‘I Am Like Their Swedish Mother’. Conceptualising Maternalism and Power Asymmetries during Solidarity Practices with Asylum Seekers

Building on observations and interviews conducted in various study associations and civil society organisations in Sweden, this paper explores the practices and discourses of volunteers supporting asylum seekers. Volunteers are often retired, white, women with Swedish citizenship who build on personal and professional experiences of being caregivers. Building on the concept of ‘maternalism’ and critical perspectives on Swedish (gender) exceptionalism, the paper discusses how female volunteers either consider themselves ‘like mothers’ or act as ‘moral educators’ educating asylum seekers on ‘Swedish’ norms and values. As such, the paper addresses the complexity of solidarity practices by considering how discourses of intimacy and care can also conceal structural inequalities differentiating morally superior white Swedish from passive, dependent, and infantilised asylum seekers.