Paper short abstract:

By focusing on contemporary Greek migration to Cyprus, the paper examines the concepts of ‘entrapment’ and ‘crisis’ together in order to conclude as to whether the relationship between the two can be theorised to be used as a diagnostic tool for studying historical and socio-political articulations and contestations of ‘Europeanization’.

Paper long abstract:

Building on anthropological theorisations of im/mobilties and movement, the paper diverts attention to ‘entrapment’ both as a social experience and analytical term through the study of contemporary Greek migration to Cyprus in the context of the ongoing economic crisis in Europe.

By looking at current and historical socio-economic articulations of Europeanization (and its crises), the paper asks whether and how these broader processes affect and interact with migrants’ experiences and decisions. Such ethnographic focus can potentially capture and provide a better understanding of how some migratory movements in the margins of Europe are formed and shift and what effects these movements have on the complex and long-standing relations between Greece and Cyprus as experienced, imagined and constructed in official discourses, public debates and individual narratives. Moreover, the chapter investigates to what extent these processes demarcate shifting relationships with and discourses about the state and the EU in the region that could construct alternative visions to established national, ethnic and political identities.

Ultimately, the very concepts of ‘entrapment’ and ‘crisis’ are being examined together and interrogated in order to conclude as to what we define historically as ‘times of crisis’ and whether the relationship between the two can be theorised to be used as a diagnostic tool for studying historical and socio-political articulations and contestations of ‘Europeanization’.