British Accounts of Residency in Greece, 1945-2004

A number of British writers have produced accounts of their experiences as residents of Greece. These writings are used here to explore the portrayal of the Greek character and way of life by those who, in many cases, claimed to be "experts." The ways in which residents represented the practicalities of living in Greece, and the changes they described as occurring to the country and its people in the decades since the Second World War, are also analyzed. It is argued that the initial—and to some extent continued—representation of the Greeks as pastoral and non-developed was similar to the "exoticization" of southern Europe promoted by anthropologists working "in the field." This was part of a perceived power-differential between those from the "developed West" and the Balkans. Negative aspects of the Greek character—laziness, corruption, sexual predation—could be blamed on Turkish influence. In this way, even those who claimed to be insiders in Greece had recourse to an "Orientalist" discourse when encountering developments or attitudes that they found undesirable.