We took a bath with the chickens: memories of childhood visits to the homeland by second-generation Greek and Greek Cypriot returnees

Article


King, R., Christou, A. and Teerling, J. 2011. We took a bath with the chickens: memories of childhood visits to the homeland by second-generation Greek and Greek Cypriot returnees. Global Networks. 11 (1), pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2010.00304.x
TypeArticle
TitleWe took a bath with the chickens: memories of childhood visits to the homeland by second-generation Greek and Greek Cypriot returnees
AuthorsKing, R., Christou, A. and Teerling, J.
Abstract

Drawing on a wider study of 90 second-generation Greeks and Greek Cypriots who have relocated to their ancestral homeland, in this article we focus on the significance of childhood visits to the homeland. Freedom – how children were allowed to roam free and stay up late – is the key trope of such memories, in contrast with the strict spatio-temporal parenting they received in the host country. Different, sometimes less pleasant memories, however, emerge when the visits took place during later, teenage years. We explore the connections between childhood visits and adult relocation. Adult returnees find that settlement in the homeland produces a new set of challenges and reactions that differ markedly from childhood experiences and memories. They engage a second narrative trope, nostalgia, reflecting on the loss of the ‘authentic’ nature of the homeland and its customs and values. Instead, they highlight the materialism and xenophobia of Greek and Cypriot society nowadays. However, they see the ‘homeland’ as a safer place in which to raise their own children.

KeywordsSecond generation; Return migration; Childhood; Memory; Transnationalism; Greece; Cyprus
PublisherWileyBlackwell
JournalGlobal Networks
ISSN1470-2266
Publication dates
PrintJan 2011
Publication process dates
Deposited17 Oct 2013
Output statusPublished
Additional information

Article first published online: 11 Nov 2010

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2010.00304.x
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/8471x

