Translocal space across migrant generations: The case of a Greek Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper examines the changing importance of translocal space to three generations of Greek Cypriot migrants in the United Kingdom. Focusing on a Greek Orthodox Church, the paper draws upon participant observations and interviews to examine how translocal space is given meaning by migrants and, in turn, how the meaning and use of translocal space is renegotiated and altered by later generations. Based on this evidence, we argue that translocal space strengthens community ties and offers a way of performing particular ideas of identity and culture. It provides social and cultural links to distant people and places through shared religious practices. Furthermore, an intergenerational perspectives allows us to understand how translocal places are reproduced, challenged, and changed by successive generations. In doing so, the paper advances our understanding of translocality, the different ways that translocal space is used by migrant generations, and the changing significance of places of worship to migrant identities.

Rebetiko in diaspora: The London rebetiko scene

“…Greek immigration to London, which gained momentum in the nineteenth century (Harris 2009), has been dominated by educated urbanites migrating for study, work or trade (Frangos 2016) and, although such generalizations underestimate the diversity of motivations, this has resulted in some distinct tendencies. In contrast to the large and cohesive Greek Cypriot community, which numbered roughly 150,000 in 2011, diasporic Greeks in London were recorded at around 30,000 (UK Census 2011) and their social organization might be regarded as more akin to a 'translocal' network (Kallis et al 2018). 13 First-generation migrants usually identify with a national Greek identity and, despite some concentrations in areas like Palmers Green, most have moved around London as needed, while subsequent generations tend to develop hybrid forms of identification with both Britain and Greece.…”

Gender, spatiality and motherhood: intergenerational change in Greek-Cypriot migrant families in the UK

“…What happens outside the home deeply affects relationships inside it and, at the same time, the home shapes how family members, particularly women and girls, live outside it. The influence of values and relationships developed within the home are even more apparent in spaces such as ethnic churches (Kallis, Yarwood, & Tyrrell, 2019), workspaces and language schools (Leung, 2004), where surveillance is intensified and there is greater expectation for public conformity. However, women in migrant families are not merely submissive and passive recipients of hegemonic ideology, but agents of change and resistance.…”

“…Unlike their mothers, the third-generation of Greek-Cypriots did not feel guilt or anxiety around their conflicting identities, but experienced greater freedom as their ethnic identities were not imposed on them (see also Kefallinos, 2012). Thus, these individuals were able to invoke 'ethnic choice' (Sullivan, 2012;Waters, 1990) and to practise a more flexible form of ethnicity, where the ethnic role was more voluntary than ascriptive and they could selectively incorporate or reject different cultural codes and practices (Kallis et al, 2019;Michail & Christou, 2016b).…”