Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the social fear during the economic crisis in Greece, and the process of otherizing minorities. Focused on the Greek island of "Irini", the paper explores the roles played by the island's dogs in the process of otherizing the Afghani and Pakistani immigrants on the island.

Paper long abstract:

The recent economic crisis in Greece shakes the foundations of contemporary Greek society. One of the social expressions of the anomaly is social fear. This paper examines the process of otherizing during this spread of collective fear, and the different cultural and social strategies devised so as to manage it. While most anthropological literature concerning social crisis focuses on relations among humans, this paper highlights human-animal interaction as a theoretical and methodological lens. Based on an ethnographic research conducted since 2010 on the Greek island of "Irini", I study the roles played by the island's dogs in the conflict between the Greek community and Afghani and Pakistani immigrants on the island. The main claim is that the island's dogs, usually perceived by the Greek rural community as secondary working tools, now conceptualized as the main "gatekeepers" of the human society. Rumors spread among the Greek "Irinians" about Muslim immigrants eating the island's dogs have led to a moral panic. The immigrants were socially constructed as "the wild others", motivated by their "animal instincts" in order to survive and to occupy the island. The will to manage the "animal threat" has led to different practical actions, as well as to the emergence of new political agents from the Greek radical right wing. Dealing with the process of otherizing during a period of social turmoil, while focusing on human-animal relations, could be insightful for the field of anthropology of fear as well as the reexamination of the theories of otherness.