Abstract

During the last two decades Greece has become a multicultural society due to the influx of immigrants mainly from the Balkans and East Europe. At the same time Greece became fully integrated to the European Community. Within this context the relation of Greek national identity to Europe and to the immigrant ‘*ther’ becomes a topic of everyday conversations and a focal point of social scientific research. This study following a discourse analytic perspective (Edwards, 1997; Edwards and Potter, 1992; Potter, 1996; Potter and Wetherell, 1987) attempts to explore the way Greek people construct Greek national identity in relation to immigration and European integration within an interview context. It is argued that participants strategically managed stereotypes about immigrants in order to avoid accusations of prejudice, while stereotypes about the Europeans seemed to be informed by the ambivalent positioning of Greece between East and West (Bozatzis, 1998; Herzfeld, 1987).

Keywords: Greek National Identity, Stereotypes, Discourse Analysis, Europe, Immigration

How to Cite:

Gardikiotis, A., (2017) “Immigration and European Integration in Greece: Greek National Identity and the ‘Other Within’”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 3(3), 27-47. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.57