Paper short abstract:

In this paper, drawing from my research in a middle-class suburb in Athens, I reflect upon the marital account of a woman and on what this can tell us about history, love, intimacy and death.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, drawing from my research in a middle-class suburb in Athens during the period of economic austerity, I concentrate on the marital story of a woman in her mid seventies, who 'lost' her husband five years ago. I reflect upon her narration about marriage, on her account about life, and I am trying to see how was marriage associated with the family's social histories and how was it implicated in bigger social projects. What does it mean to have lived a whole life together?

I consider what can any particular marital story that involves years of togetherness, children and grandchildren tells us about love and intimacy in Greece and what these stories tell us in general about Greece, about history and transformations of a place, and of the ways people constitute their social worlds.