Refugees’ caring and commoning practices against marginalisation under COVID‐19 in Greece

This article documents and juxtaposes two side effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on refugee health, housing, and living conditions in Greece. First is the intensification of state‐led practices of what is increasingly known as “campisation,” hyper‐isolation, and ultimately the stigmatisation of refugee populations. Second is the intensification of refugee‐led “commoning” practices of self‐ and community care and the creation of “caringscapes” inside and outside the camps, which has produced new sociospatial connections that have challenged isolation. Documenting these interrelated processes side by side, we draw attention to two important insights. First is that the proliferation of caringscapes acts as an important, but ultimately insufficient, antidote against increased exclusion marginalisation and stigmatisation of refugees. Second is that new ethics and new forms of collective care that have emerged alongside repeated mantras about individual responsibility and social distancing can become levers to imagine a less individualistic, less divisive, and less isolated world. This article documents and juxtaposes two “side effects” of the COVID‐19 pandemic on refugee health, housing, and living conditions in Greece. First is the intensification of state‐led practices of campisation, hyper‐isolation, and ultimately stigmatisation of refugee populations. Second is the intensification of refugee‐led commoning practices of self‐ and community care and the creation of “caringscapes” inside and outside the camps that produced new sociospatial connections that challenged isolation.