“Biopolitical rationalities” of reproduction in Greece before and after the Covid-19 pandemic
Cynthia-Helen Malakasis
Summary
Drawing from the routes and experiences of a Syrian refugee woman within the network of maternity care in Athens, this commentary highlights the “double bind” between succumbing to “nature” and controlling it, as well as between the exigencies of the nuclear family and the market, which constrains women of various social categories. Emphasis is placed on the impact of the conjuncture of “authoritarian neoliberalism”, which became increasingly established in Greece riding the wave of the supposed exigencies of the Covid-19 pandemic.
BIO
Cynthia Malakasis is a cultural anthropologist interested in nationalism, migration, citizenship, racialization, reproductive care, and Greece. Her Ph.D. examined whether and how post-1980 immigration to Greece challenged the country’s nationalist norms of collective belonging. From 2016 to 2020, she conducted ERC-funded, post-doctoral research on the maternity care of migrants and refugees in Athens. Her current research, at Panteion University, examines the institutional structures and affective relations of care formed with respect to gender-based violence during the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece.