March 22, 2010 - Dr. Dimitris Antoniou, Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies Nafplio research annex, told members of the ACG community that Western societies tend to construct Muslim subjects by defining them according to one aspect of their identity: their religion.

Western Societies in the post 9/11 era have constructed a specific frame that fits in discourses on Muslims and Christian–Muslim relations, he said during a lecture in the John S. Bailey Library in March. But this frame is limiting and unrealistic for objective ethnographic research, since every human being has many affiliations that are prioritized differently according to the context a person finds themselves in. 

“To visit gay saunas, porn cinemas and video clubs with private cabins would mean not only engagement in uncomfortable nocturnal research but also testing the usefulness of categories such as ‘Muslim immigrants’ which de facto prioritize religion over many other affiliations an individual may have,” said Antoniou, who conducted extensive field research for a book he is writing on the subject. 

Some Muslim places of worship are located in socially marginalized areas, like Fylis Street in Athens, and co-exist with prostitutes, crooks, heroin addicts, and drug pushers, said Antoniou. And the establishment of masjids – places of worship – in these places forces the adoption of a second nature for immigrants: the nature of particular psychologies of victimhood that combine despair and religious ethnicity. 

“It is surely not coincidental that so many masjids and brothels are to be found in the same street – a secure and affordable area of illegality has been created with its own economy and modus operandi,” said Antoniou. “The Street of Fylis is a place where immigrants can actually exist.” 

Antoniou’s key point concerning the building of a central mosque in Athens was that such a governmental enterprise is necessary mainly for non-religious purposes. The prime reason is symbolic, he said, since the building of a mosque would signal a brighter future of social acceptance and integration for the thousands of immigrants living in the country. 

Antoniou said the building of a mosque will surely not provide an immediate answer to the questions raised by his lecture, but it will connote the possibility of a brighter future for immigrants seeking a better life in Greece.