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concerning Europe certainly vary according to multiple factors as do the specifics of what
a “Western modernity” might entail; however, Africa’s colonial past plays an underlying
structuring role in all these narratives (see for example Jerad 2007:61). Thus, the
“modem European land of promise” is typically formulated as contrary to a perceived
“wronged and troubled Africa” - indeed, many of my consultants indicated a sense of
entitlement to a successful life in Europe, even if that life was illegal or temporary. Now,
whether a “Europe” in the image of “African narrative Europe” truly exists aside (see
Ossman & Terrio 2006), Greece does not meet the narrative expectations of this imagined
place. The country’s deficiencies are known even in Africa where, according to my
consultants, Greece is identified as a place hostile to undocumented migrants, denying
them opportunities and tolerances that other places like Italy, Spain, and France are
believed to provide17. Add the fact that Greece is well-known internationally to be a
transit hub where legitimate and better qualified migrants can stay while they secure legal
documents for passage to Canada, the United States, England, and other Western nations,
and the country’s claim to being part of the Western or European bloc is further
deteriorated. It is interesting that the combination of expectations inspired by
colonization-structured narrative in Africa and the reality of oppression in Greece, places
the country outside of Europe for the majority of illegal newcomers; an imagined
geopolitical positioning Greeks have notoriously endeavored to overcome (Faubion 1993)
but which current state policy and social practice seem to be defeating. For this large
global migratory population, Greece is anything but European despite the image it tries to
portray. Among undocumented migrants, what ‘Greece’ means is encoded in recurring
17 This sense of distance from Europe is further compounded by the fact that Greek authorities have made it
quite difficult to obtain permissions and other official documentation to stay in the country, in contradiction
with EU policy; albeit this likely affects more established immigrants rather than newcomers.