identity – To Archeio https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Thu, 30 Apr 2020 13:50:05 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 Heritage spectacles: the case of Amphipolis excavations during the Greek economic crisis https://toarcheio.org/items/heritage-spectacles-the-case-of-amphipolis-excavations-during-the-greek-economic-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:48 +0000 http://arc.local/items/heritage-spectacles-the-case-of-amphipolis-excavations-during-the-greek-economic-crisis/ Continued]]> This article explores the ways in which the archaeological excavations at Amphipolis, Northern Greece, were transformed into a ‘heritage spectacle’ during the summer of 2014. The article argues that the spectacularisation of Amphipolis excavations constituted a powerful, political medium for dis-orientating the wider Greek public from issues related to the severe economic crisis of the country. Although the practice of heritage spectacularisation is not new, the media spectacle of Amphipolis introduced an advanced mechanism for spectacularizing archaeological research and the past. The article deconstructs this mechanism through a thematic content analysis of about 100 newspaper articles published in the Greek press, filtered through the lenses of spectacle theory. As it is demonstrated, the spectacularisation process of Amphipolis excavations is embodied by emotive dramatisation, banal cultural symbols, escapism and power imbalances. The article concludes with an interpretive framework for heritage spectacles while highlighting ethical and practical implications regarding the role of archaeologists and heritage practitioners towards political ‘abuse’ of heritage in times of socio-economic and political crises.

]]> The indignant citizen: anti-austerity movements in southern Europe and the anti-oligarchic reclaiming of citizenship https://toarcheio.org/items/the-indignant-citizen-anti-austerity-movements-in-southern-europe-and-the-anti-oligarchic-reclaiming-of-citizenship/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:48 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-indignant-citizen-anti-austerity-movements-in-southern-europe-and-the-anti-oligarchic-reclaiming-of-citizenship/ Continued]]> This article discusses the change in political vision of anti-austerity movements in southern Europe in comparison with previous protest movements. It focuses on the emergence of a discourse of citizenship at the core of the new protest wave, as seen in frequent references to ‘citizens’, ‘citizenry’ and ‘citizenship’ in movement manifestos, and the resolutions and declarations of popular assemblies. I investigate the meaning and motivations of this ‘citizenism’ and how it reflects the change in economic conditions and popular perceptions in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. The analysis draws from movement documents, and in-depth interviews with 40 protest organisers and participants from the Indignados movement in Spain and the Aganaktismenoimovement in Greece. I argue that within these movements, the idea of citizenship has acted both as a source of popular identity interpellating a diverse set of demographics, and as a central demand, organising calls for greater popular participation in decision-making, freedom of expression and against corruption. Anti-austerity movements put forward an anti-oligarchic view of citizenship, which is different from the liberal, civic-republican and social democratic approaches, in its understanding of citizenship as the power of the dispersed ‘citizenry’ against the concentrated power of economic and political elites. This grassroots re-appropriation of citizenship highlights how anti-austerity movements in southern Europe have departed from the anti-statism of autonomous movements and have developed a more positive view of the state as a basis of social cohesion and a possible means of ‘people power’.

]]> The Rhetoric of Othering in the Greek Parliament: Representations of the Troika and the Self/Other Dichotomy https://toarcheio.org/items/the-rhetoric-of-othering-in-the-greek-parliament-representations-of-the-troika-and-the-self-other-dichotomy/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:44 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-rhetoric-of-othering-in-the-greek-parliament-representations-of-the-troika-and-the-self-other-dichotomy/ Continued]]> Cornelius Castoriadis (1987: 147) argues that all societies have a central imaginary in order to consider basic questions about their identity. Imaginary specifications provide an answer to these questions, while they assemble, adjust, fabricate and construct a society. In all this, language plays a crucial role. As Castoriadis points out, it is through language that these social imaginary significations become manifest and do their constitutive work. In the spirit of these claims and the assumption that identities are constructed discursively (Tekin 2010: 4), the present article uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate the construction of the identity of the Troika – the common support mechanism for Greece in the wake of its sovereign debt crisis and threat of a disorderly default in 2010 consisting of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. The aim is to determine how the different political parties construct the identity of the troika. Since identity necessarily concerns a relation to the Self and the Other, and othering is an important activity in the construction of identity, the paper studies the strategies of othering used in the Greek Parliament by the different political parties across all political affiliations during the parliamentary debate preceding the vote on the second bailout loan on 12 February, 2012. The paper also seeks to identify the social imaginary of Greek society and determine whether it is one of social division and dissimulation or one of unity and accord.

The Rhetoric of Othering in the Greek Parliament: Representations of the Troika and the Self/Other Dichotomy | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299076141_The_Rhetoric_of_Othering_in_the_Greek_Parliament_Representations_of_the_Troika_and_the_SelfOther_Dichotomy [accessed Sep 14 2018].

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