What are the collective dynamics and self-organization practices that emerged in the refugee accommodation squats in Athens, and how have they challenged the spatial and identity politics of exclusion in the era of neoliberal crisis? Employing the concepts of heterotopias and submerged networks to analyze one of the most emblematic refugee accommodation and solidarity space in Athens, namely, the City Plaza Hotel, this essay examines the constitutive and transformative potential of multiscaled “communities of struggle.” I argue that in many cases, such patterns of everyday resistance are likely to help recast extant interpretations and boundaries of collective action, as well as the meaning and scope of refugee struggles at the transnational level.
Outside the Doors: Refugee Accommodation Squats and Heterotopy Politics
Loukia Kotronaki is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of political science and history at Panteion University (Athens, Greece). She has conducted extensive research on transnational collective action, social movements, party politics, and democratization processes in Europe. Having published several academic articles and book chapters, she is presently completing a monograph, titled “Another World is Possible: Social Movements and Political Parties in Neoliberal Times.” Her current research focuses on forms of protest and cultures of solidarity during the financial and refugee crisis in Greece.
Loukia Kotronaki; Outside the Doors: Refugee Accommodation Squats and Heterotopy Politics. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 October 2018; 117 (4): 914–924. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-7166080
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