Austerity & Democracy in Athens: Crisis and Community in Exarchia

by Monia Cappuccini

Overview

This book, based on an empirical form of narration, outlines a short-medium term analysis of the social impact of austerity politics on urban life.. Set in Exarchia, a radical and anti-authoritarian neighbourhood located within the city centre of Athens, Greece, this is an ethnography examining the social struggles and grassroots mobilizations that emerged locally during the crisis. Based on over two years of fieldwork between November 2012 and early 2014, the author brings together participant observation and a period of research-action in one of Exarchia’s stekia. One particular pedestrian street is used as a case study – ‘Odos Tsamadou’ is located near Exarchia Square and here multiple social centres and political activity converge to allow the neighbourhood’s climate of solidarity and reciprocity to fully emerge. This book is specifically targeted at academics specialized in the social sciences, ethnography, cultural anthropology and urban studies and more generally at anyoneinterested in contemporary urban and social development.

To read reviews about this book please visit:

· https://www.vice.com/gr/article/mb5n7x/mia-koybenta-me-thn-italida-an8rwpologo-poy-afhse-th-rwmh-gia-na-melethsei-ta-kinhmata-sta-e3arxeia?utm_source=vicefbgrh

· https://www.dinamopress.it/news/everything-continues/

· https://ilmanifesto.it/exarchia-uno-spazio-sociale-di-resistenza/

· http://media.planum.bedita.net/cb/42/(ibidem)_Planum_Readings_no.9:2018_De%20Angelis.pdf

· https://www.urbanstudiesonline.com/resources/resource/book-review-austerity-and-democracy-in-athens-crisis-and-community-in-exarchia/

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319641270
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/26/2017
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Monia Cappuccini is an urban researcher and a professional journalist. Trained in social anthropology, in 2015 she completed her PhD in Urban Planning at Rome’s La Sapienza University, earning the additional title of Doctor Europaeus as a result of an academic partnership with the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) in Athens, Greece.

Table of Contents

Preface.- ​1. Introduction.- 2. Stepping into Exarchia.- 3. “The dictatorship did not end in 1973”.- 4. This is not a myth.- 5. Number Thirteen.- 6. Number fifteen.- 7. Number ten/a.- 8. The walls of Exarchia.- 9. Greek fire.- 10. Re-visiting urban space: auste-city politics amidst the crisis.- 11. Conclusions.- Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The crisis that the financial system has inflicted on Greece, and the following suffering have been at the centre of the attention of activists, journalists and the public opinion at large in the last few years. The book that Cappuccini wrote after a long period of research in an area of Athens is both an anthropological insight and the report of an experience of life, and gives us an insider perception of the cultural landscape of a city shaped by crisis, unemployment, migration. The book, very well documented and simultaneously passionate, may be read as a personal account, and as a theoretical essay: a must read for those who have shared the hopes and the deceptions of Greek people these days.” (Franco Berardi Bifo)

Editorial Reviews

The details offered and the scrutiny of political, economic and social conditions and of the mainstream discourse make this book essential reading to those who want to research the debt crisis, the rise of nationalism and grassroots alternatives. What also makes this book a must-read is the author’s methodology.” (Georgia Alexandri, Urban Studies, Vol. 55 (13), October, 2018)

From the Publisher