Struggles against exclusion in Exarcheia Square, Athens

Titolo Rivista TERRITORIO
Autori/Curatori Dimitris Pettas
Anno di pubblicazione 2019 Fascicolo 2018/86
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 10 P. 157-166 Dimensione file 1179 KB
DOI 10.3280/TR2018-086020
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Exarcheia is a district in central Athens, which has been the epicenter of urban struggles and a symbolic place for the radical narration in Greece since the 1970s. Its central square has faced prolonged problems of drug-related activities, which operate as a major exclusionary factor and create the base upon which current antagonistic relations between key urban actors are developed and power is exercised. This article explores the conflicts over power, how power manifests in public space and how confrontational space is territorially produced, through an ethnographic and survey study and attempts to show how two notions of hegemonic power operate in tension with one another - the symbolic and the everyday practices of the square - through the identities and uses of the space.

Exarchia è un quartiere del centro di Atene che è stato l’epicentro delle rivolte urbane in Grecia fin dagli anni ’70, così come un luogo simbolico per la narrazione radicale della città. La sua piazza centrale ha dovuto confrontarsi per lungo tempo con la presenza di attività correlate alla droga che hanno operato come un fattore di esclusione, creando le basi per lo sviluppo delle relazioni antagonistiche attuali e l’esercizio del potere tra attori urbani chiave. Attraverso uno studio e una ricerca etnografica, questo articolo esplora i conflitti sul potere, il modo in cui il potere si manifesta nello spazio pubblico e come viene prodotto uno spazio di confronto in termini territoriali. L’articolo cerca di mostrare come le due nozioni di potere egemonico - il tema simbolico e le pratiche quotidiane della piazza - operano in tensione l’una con l’altra attraverso le identità e gli usi dello spazio.

Keywords:Spazio pubblico; esclusione; costruzioni simboliche

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Dimitris Pettas, Struggles against exclusion in Exarcheia Square, Athens in "TERRITORIO" 86/2018, pp 157-166, DOI: 10.3280/TR2018-086020