A discourse analysis of how refugee volunteers talk about themselves and their experiences of volunteering.

This research sought to explore the experiences of refugees who work as volunteers
assisting other refugees. It was interested in how this group talk about themselves
and their volunteer roles in light of the dominant discourses about refugees. A
Foucauldian Discourse Analytic approach was adopted in order to explore how
refugees construct themselves as both refugees and volunteers, the discourses they
drew on, and how this impacted on the possible ways-of-being open to refugees.
The results show that participants both reproduced and resisted dominant
discourses about refugees. An economic discourse in relation to refugees was most
dominant, with refugees constructed as bogus, lazy, a drain on the economy, and as
financially indebted to the State. In relation to volunteering, a meta discourse of
good citizen was identified, with volunteering constructed as a technology of self, a
way of transforming the refugee into a 'good citizen'. Subjugated constructions of
volunteering as a way of coping and as social change were identified. The findings
of the research are discussed in relation to implications for clinical practice and
future research.

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