Journeys: an Anthropological investigation of the stories and lives of young, Greek professional migrants to post-referendum UK.
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Anthropology
Abstract
The proposed PhD intends to focus on the Greeks of London. Its primary aim is to understand and document the complex decisions to migrate and the manner in which Greek migrants organise their lives in the UK. The research has a twofold objective: First, it intends to understand the effects of neoliberalism on the new 'professional-managerial class' and to explore new conceptualisations and expressions of precarity. Second, the proposed PhD wishes to document emerging understandings of citizenship and potentially new forms of politicisation in the context of post-referendum Britain.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Elisabeth Kirtsoglou (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Holly Chalcraft (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000762/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1888561 | Studentship | ES/P000762/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/11/2021 | Holly Chalcraft |
| Description | 20th Postgraduate Colloquium of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies: 'Celebrations in the eastern Mediterranean: private and public' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | My presentation was entitled 'Modern Greek Celebrations; a Journal Ethnography'. My presentation was a contrast to the other presentations at the event, featuring visual ethnographic methods in the form of photographs and a focus on sensory and visual ethnography. My presentation led to interest in these research methodologies which prompted follow-up discussion with members of the audience. The audience was inter-institutional. I met other scholars researching Modern Greek phenomenon, and received information about populations of Greeks in other areas of the UK beyond my chosen fieldsite |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://gemuob.wordpress.com/annual-colloquium-3/ |
| Description | Better Lives Writing Competition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Short writing piece (for a writing competition), aimed for a public audience, explaining how my research creates better lives. The piece was published online, and also published in a brochure at the event in London, at the British Academy. The event was attended by researchers, postgraduates, and members of the public. The content was accessible to members of the public. SAGE publishers also read the piece |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.socialsciencespace.com/2019/04/this-land-is-my-land-an-esrc-better-lives-essay/ |
| Description | Documenting Resilience Debating Resilience: A Critical Politics Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Greece has found itself in recent years at the epicentre of Europe's unsolved political dilemmas on citizenship and emerged as a kind of proxy for EU's failure to safeguard the rights of asylum seekers. At the same time, the Greek public is torn by heated debates over gender and sexuality rights, and issues of diversity and inclusion that have been accentuated by a series of harsh austerity measures. The workshop will document how critical events are survived by resilient subjects who attempt to resist resilient institutions and structures of asymmetrical power relations. This interdisciplinary event aims at bringing together scholars from social sciences and the humanities in order to debate the relevance of resilience as an expression of political resistance. Rather than viewing resilience as single-handedly positive however, we also wish to reflect upon the dark side of resilience as this is manifested in the form of institutions, structures and discourses that remain resistant to change. Through the concept of resilience, we will pay close attention to contradicting visions of citizenship: exclusionary, nationalist and homophobic ones, but also inclusionist and cosmopolitan. Resilience against homophobia and transphobia will be explored alongside resilience to austerity measures, non-citizenship and the paradigm of Fortress Europe. The focus will be both at an individual level, but also at a structural one, including both resilient structures of inclusion (families and solidarity initiatives), but also resilient structures of exclusion (nationalism and religion)." Description of the event put together by our organising committee (of which I was part). Copied from the workshop website: https://debatingresilience.net/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://debatingresilience.net/ |
| Description | Inaugural Lecture entitled 'Greek migrants in the UK: between austerity and the social, legal and political impacts of Brexit' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Students (undergraduate and postgraduate) from different disciplines attended my talk. Questions and answers led to interesting debates about Greece in relation to the European Union, Brexit and Grexit, and the effects of the financial crisis. Afterwards, discussion continued for over an hour in which I discussed my project and research in greater detail. It also led to an invitation to present the same talk at the anthropology department's student seminar series |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/events/1126331340862555/ |
| Description | Pathologies: physical, social and environmental dialogues |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | My team and I arranged our annual postgraduate conference at Durham University, drawing together postgraduate research from different strands of anthropology. The conference was attended by postgraduate, and undergraduate, students as well as members of staff. My own talk at the event was titled: 'Migration as pathological'. Undergraduate students reported changes to their views of migration following my talk, and staff praised us for the interdisciplinary nature of the presentations we selected for the event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pathologies-physical-social-and-environmental-dialogues-tickets-60926... |
| Description | Speaker at Researching Brexit Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my paper: The effect of Brexit on EU migrant citizenship and 'belonging'. Postgraduate students and professional practioners from the North East, Midlands, and Northern Ireland attended the talk and reported interest in my research. I received interest from audience members after the event which led to further contact and their interest in my research findings. I also continue my membership as part of the network, which may lead to future collaborative projects in the future which may have relevance for policy making in a post-Brexit UK context |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://researchingbrexit.wordpress.com/researching-brexit-symposium-2018/ |
| Description | Speaker at the 'Global Challenges' conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented a paper entitled 'The global challenge of migration; responding with affirmative politics' to an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional audience. My talk was received well and led to engagement from the audience with follow up questions/contact and suggestions for future collaboration with like-minded migration researchers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dur.ac.uk/socialsciences.health/pgrconference/ |