‘Mutual aid in times of crisis’ collection: case study France (Briançon), April 2025

30/04/2025

This study is the result of ethnographic research carried out in Briançon between September and December 2023. The aim of this work was to identify the dynamics of assistance and mutual aid that take shape and transform in the specific context of welcoming exiles arriving from Italy via the Montgenèvre Pass. The aim was not only to understand the conditions under which solidarity emerges, but also to highlight the diversity, adaptability and interdependence of the various forms of engagement that have woven the local network over the past decade. This work also made it possible to analyse the factors that weaken, and sometimes exhaust, engagement, and to report on the multiple strategies implemented by those involved in solidarity to constantly reinvent this solidarity.