Antoine Esnos – The crisis facing those providing support. Barriers and drivers of voluntary engagement with refugees

This PhD thesis examines the various political dimensions of the spatial marginalisation of precarious housing arrangements for exiled people (camps, squats, third places). It is based on the hypothesis that, by geographically distancing these informal spaces from city centres and citizens’ daily movements, public authorities discourage local engagement. Whilst some supporters withdraw in the face of difficulties, others – though fewer in number – nevertheless manage to sustain their commitment. How can we raise awareness of a cause that has become ‘invisible’? How can one sustain a commitment in areas of spatial and social marginalisation? This project aims to analyse the dual social and spatial dimensions of engagement, by bringing together local contexts (geographical and political), the characteristics of engagement structures, and the individual trajectories of volunteers. It draws on multi-sited field research conducted in Paris, on the French-British border (Calais) and the French-Italian border (Briançon). By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, it seeks to understand the processes through which the socio-spatial conditions of engagement with exiled people evolve.