The publicness of voluntary action during crisis: From resilience mechanisms to resistance tactics

Although the volunteerism approach is regarded as a helpful strategy, critical concerns arise regarding the dynamics of vulnerability and the publicness of disaster-affected communities’ collective action. This study aims to examine the publicness meaning of public interest and its function in enhancing resilience capacity through voluntary action. Using a hermeneutic approach, this study investigates the collective action of “Canthelan” food sharing within the environmental structure of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings indicate that voluntary action in the context of “Canthelan” is a response to crises accumulated by the pandemic’s socioeconomic threat, the emergence of societal vulnerabilities, and the failure of social protection policies. Voluntary action functions as an alternative resilience mechanism for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities by providing access to and control over food resources in an egalitarian interaction space. Simultaneously, the constructed mechanisms become structurally aggregated knowledge narratives and manifestations of contestation concerning the development of resilience. Voluntary action mechanisms contribute to the development of social resilience through the mediation process, which is a process of mutual support and interaction to face and adapt to threats. However, the deterministic view of power authority hinders the transformative capacity of voluntary action. © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.