Migrant support volunteer tourism facing crises: Patchwork autoethnographies on Lesvos (Greece)

Abstract

The island of Lesvos serves as a symbol of migration in the Mediterranean. From 2015 onwards, a steady stream of volunteer tourists began working on the island. Between 2019 and 2022 various ‘crises’ such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the fire at the Moria camp, and the rise of the far right in Greece significantly altered living conditions for both refugees and volunteer workers on the island. The authors employ a comparative patchwork autoethnography to rethink participant observation to fit the pandemic era. Through a situated, relational, and more-than-representational analysis of autoethnographic material and the confrontation between the authors’ experiences, the aim of this paper is to investigate how migrant support volunteer tourism interacts with various simultaneous ‘crises’ ongoing on Lesvos. This led to a reimagining of the way we understand volunteer tourism over its ‘pro vulnerable’ approach.