Welcoming meaning(s): values circulation between citizens and institutions about migrants’ reception in Barcelona

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the circulation of welcoming values between local institutions and the civil society, regarding asylum seekers and refugees’ reception between 2015 and 2020. What values are promoted by the institutions? How are they transmitted and how does the civil society respond to it? This work first explores the awareness-raising policies put in place by Barcelona City Council and the government of Catalunya, in order to sensibilize the population to the necessities of being “welcoming” and to propose a “participation model”. The paper then focuses on the civil society role. The latter is in fact the one who first promoted welcoming values in 2015, through massive street demonstrations or numerous letters and solicitations, urging then local public authorities to get engaged in reception processes. But nowadays, many citizen collectives criticize these institutions’ attitudes, and try to propose other values regarding the reception context in Barcelona.