  • 41
    total views
  • 0
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Theorising pandemic necropolitics as evil: thinking inequalities, suffering, and vulnerabilities with Arendt
Christou, A. 2024. Theorising pandemic necropolitics as evil: thinking inequalities, suffering, and vulnerabilities with Arendt. Societies. 14 (9). https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14090171
Affordances and borderscapes: language ideologies, nationalisms, generations and geographies of resistance in Cyprus
Karayianni, C. and Christou, A. 2024. Affordances and borderscapes: language ideologies, nationalisms, generations and geographies of resistance in Cyprus. Languages. 9 (9). https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9060224
Ecofeminism and the cultural affinity to genocidal capitalism: theorising necropolitical femicide in contemporary Greece
Christou, A. 2024. Ecofeminism and the cultural affinity to genocidal capitalism: theorising necropolitical femicide in contemporary Greece. Social Sciences. 13 (5). https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13050263
Feminist conversations with Buber: dialogic encounters with ‘The Girls’ (stories of Jewish women in Brownsville, Brooklyn, 1940–1995)
Christou, A. 2024. Feminist conversations with Buber: dialogic encounters with ‘The Girls’ (stories of Jewish women in Brownsville, Brooklyn, 1940–1995). European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe. 57 (1), pp. 28-38. https://doi.org/10.3167/ej.2024.570103
Insurgent feminisms – women writing wars: mapping gendered trauma, un/learning generative utopias and the intersectional imperative
Christou, A. 2024. Insurgent feminisms – women writing wars: mapping gendered trauma, un/learning generative utopias and the intersectional imperative. Feminist Review. 137 (1), pp. 132-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/01417789241252740
Curatorial dissonance and conflictual aesthetics: Holocaust memory and public humanities in Greek historiography
Christou, A. 2024. Curatorial dissonance and conflictual aesthetics: Holocaust memory and public humanities in Greek historiography. Histories . 4 (2), pp. 204-219. https://doi.org/10.3390/histories4020010
Divergent democracy: Notes on a mediatised affective activism renewal of feminist and anti-fascist struggle in contemporary Greece
Christou, A. 2023. Divergent democracy: Notes on a mediatised affective activism renewal of feminist and anti-fascist struggle in contemporary Greece. Cultural Dynamics. 35 (1-2), pp. 47-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/09213740231171260
Making home through memories and ritualized social practices
Christou, A. 2023. Making home through memories and ritualized social practices. in: Boccagni, P. (ed.) Handbook on Home and Migration Edward Elgar Publishing.
Transnational mobilities and return migration
Christou, A. and Yeoh, B. 2022. Transnational mobilities and return migration. in: Yeoh, B. and Collins, F. (ed.) Handbook on Transnationalism Edward Elgar Publishing.
Theorising affective habitus in historical geographies of mobilities: unfolding spatio-temporal modalities
Christou, A. 2022. Theorising affective habitus in historical geographies of mobilities: unfolding spatio-temporal modalities. Emotions: History, Culture, Society. 6 (2), pp. 215-236. https://doi.org/10.1163/2208522x-02010165
Introduction: emotions and mobilities: gendered, temporal and spatial representations
Barrios Aquino, M., Chanamuto, N. and Christou, A. 2022. Introduction: emotions and mobilities: gendered, temporal and spatial representations. Emotions: History, Culture, Society. 6 (2), pp. 201-214. https://doi.org/10.1163/2208522x-02010164
MoDA Podcast Season 3, Episode 5, Home alone
Baeza Ruiz, A., Christou, A. and Bloor, K. 2021. MoDA Podcast Season 3, Episode 5, Home alone.
Gender and migration: IMISCOE short reader
Christou, A. and Kofman, E. 2022. Gender and migration: IMISCOE short reader. Cham, Switzerland Springer.
The liminality of loneliness: negotiating feminist ethics and intersectional affectivity
Christou, A. and Bloor, K. 2021. The liminality of loneliness: negotiating feminist ethics and intersectional affectivity. Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change. 6 (1). https://doi.org/10.20897/jcasc/11120
Feminisms, gender and social media: public and political performativities regarding sexual harassment in Cyprus
Karayianni, C. and Christou, A. 2020. Feminisms, gender and social media: public and political performativities regarding sexual harassment in Cyprus. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 4 (2), pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/8522
Affecting solidarities: bringing feeling into feminism, empathy in employment and compassion in academic communities of crises
Christou, A. and Janta, H. 2019. Affecting solidarities: bringing feeling into feminism, empathy in employment and compassion in academic communities of crises. Tourism Management Perspectives. 30, pp. 232-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.02.007
'A window to knowledge is a window to the world': socio-aesthetics, ethics and pedagogic migrant youth journeys in crisis-shaped educational settings in Greece
Christou, A. and Michail, D. 2021. 'A window to knowledge is a window to the world': socio-aesthetics, ethics and pedagogic migrant youth journeys in crisis-shaped educational settings in Greece. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 42 (2), pp. 308-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2019.1636210
Hosting as social practice: gendered insights into contemporary tourism mobilities
Janta, H. and Christou, A. 2019. Hosting as social practice: gendered insights into contemporary tourism mobilities. Annals of Tourism Research. 74, pp. 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2018.11.008
Infinite Indigeneity
Christou, A. 2019. Infinite Indigeneity. Feminist Review, 122(1), 205–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0141778918810212
Understanding acoustic performativities, youth subjectivities and mobile identities
Christou, A., Sardinha, J. and Campos, R. 2016. Understanding acoustic performativities, youth subjectivities and mobile identities. in: Sardinha, J. and Campos, R. (ed.) Transglobal Sounds: Music, Youth and Migration Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 221-232
Introduction: from time to timespace and forward to time again in migration studies
Page, B., Christou, A. and Mavroudi, E. 2017. Introduction: from time to timespace and forward to time again in migration studies. in: Mavroudi, E., Page, B. and Christou, A. (ed.) Timespace and International Migration Cheltenham, UK Edward Elgar. pp. 1-16
