The politics of pro-migrant volunteering: Exploring the role of pro-migrant volunteering in the local migration governance

This paper focuses on the phenomenon of pro-migrant volunteering in urban areas. Its objective is to contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon, which has recently undergone important reconsiderations. Indeed, scholars in migration studies have long contrasted activists in social and political movements with volunteers: the first were usually celebrated for the challenge posed to the status quo, whereas the latter looked down for engaging in a depoliticized form of civic action. Drawing from two research studies conducted between 2017 and 2022 in the Italian city of Milan, this paper shed light on the current processes of hybridization between pro-migrant volunteering and activism, and on the politicization affecting pro-migrant volunteering. Here, politics include instances of micro-politics, in which our way of thinking, behaving and imagining our society is transformed, even without triggering a revolution. To make this point, I presented a typology of volunteers and shed light on some important functions these actors play in the city of Milan vis-à-vis refugees. Underlining the strong interlinkages between these two ‘words’, I also stress the implications for the existing literature. • Pro-migrant volunteers emerge as significant actors in local migration governance. • The paper explores the motivations, objectives, and peculiarities of these actors. • It draws from two research studies employing ethnographic fieldwork and interviews. • The paper presents a typology of pro-migrant volunteers. • It also discusses their impact on political decisions at the local level.