Ambiguous Welcomings: The Identity Construction of Asylum Seekers in Turin, Italy

Based on fieldwork carried out in Turin, Italy between 2009 and 2011, this article focuses on welcoming systems for asylum seekers. In political discourses, refugees are usually described as passive victims or even as a 'social problem'. Local institutions often make an exploitative use of this category. Welcoming projects and plans are in fact increasingly conveying policies based on a charitable approach instead of fostering and enhancing individual empowerment. This influences public opinion and political discourse concerning forced migration. Unequal power relations between asylum seekers and their caretakers help to shape the reception of refugees, and humanitarian associations concur in strengthening this idea. As a consequence of these factors, the right to asylum becomes a mere right to basic services that local institutions should provide. In these terms, the welcoming system for refugees loses its main aim and becomes guided by economic and budgetary concerns.