Confronting Privilege: A Feminist Research Project on Privilege and Inequality in Volunteer Work with Marginalized Communities
Author
Nissen, Katrine Isabella Gramstrup
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-05-27
Pages
39
Abstract
Denne kandidatafhandling undersøger, hvordan frivillige i Trampoline House – et dansk NGO/fællesskabscenter for flygtninge og asylansøgere – oplever, genskaber og forsøger at modstå privilegier og ulighed. Afhandlingen bygger på tre online fokusgrupper med i alt otte nuværende eller tidligere frivillige. Analysen henter inspiration fra kritiske racestudier, som ser på, hvordan magt og race former hverdagsliv og adgang til ressourcer, samt fra strukturationsteori (Giddens), der forklarer, hvordan sociale strukturer både kan begrænse og muliggøre menneskers handlinger. Her forstås privilegier som ikke-fortjente fordele, og ulighed som skæv fordeling af magt og muligheder. Analysen er delt i to: Først undersøges de frivilliges egne fortællinger om, hvordan de forstår privilegier og oplever ulighed i deres arbejde. Derefter zoomes der ud til de bredere organisatoriske og samfundsmæssige rammer, der former disse fortællinger – både i Trampoline House og i det omgivende samfund. Denne todeling gør det muligt at se, hvordan frivilliges handlinger på samme tid kan reproducere eksisterende magtforhold og udgøre forsøg på modstand. Undervejs diskuteres også, hvordan man kan arbejde ansvarligt med privilegier i marginaliserede fællesskaber. Konklusionen er, at de frivillige – på trods af bevidsthed om privilegier og ulighed – ofte ikke formår at bryde med de eksisterende strukturer, som de selv oplever dem. Fordi de er formet af de privilegier, de taler om, er de socialiseret til ikke at genkende dem i sig selv og skubber dermed ansvaret for forandring væk. Afhandlingen peger på, at et første, afgørende skridt er at erkende, hvordan Trampoline House som organisation er medvirkende til de nuværende privilegiestrukturer, der er præget af historiske og nutidige former for imperialisme. På den baggrund argumenteres der for en kritisk undersøgelse af, hvordan privilegier konstrueres i Trampoline House, for at kunne arbejde mere ansvarligt med privilegier og ulighed i mødet mellem frivillige og flygtninge.
This thesis examines how volunteers at Trampoline House—a Danish NGO/community center for refugees and asylum seekers—experience, reproduce, and try to resist privilege and inequality. The study draws on three online focus group discussions with eight current or former volunteers. It uses insights from critical race scholarship, which explores how power and race shape everyday life and access to resources, and from structuration theory (Giddens), which explains how social structures can both constrain and enable people’s actions. Here, privilege is understood as unearned advantages, and inequality as the uneven distribution of power and opportunities. The analysis is presented in two parts. First, it looks at volunteers’ own stories about how they understand privilege and encounter inequality in their work. Second, it steps back to consider the wider organizational and societal structures that shape these stories—both within Trampoline House and in the broader society. This two-level approach shows how volunteers’ actions can simultaneously reproduce existing power relations and serve as attempts at resistance. Along the way, the thesis discusses how to engage with privilege responsibly in marginalized communities. The conclusion is that, despite their awareness of privilege and inequality, volunteers often do not succeed in disrupting the existing structures as they experience them. Because they are shaped by the very privileges they discuss, they are socialized not to recognize those privileges in themselves, and as a result they tend to shift the responsibility for change away from themselves. The thesis argues that a crucial first step is acknowledging how Trampoline House as an organization is complicit in current formations of privilege, which are informed by imperialism past and present. On this basis, it calls for a critical examination of how privilege is constructed within Trampoline House in order to work more responsibly with privilege and inequality in encounters between volunteers and refugees.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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