Philanthropy or solidarity? Ethical dilemmas about humanitarianism in crisis afflicted Greece

That philanthropy perpetuates the conditions that cause inequality is an old argument shared by thinkers such as Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde and Slavoj Zizek. I recorded the same argument in conversations regarding a growing humanitarian concern in austerity-ridden Greece. At the local level a number of solidarity initiatives provide the most impoverished families with humanitarian help. Some citizens participate in such initiatives wholeheartedly, while some other citizens criticize solidarity movements drawing primarily from Marxist-inspired arguments, such as, for example, that humanitarianism rationalises state inaction. The local narratives presented in this article bring forward two parallel possibilities engendered by the humanitarian face of social solidarity: first, its empowering potential (where solidarity initiatives enhance local social awareness), and second, the de-politicisation of the crisis and the experience of suffering (a liability that stems from the effectiveness of humanitarianism in ameliorating only temporarily the superficial consequences of the crisis). These two overlapping possibilities can help us problematise the contextual specificity and strategic employment of humanitarian solidarity in times of austerity

'A window to knowledge is a window to the world': socio-aesthetics, ethics and pedagogic migrant youth journeys in crisis-shaped educational settings in Greece

This paper explores the processes, tensions, opportunities and constraints that migrant youth in Greek higher educational institutions experience at the present time which are characterised by social crises, economic austerity and political instability. In doing so, we also put forward an agenda of critical and feminist pedagogies in developing inclusive spaces of educational citizenship and social justice. Building on a larger collaborative study on youth and migration, this paper draws on a sample of 130 interviews with women and men second generation migrants who are currently, or have been in the past, university students at various institutions in Greece. Migrant youth expanding on their aspirations and capacities harness a developmental pathway of cosmopolitan pedagogies which alter their circumstances and social possibilities. The paper advances alternative discourses in crafting spaces of anti-oppression in the academy through a feminist lens which will cultivate learning communities of equity, justice and reflexivity

For the love of women Gender and gay identity in a Greek provincial town

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Unspeakable Crimes: Athenian Greek perceptions of local and international terrorism

What is terror? What are its roots and its results -- and what part does it play in human experience and history? This volume offers a number of timely and original anthropological insights into the ways in which acts of terror -- and reactions to those acts -- impact on the lives of virtually everyone in the world today, as perpetrators, victims or witnesses. As the contributors to this volume demonstrate, what we have come to regard as acts of terror -- whether politically motivated, or state-sanctioned -- have assumed many different forms and provoked widely differing responses throughout the world. At a deeper level, the contributors explore the work of the imagination in extreme contexts of danger, such as those of terror and terrorism. By stressing the role of the imagination, and its role in amplifying the effects of experience, this collection brings together a coherent set of analyses that offer innovative and unexpected ways of understanding a major global problem of contemporary life. Professor Andrew Strathern and Dr Pamela J. Stewart are long-term research collaborators in the Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, USA, carrying out research in the Pacific, Asia and Europe. Dr Neil Whitehead is Professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Phantom menace: What junior Greek army officers have to say about Turks and Turkey

This chapter focuses on the discourse of low-rank Greek army officers about the Turks and the state of Turkey. This is a combination of the hegemonic narratives promoted by the Greek state and other forms of conventional, informal rhetoric. Concentrating on the Greek and Turkish states rather than on the respective populations, the officers reveal a form of nationalism built on seemingly rational arguments as opposed to sentimental reactions. Their struggle to think globally, however, does not necessarily allow them to disengage from a view of the world order that is very much based on local, culturally informed perceptions of micro-level social interaction. Despite their attempt to analyse the current situation in terms of international relations, the subjects of this study do not abstain from recycling hypothetical scenarios and conspiracy theories that ultimately present Greece and Turkey as predictably non-sovereign countries whose policies are dictated by larger and more powerful interests, states and coalitions