Infrastructures of Kindness: Street-Level Bureaucrats and Brokerage in Migrant Arrival
Date: 21 September 2026
Time: 17:00 -- 18:00
Location: Erasmus University Rotterdam - Theil Building CB-4
Research on migrant arrival and settlement has often been framed through the concept of 'integration', with a focus on how migrants access domains such as labour markets, education, civil society, and social networks, alongside the role of broader socio-economic conditions in shaping these processes. This paper complements this work by foregrounding the importance of place in shaping migrant arrival. Building on scholarship on 'arrival infrastructures', it argues that the locally specific configuration of services, organisations, and informal sites plays a significant role in structuring access to resources.
Drawing on ethnographic research in East London, the paper examines the opportunities and constraints that arise within these arrival infrastructures. It shows that access to support is uneven and differentiated, shaped by the interaction between individual factors such as social and cultural capital and structural constraints including migration status and limited welfare entitlements.
The analysis centres on the role of intermediaries, including street-level bureaucrats and a wider range of 'arrival brokers', such as civil society actors, religious leaders, and small business owners. These actors facilitate access to support and frequently extend their activities beyond the formal scope of their roles. In the context of ongoing reductions in welfare provision, particularly in disadvantaged arrival areas, their practices constitute a key means through which gaps in formal support are addressed.
By drawing on the notion of 'infrastructures of kindness', the paper highlights how these localised and often informal practices of assistance underpin migrants' capacity to establish a livelihood. It argues that closer attention to these forms of support is essential for understanding how migrant arrival is organised and sustained at the local level.
About the speaker
Susanne Wessendorf is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) at Coventry University, United Kingdom. She completed her DPhil at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford. She has been a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, held a Marie Curie Research Fellowship at the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham, and was an Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics' International Inequalities Institute.