The Appropriation of Discourses and Practices: Female Migration from Russia to Greece in the 1990s and 2000s

The article examines transformations in identities of women as a result of their migration from Russia to Greece and appropriation of Greekness. The concept of appropriation is advocated as a key idea of analysis and interpretation of migrants’ experiences. The author’s position regarding the relevancy of the concept of appropriation is based upon Paul Ricoeur’s understanding of the process of interpretation and some contemporary anthropological works. The results of the author’s fieldwork in Greece are presented in the article which is concentrated on two life stories. These life stories are juxtaposed so as to compare different techniques of appropriation. The discussion provides evidence of ways in which identities can be manifested and changed during the process of appropriation. The argument is that the appropriation of Greekness may take place (and be used) in contrasting ways, the causes of which are rooted in pre-emigration experience. The author concludes that one case demonstrates how rural Greek identity was successfully appropriated and the other case shows how the process of appropriation and re-appropriation of urban Greekness resulted in construction of global identity.