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The archaeology of in-between places; Finds under the Ilissos River bridge in Athens

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Stelios Lekakis

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Intellect Ltd., 2019.

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Abstract

The ongoing recession has provided new layers in the tangible and intangible palimpsests in the city of Athens, especially in its neglected urban pockets that can be central but always outside the city’s normal, social life. This paper arises from my experience of participating in a cleaning activity under the Anapáfseos Street Bridge over the encased Ilissós River in central Athens in September 2010. In it I challenge the official rhetoric regarding the use of marginal sites for parasitic activities, by re-appropriating urban waste into empirical evidence and attempting to read through the lines of the graffiti left behind by a community of migrants that used the bridge as a temporary camp site. By providing an alternative reading of the bridge as an in-between place, this paper seeks to problematise the assimilation of hidden communities in the city. It can also be considered as a gesture of contemporary-urban archaeology, a way to both approach and understand these communities in a form of a publicly engaged and politically relevant archaeological practice.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Lekakis S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Greek Media & Culture

Year: 2019

Volume: 5

Issue: 2

Pages: 151-184

Online publication date: 01/10/2019

Acceptance date: 02/04/2019

Date deposited: 12/05/2019

ISSN (print): 2052-3971

ISSN (electronic): 2052-398X

Publisher: Intellect Ltd.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1386/jgmc.5.2.151_1

DOI: 10.1386/jgmc.5.2.151_1

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