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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Myrto Tsilimpounidi Remapping Athens: An Analysis of Urban Cosmopolitan Milieus DPhil in Social and Political Thought School of History, Art History and Philosophy University of Sussex I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX MYRTO TSILIMPOUNIDI DPhil in Social and Political Thought REMAPPING ATHENS: AN ANALYSIS OF URBAN COSMOPOLITAN MILIEUS SUMMARY The study makes a claim for a critical cosmopolitanism situated in daily performances and encounters of difference in Athens. In the wake of mass migration and economic crisis, the contemporary urban environment changes, creating new social spaces where identities and cultures interact. Festivals are seen as sites of creative dialogue between the Self, the Other and local communities. Festivals are examples of those new spaces where different performances of belonging give rise to alternative social imaginations. This study explores the emotional, cultural and political aspects of cosmopolitanism with the latter leading to the formation of an active civil society. As such, it seeks to evidence cosmopolitanism as an embodied, everyday practice. The research thus extends the current field by locating its empirical lens in a specific milieu. Empirical analysis of grounded cosmopolitanism anchored in behavioural repertoires redefines ubiquitous polarities of margin and centre, pointing towards social change in Athens. Fieldwork was conducted in Athens over eighteen months, comprising of building communities of participants involved in three festivals, including both artists and organisations. Research methods included observation and participation in the festivals, which were photographically documented for research visual diaries. Semi-structured interviews formed the core of the fieldwork. The approach allowed access to experiences, feelings and expressions through artworks, embodying ‘third spaces’. In the milieu of rapid social change, as urban localities transform as a result of economic and social crisis, the need for redefining politics emerges. The case studies explore how change in a celebratory moment can have a more sustainable legacy encouraging active citizenship. The analysis highlights the value of a model of cosmopolitanism in action, positing that transformation of the social and political must be local and grounded in everyday actions if it is to engage with promises of alternative futures. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................i PREFACE .......................................................................................................... iii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1. SITUATING ATHENS: CULTURE AND SOCIETY ..................... 9 Urban (Re)visions: From Emigration to Immigration..................................... 10 Whose City? Urban Outcasts and the Immigrant’s Enclave ......................... 15 Urban Protests: The Return of Street Politics............................................... 18 Economic Crisis: State of Emergency or Emergence? ................................. 22 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2. CHARTING COSMOPOLITAN THEORY .................................. 25 Laying the Ground: Globalisation as Precondition........................................ 27 Cosmopolitanism vis-à-vis Multiculturalism and Pluralism............................ 29 Cosmopolitan Attachments: Investigating the Question of Belonging........... 32 Cosmopolitan Imagination: Reflections on Possibilities................................ 38 Emancipatory Cosmopolitanism: Beyond Words and Definitions ................. 43 Cosmopolitanism and Social Performances ................................................. 47 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................. 54 Cosmopolitan Methodologies ....................................................................... 54 Methodological Terrain ................................................................................. 57 Mapping Research Methods......................................................................... 62 Data Collection Methods............................................................................... 71 Data Analysis Methods................................................................................. 74 Validity and Reliability................................................................................... 78 Ethical Compasses....................................................................................... 80 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER 4. ANTIRACIST FESTIVAL: ACTIVISM THROUGH FESTIVITY .. 85 Racism, Antiracism and Cosmopolitanism.................................................... 87 Setting the Scene ......................................................................................... 90 Innovative Festival Model ............................................................................. 94 Structures, Actors and Festive Semiotics ..................................................... 95 New Communities of Belonging.................................................................. 100 Imagination: Spectacle Antiracism and Consuming Difference .................. 106 Resistance: Common Spaces, Common Struggles.................................... 108 Protests: Reclaiming the Streets ................................................................ 111 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................. 113 CHAPTER 5. PUZZLE FESTIVAL: AN ARTS FESTIVAL WITH A POLITICAL AGENDA ........................................................................................................ 114 Art and the Power of Reframing ................................................................. 114 Setting the Scene ....................................................................................... 117 Windows of Cosmopolitanism: The Theoretical Agenda of the Festival ..... 119 Creating a Third Space: Organising and Structuring Issues....................... 121 ‘Hospitality of Art’: Modes of Belonging, Layers of Identity, Streams of Imagination................................................................................................. 126 Resistance and the Potential for New Communities................................... 130 Conference: ‘ Logos in Action’..................................................................... 132 Post-festival Blues: Sustainability Issues.................................................... 135 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER 6. STREET ART FESTIVAL: A VISUAL DIALOGUE IN URBAN SPACE ........................................................................................................... 140 Urban Tribes and Cosmopolitan Inscriptions.............................................. 141 Setting the Scene ....................................................................................... 143 The Festive Moment: ‘Hiding in the Light’................................................... 147 Beyond Festivity: Towards a Street Art Community ................................... 148 If These Walls Could Talk: Street Art and Urban Belonging ....................... 150 See the Writing on the Wall: Imagination and Cultural Performance .......... 155 Another Brick in the Wall: Street Art as Resistance.................................... 159 Focus Group: ‘Traveling Doors Project’...................................................... 162 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................. 165 CHAPTER 7. TOPOGRAPHIES OF BELONGING, IMAGINATION AND RESISTANCE: COSMOPOLITANISM IN ACTION ....................................... 166 Summarising the Case Studies .................................................................. 167 Comparative Analysis: Connecting Points and Deviant Markers ................ 171 Towards a Model of Cosmopolitanism in Action ......................................... 175 Critical Evaluation of the Research............................................................. 181 Revisiting the Research Questions............................................................. 186 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................

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