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most commonly with homeowners who would employ them randomly to do odd jobs like
gardening∕landscaping or cleaning sheds. Of note, and contrary to my expectations, not a
single undocumented migrant I met reported being friends with a local under the age of
30 (which they estimated). Particularly interesting is that local teenagers, and even those
that emulate the style of dress the Africans wear and who consider themselves “liberal
connected cosmopolitans”, avoid contact with undocumented migrants unless they are
purchasing goods from them. However, my consultants reported that what Greek friends
they did have would sometimes give them casual work or pay for meals occasionally, if
they need help. This is certainly considerate, but not reliable. For most settled
undocumented migrants, in a time of emergency, social support still comes from within
their community.
However, perhaps the biggest transition Jigo will make as he disengages from the
collective has to do with his perception of the situation he is in and the moral and
existential angst that accompanies it. Disengaging from the collective and deciding to
stay in Athens requires Jigo to reconceptualise his trajectory, the narrative that brought
him to this point, and his understanding of his place in Athens. This marks an important
subjective shift. Once the individual overcomes or at least Ieams to manage their initial
fear and suffering, they arrive at a condition where they may safely exercise increased
creativity and critical engagement with the system of knowledge that governs and unites
the collective. Of note, I am not speaking here of a “logocentric”, or as Habermas would
call it, Western, rendition of the subject. I do not mean to imply that the individual
knows and acts in isolation, or to propose an analytical perspective informed by a view of
the individual in relation-to-self alone. Following the Nietzschean tradition, the subject I