The Turks and Their Nation in the Worldview of Greeks in Patras

Abstract

In this article, the inhabitants of Patras, a town in Peloponnese, discuss their views about the Turks, the most representative ethnic Other in Greece. They remember their childhood attitudes towards the Turks and compare them to the opinions they currently hold. In most cases they feel the need to rationalize their mistrust towards the state of Turkey and their use of overtly negative stereotypes to describe its people. They even appear willing to critically re-evaluate the standard versions of nationalist discourse that inform their views about the Turks. Nevertheless, their attempts to reconsider conventional beliefs about Turkey relies on nationalist readings of history and often results in the unintentional recycling of older stereotypes and the perpetuation of mistrust towards the ethnic Other.

5 Intimacies of Anti-globalization: Imagining Unhappy Others as Oneself in Greece

“…In the ethnography that follows, we explore the meaning of locally expressed arguments of this type, in the discourse of working-and middle-class citizens in two medium-sized Greek towns, Patras and Volos, our field sites during previous studies in political anthropology (Brown & Theodossopoulos 2000Theodossopoulos 2004Theodossopoulos , 2007cKirtsoglou 2007). Our respondents openly criticize globalization, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism during informal conversations with ourselves and other fellow citizens in the everyday contexts of social interactionin shops, cafeterias, while travelling in buses and taxis, but also in private living rooms, kitchens and backyards.…”

“…In informal settings, most Greeks will differentiate between their critical views towards the state of Turkey (and its official representatives) and their more nuanced views about the ordinary Turkish people. While Turkey, the nation state, is viewed with suspicion (or as a potential threat), the people of Turkey, under certain circumstances and in certain conversations, are favourably compared with the Greeks themselves (Theodossopoulos 2004(Theodossopoulos , 2007cKirtsoglou 2007).…”

“…A similar distinction in Greek attitudes towards Turks relates to the contrast between the generalized singular notion of the 'Turk' and the more individualized everyday Turks, who can be imagined in intimate terms. The singular, undifferentiated 'Turk' is negatively stereotyped (Theodossopoulos 2004;Spyrou 2007) and rationalized as culturally incompatible, despite many self-evident similarities. Hehe is usually maleis a faceless, nameless Turk, a warrior or agent of the Ottoman empire, such as the caricatures that appear in Greek novels and history textbooks (Millas 2007) or the profiles of the so-called 'Kemalists' in contemporary Turkey drawn by Greek journalists of a radical nationalist persuasion (Tsibiridou 2007).…”

The Poetics of Anti-Americanism in Greece: Rhetoric, Agency, and Local Meaning

“…1 See, Theodossopoulos & Brown (2000; Theodossopoulos (2004Theodossopoulos ( , 2007b; Kirtsoglou (2007); Kirtsoglou & Theodossopoulos (n.d.). 2 The United States of America has a longer history as an independent nation state (founded in 1786) than Greece (1829), but for most Greeks the history of their nation starts in antiquity and it is considered to have followed an uninterrupted and continuous course since then.…”

The politics of ‘forgetting’ as poetics of belonging: between Greek self‐narration and reappraisal (Michaniona, 2000/3)

“…As pupils in all Greek schools, Michaniote pupils learn in their history classes to be proud of Greece's Second World War resistance (Frangoudaki and Dragonas 1997). Ideological infiltration is characteristic of nationalist pedagogy, and in Greece it finds its finest expression in the celebration of national days with school festivities (Dragonas forthcoming; Theodossopoulos 2004: 31). This instigated concerns in other parts of Greece where foreign students were elected flag‐bearers ( To Vima , 28 October 2003).…”