, 2017). In the UK there was little media sympathy for such hospitality whereas in Sweden media was generally very supportive. These two study sites offer an opportunity to study volunteering to come to the aid of Syrians in both a relatively hostile policy environment and a sympathetic one.

The Research Objective

It is this spirit of being hospitable, of being generous, both among nationals and refugees in the United Kingdom, and Sweden, that this project seeks to understand. It proposes to examine, empirically, the impulse which led so many to volunteer their time to welcome and make Syrians feel ‘at home’ upon arrival in the United Kingdom and Sweden. By November 2024 the study will have interviewed in the region of twenty or twenty-five participants out of a proposed sample of fifty participants. about half of the number of participants Rather than focus on the suffering of forced migrants seeking safety (Ticktin, 2011), this study turns to examine the hosting community, and focusses on those who individually stepped forward and offered hospitality (Chatty, 2017).

The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Hall.