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Refugees, Othering, and Acculturation in Athens: How Can the “Other” Possibly Integrate?

Dyas, Kathryn LU (2019) SGEM08 20191
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
In the past ten years, Greece has been hit by two “crises”. The first, an economic crisis in 2009, which consisted of a series of bailouts from the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, leading to a trend of anti-Greek sentiment within the EU. The second, the Syrian refugee “crisis”, beginning in the fall of 2015. At the start, Greece was simply a transit country as first-point of entry to the EU. Four years on, the tensions of both “crises” are still palpable in the Greek capital.
The case study research is framed under these preconditions in order to evaluate the role of othering of both Greeks and refugees, and how this affects the acculturation strategy in the urban city center of Athens.... (More)
In the past ten years, Greece has been hit by two “crises”. The first, an economic crisis in 2009, which consisted of a series of bailouts from the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, leading to a trend of anti-Greek sentiment within the EU. The second, the Syrian refugee “crisis”, beginning in the fall of 2015. At the start, Greece was simply a transit country as first-point of entry to the EU. Four years on, the tensions of both “crises” are still palpable in the Greek capital.
The case study research is framed under these preconditions in order to evaluate the role of othering of both Greeks and refugees, and how this affects the acculturation strategy in the urban city center of Athens. Acculturation and integration theories (Berry, 1997; 2001), philosophical and race-based interpretations of othering (Hegel, 1977; Stasak, 2008), vertical social segregation (Maloutas & Spyrellis, 2015), and situated solidarities (Routledge & Derickson, 2015) theoretically situated the empirical findings in an interdisciplinary context.
To analyze this phenomenon, the primary empirical research included interviews pursued with both refugees and Greeks, an online survey focusing on Greek perceptions of refugees in Athens, and observations in neighborhoods in the city center. Supplementary evidence was provided through document, including policy papers, research reports, new articles, and EU level ad hoc queries, all of which provided support to the overall aim of the research. In this paper, I argue that the othering of Greeks on the EU level, has impacted the othering of refugees and their pursuance of integration into Greek society. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Dyas, Kathryn LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGEM08 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
integration, othering, uneven geographies, Athens, refugees, acculturation strategies, Greece
language
English
id
8980259
date added to LUP
2019-06-10 09:22:58
date last changed
2019-06-10 09:22:58
@misc{8980259,
  abstract     = {{In the past ten years, Greece has been hit by two “crises”. The first, an economic crisis in 2009, which consisted of a series of bailouts from the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, leading to a trend of anti-Greek sentiment within the EU. The second, the Syrian refugee “crisis”, beginning in the fall of 2015. At the start, Greece was simply a transit country as first-point of entry to the EU. Four years on, the tensions of both “crises” are still palpable in the Greek capital. 
The case study research is framed under these preconditions in order to evaluate the role of othering of both Greeks and refugees, and how this affects the acculturation strategy in the urban city center of Athens. Acculturation and integration theories (Berry, 1997; 2001), philosophical and race-based interpretations of othering (Hegel, 1977; Stasak, 2008), vertical social segregation (Maloutas & Spyrellis, 2015), and situated solidarities (Routledge & Derickson, 2015) theoretically situated the empirical findings in an interdisciplinary context. 
To analyze this phenomenon, the primary empirical research included interviews pursued with both refugees and Greeks, an online survey focusing on Greek perceptions of refugees in Athens, and observations in neighborhoods in the city center. Supplementary evidence was provided through document, including policy papers, research reports, new articles, and EU level ad hoc queries, all of which provided support to the overall aim of the research. In this paper, I argue that the othering of Greeks on the EU level, has impacted the othering of refugees and their pursuance of integration into Greek society.}},
  author       = {{Dyas, Kathryn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Refugees, Othering, and Acculturation in Athens: How Can the “Other” Possibly Integrate?}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}