Migrant support in Calais: an affective spatial approach to the formation and circulation of ambivalent emotions

Academic literature highlights the pivotal role of emotions in collective expressions of solidarity towards illegalised migrants: anger and compassion can motivate individuals to react against border violence, while feelings of joy, togetherness, and happiness can foster social bonds between solidarians and migrant people. But scholarly works remain mainly descriptive of nameable emotions, overlooking the formation and circulation of these affective states. As a result, they fail to account for the temporal trajectory of migrant support mobilisations. To address this limitation, I advance an affective spatial approach that combines sociological theories on emotions and social movements with critical geographies of affect. Through this theoretical lens, I examine how affects emerge and are transmitted through space, generating ambivalent emotional reactions that influence pro-migrant volunteers’ engagement over time – from moments of excitement and intensification to episodes of fatigue and withdrawal. Drawing on in-depth interviews and participant observation, I explore the emotions and affects experienced by solidarians in different sites of pro-migrant action in the area of Calais, France, between 2017 and 2019. I do this by homing in on three kinds of space: the warehouses, which generate a compulsive fascination; the distribution queues, engendering a reluctant compassion; and mobile police checkpoints, which lead to a repression of anger. Overall, by attending to the spatial dimension of emotions and affect, this article aims to shed light on the heterogeneous – and often contrasting – affective processes characterising the collective mobilisation of solidarity towards migrant people in Calais, also explaining its evolution and sustainability over time.