Miss Alexandra Kriti

Research project: Consuming the Aegean Inter-nationalities; An inter-disciplinary approach to the socio-politics of the construction and performance of national food identities at the contemporary ‘borderline islands' of the Aegean.

Abstract

Inspired by my recent volunteer action at the 'Lesvos Solidarity- Pikpa' camp at Lesvos island, the current research attempts to explore issues of everyday nationalism and nationhood within the context of the 'borderline' islands of the Aegean currently being under the impact of the 'refugee crisis'.

Cooking as a performative act of multiple identities is explored mainly by collaborating with residents and volunteers of the forementioned camp. Whether these performative acts are sustaining, incorporating and even propagating residents' multinational identities, volunteers 'Greekness' and/or 'Europeanism' and locals' 'borderline' insularism is the main area of my ongoing research.

Confronting with the limitations of an academic and the obligations of a volunteer, I am attempting to incorporate a wide spectrum of research methodologies with the aim to transform my PhD thesis from just a book lying on a self into a... tastefull feast!