'Narrations of the nation in mobility life stories: gendered scripts, emotional spheres and transnational performativity in the Greek diaspora'
Christou, A. 2018. 'Narrations of the nation in mobility life stories: gendered scripts, emotional spheres and transnational performativity in the Greek diaspora'. in: Mulholland, J., Montagna, N. and Sanders-McDonagh, E. (ed.) Gendering Nationalism: Intersections of Nation, Gender and Sexuality in the 21st Century Palgrave McMillan. pp. 299-314
Youth mobilities, crisis, and agency in Greece: second generation lives in liminal spaces and austere times
Michail, D. and Christou, A. 2018. Youth mobilities, crisis, and agency in Greece: second generation lives in liminal spaces and austere times. Transnational Social Review: A Social Work Journal. 8 (3), pp. 245-257. https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2018.1511032
Introduction: mapping gendered violence-contemplating conflict and crisis in contemporary societal struggles
Christou, A. 2018. Introduction: mapping gendered violence-contemplating conflict and crisis in contemporary societal struggles. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 39 (2), pp. vii-xii. https://doi.org/10.5250/fronjwomestud.39.2.0vii
Post-socialist narratives of being, belonging and becoming: Eastern European women migrants and transformative politics in an era of European crises
Christou, A. and Michail, D. 2018. Post-socialist narratives of being, belonging and becoming: Eastern European women migrants and transformative politics in an era of European crises. New Formations: a journal of culture/theory/politics. https://doi.org/10.3898/NEWF:95.05.2018
The significance of things: objects, emotions and cultural production in migrant women's return visits home
Christou, A. and Janta, H. 2018. The significance of things: objects, emotions and cultural production in migrant women's return visits home. The Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026118816906
Theorizing black (African) transnational masculinities
Pasura, D. and Christou, A. 2018. Theorizing black (African) transnational masculinities. Men and Masculinities. 21 (4), pp. 521-546. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X17694992
The "Wretched of Europe": Greece and the cultural politics of inequality
Christou, A. 2018. The "Wretched of Europe": Greece and the cultural politics of inequality. Humanity and Society. 42 (1), pp. 102-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160597616664169
East European migrant women in Greece: intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis
Michail, D. and Christou, A. 2016. East European migrant women in Greece: intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis. Südosteuropa: Journal of Politics and Society. 64 (1), pp. 58-78. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2016-0005
Diasporic youth identities of uncertainty and hope: second-generation Albanian experiences of transnational mobility in an era of economic crisis in Greece
Michail, D. and Christou, A. 2016. Diasporic youth identities of uncertainty and hope: second-generation Albanian experiences of transnational mobility in an era of economic crisis in Greece. Journal of Youth Studies. 19 (7), pp. 957-972. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2015.1136052
Mothering and migration: interdisciplinary dialogues, European perspectives and international contexts: introduction
Christou, A., Giorgio, A. and Rye, G. 2015. Mothering and migration: interdisciplinary dialogues, European perspectives and international contexts: introduction. Women's Studies International Forum. 52, pp. 49-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.07.001
Ageing "phantasmagorically" in exile: the resilience of unbearable and unattainable homelands in the Jewish and Cuban imagination
Christou, A. 2016. Ageing "phantasmagorically" in exile: the resilience of unbearable and unattainable homelands in the Jewish and Cuban imagination. in: Walsh, K. and Näre, L. (ed.) Transnational migration and home in older age Routledge.
Second-generation “return” to Greece: new dynamics of transnationalism and integration
King, R. and Christou, A. 2014. Second-generation “return” to Greece: new dynamics of transnationalism and integration. International Migration. 52 (6), pp. 85-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12149
Tales of satisfaction and disillusionment: second-generation ‘return’ migration to Greece and Cyprus
King, R., Christou, A., Goodson, I. and Teerling, J. 2008. Tales of satisfaction and disillusionment: second-generation ‘return’ migration to Greece and Cyprus. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies. 17 (3), pp. 262-287.
Migrating motherhood and gendering exile: Eastern European women narrate migrancy and homing
Christou, A. and Michail, D. 2015. Migrating motherhood and gendering exile: Eastern European women narrate migrancy and homing. Women's Studies International Forum. 52, pp. 71-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.06.005
Ageing masculinities and the nation: disrupting boundaries of sexualities, mobilities and identities
Christou, A. 2016. Ageing masculinities and the nation: disrupting boundaries of sexualities, mobilities and identities. Gender, Place and Culture. 23 (6), pp. 801-816. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2015.1058760
Counter-diaspora: the Greek second generation returns "home"
Christou, A. and King, R. 2015. Counter-diaspora: the Greek second generation returns "home". Cambridge, MA, USA Harvard University Press.
'Racism', intersectionality and migration studies: framing some theoretical reflections
Grosfoguel, R., Oso, L. and Christou, A. 2015. 'Racism', intersectionality and migration studies: framing some theoretical reflections. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. 22 (6), pp. 635-652. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2014.950974
Narrating lives in (e)motion: embodiment, belongingness and displacement in diasporic spaces of home and return
Christou, A. 2011. Narrating lives in (e)motion: embodiment, belongingness and displacement in diasporic spaces of home and return. Emotion, Space and Society. 4 (4), pp. 249-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2011.06.007
Imagining home: diasporic landscapes of the Greek-German second generation
Christou, A. and King, R. 2010. Imagining home: diasporic landscapes of the Greek-German second generation. Geoforum. 41 (4), pp. 638-646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2010.03.001
Gendering counter-diasporic migration: second generation Greek-Americans and Greek-Germans narrate their homecoming
Christou, A. and King, R. 2011. Gendering counter-diasporic migration: second generation Greek-Americans and Greek-Germans narrate their homecoming. Journal of Mediterranean Studies. 20 (2).