ABSTRACT
The Struggle for Modem Athens:
Unconventional Citizens and the Shaping of a New Political Reality
by
Othon Alexandrakis
The dissertation is based on over one-and-a-half years of ethnographic field
research conducted in Athens, Greece, among various diverse populations practicing
unconventional modes of citizenship, that is, citizenship imagined and practiced in
contradiction to traditional, prescribed, or sanctioned civil identities. I focus specifically
on newcomer undocumented migrant populations from Africa, the broadly segregated
and disenfranchised Roma (Gypsy) community, and the rapidly growing anti-
establishment youth population. The work maps the shifting narrative, physical, and
ideological topographies these communities occupy separately, and during times when
they coalesce. I posit that, both in their everyday struggles and at times when their
actions spill into public spheres, be it for economic, social, political, or other reasons,
these communities influence how the broader population perceives and practices modem
citizenship.
To outline the wider socio-political and economic context of this work, an
ethnographic account of each of these communities is provided separately, exploring both
their contemporary circumstances and the historical trajectories and conditions that
brought them about. This is followed by a closer examination of two cases in which