Immaterial labor and civil society organizations: an alternative to refugee ways of working and living

Abstract

This article argues that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) associated with immaterial labor can be favorable alternatives to refugee ways of working and living. We present and analyze the performance of three CSOs – in the areas of theater, handicraft, and gastronomy – aimed at the social and labor integration of refugees, based on the valorization of their savoir-faire and ethnic background. The cartographic method was adopted for qualitative exploratory research. The production and collection of data took place through interaction with managers, refugees, and products and services of the CSOs. Three axes of analysis were considered: (i) presentation of the mapped territory; (ii) CSOs modes of action – learning/teaching, (co)producing/exposing (oneself); (iii) (re)invent (oneself) by (co)operating in a network. The results indicate that, despite new global forms of subjection, CSOs associated with immaterial labor, forge and sustain a network of social, affective, productive, and emancipatory cooperation. This network protects work from the vampirization of the capital and becomes opportunities for refugees in which work and life are intertwined.