Chapter 8 Learning New Languages: A Literature of Migration in Greece
In: Immigrant and Ethnic-Minority Writers since 1945Search for other papers by Maria Oikonomou in
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Abstract
The momentous events of 1989 caused radical transformations and brought thousands of immigrant ‘others’ to Greece. Consequently, in the late 1990s and particularly since the year 2000, a literature of first-generation migrants as well as the first anthologies of ‘national’ or ‘micro-national’ communities emerged. In the beginning, this new literature received only sporadic attention. Meanwhile, Greek academia – especially the Departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures – has begun to explore the relations between migration and its literary impact. However, considering the diversity of immigrant authors whose texts are part of and influence the cultural sphere of Greece, the subject of migration literature still appears underrepresented in academic research (in contrast, there are several approaches to ‘Greek diaspora literature’ which deploy postcolonial models, feminism and translation studies). In general, the manifold character of immigrant writing has not yet found an established place in Greek literary studies.