The name is absent

17

Jigo ’ s story and the similar narratives of thousands of other undocumented
migrants are forming what can be considered a new Greek oral tradition. These
narratives circulate among migrants informally by word of mouth within their
communities, usually in private. They cannot be described as hero’s tales but rather as
stories of people pursuing what they perceive to be an ordinary trajectory: migrating to
Europe to find work, but also to fulfill particular gender and class expectations specific to
their places of origin (see Goldschmidt 2006; Mai 2007; SOrensen 2000)¹⁴. Greece is
typically described in these stories either as an unexpected arrival point or as a transit hub
or gateway to the rest of Europe. I met very few migrants that chose to come to Greece
specifically; and those who did travel to the country on purpose did so usually to join
stranded loved-ones¹⁵. Despite the fact that thousands of undocumented migrants come
to Greece every year, very few wish to be there. From my interviews it became clear that
Greece is not regarded as a European state by these travelers, but rather as a kind of
Iiminal place on the border¹⁶ of a true Europe: one that fulfills the narrative expectations
of that place held in Africa, and particularly in the ex-colonies of Western and Sub-
Saharan Africa from where the majority of African migrants to Greece originate. For
these undocumented migrants, location of true Europe is an imagined, utopian
understanding of Western modernity. Of course, it must be noted that African narratives

¹⁴While the scholarship exploring migrant lives in Europe is growing (see for example Fikes 2009; Wikan
2002), research exploring this phenomenon, pre-travel, from Africa is lacking. The referenced materials
focus mainly on Moroccan immigration to Spain. Of note, the anthropological literature concerning
globalization and migration (Ong 1999; Ong 2003; Tsing 2005) offers some insight, but ethnographic
works exploring the specific human, economic, and narrative links between Africa and Europe are
necessary.

¹⁵1 conducted interviews with about 150 undocumented migrants. Besides with my core group of seven
long-term contacts, most of these interviews were one-time conversations had with individuals at chance
encounters.

¹⁶ On the concept of borders see Baud & Schnedel (1997), Schendel (2005), Wendl & Rosler (1999), and
Schmidt-Nowara (1999).

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