Archives of border crossing: Crafting emotional proximity and distance on the walls of Athens

Abstract

This article explores the political messaging present on the walls and street furniture of the city of Athens in the context of displacement, border crossing and asylum seeking. It engages with photographs of graffiti, posters, and stencils, taken by the authors between 2017 and 2022, to demonstrate how ‘banal’ artefacts tell stories of the changing relationship between the city and seekers of sanctuary. We examine what roles graffiti might play in creating and supporting emotional proximity between groups of city dwellers, whose paths might not necessarily cross. Taking inspiration from Tazzioli’s notion of the ‘ethnography of vanishing spaces’ (Tazzioli 2020: 150) the article maps the memories and histories of transient lives in Athens and how changing political responses and narratives can be read on its walls.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-024-00328-3
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Politics, History and International Relations
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities > Aston Centre for Europe
Aston University (General)
Additional Information: Copyright © Springer Nature Limited, 2024. This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use [https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-terms], but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-024-00328-3
Uncontrolled Keywords: Athens,Displacement,Emotions,Graffiti,Solidarity,Squatting
Publication ISSN: 1581-1980
Last Modified: 02 Dec 2024 09:05
Date Deposited: 17 Apr 2024 14:55
Full Text Link: https://link.sp ... 268-024-00328-3
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2024-06
Published Online Date: 2024-04-24
Accepted Date: 2024-04-01
Authors: Bird, Gemma
Obradović-Wochnik, Jelena (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-0850-2737)

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