Managing Expectations and Bringing Refugees “Down to Earth” at a Madrid NGO

This article examines the dynamics of relationships between humanitarian reception workers and refugees and asylum seekers within the context of economic precarity and job insecurity in Spain. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a non-governmental organization (NGO) implementing the official refugee reception program in Madrid, I argue that the precarious situations of NGO workers influenced and informed their interactions with forced migrants, particularly those from privileged backgrounds in their countries of origin. Workers attempted to “manage” the expectations of such individuals as a way of bringing them in line with the realities they would face in Spain, justifying such actions as necessary to prepare refugees for life after the reception program. However, this practice contributed to the maintenance of existing structural inequalities in Spanish society as all refugees and asylum seekers were encouraged to pursue and occupy low-wage labor positions, regardless of their professional experience, levels of education, and career interests.