Solidarietà messe al lavoro? Il «volontariato dell’asilo» e le frontiere del lavoro gratuito

This article presents an ethnographic study of volunteering of asylum seekers in Italy. The volunteering of asylum develops in a close relation with the Third Sector and reception system’s practices of gratuitousness and discourses of solidarity. Volunteering by asylum seekers presents some important features, related to the methods of recruitment and the competition that support it. Although these mechanisms are powerful, participation in volunteering remains fragile, and forms of collective solidarity and resistance can thus arise against this form of free work.

Keywords: Asylum Seekers; Free Labour; Solidarity; Third Sector