Topic
Narratives from the Shadows. A Geocritical Exploration of the Eleonas Flea Market.
This paper presents a geocritical exploration of the Eleonas Flea Market, which is organized by waste pickers in Athens, Greece. The waste pickers' operations form crucial infrastructure for Athens' waste management regime, as the recycling of discarded goods in the liminal space between waste and commodity largely depends on this shadow economy. This shadow recycling regime is not only crucial to the waste management regime of Athens but also convenient for the city and its people.
Yet, instead of granting the waste pickers oSicial status or recognition of their valuable labor, the city has tried to evict the merchants from the location several times. The majority of the merchants and customers of the market is composed of people already dispossessed: immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, whose living with displacement is more of a rule than exception. These people are non-existent citizens in oSicial documents and are treated as disposable as the discards they earn a living from in the markets.
We draw on research in city planning strategies and on the market’s societal and functional role. We analyze visual and sonic data collected from the area, as well as the waste pickers’ personal narratives, and examine these individuals' representations in literature and visual arts. Our goal is to understand the Eleonas market's role as a place with active agency and as an evolving narrative. Finally, in a conversation with Walter Benjamin, we explore the active engagement of ragpickers with urban spaces, as exemplified by the Eleonas Flea Market, examining the urban history written in the shadows official recognition.
Sonja Lampinen (Tampere University)
Sonja Lampinen is a doctoral researcher in sociology at Tampere University, working in WasteMatters research project. Her PhD studies the construction of spatiotemporalities in nuclear waste disposal. She has also published on artistic engagement with waste as well as queer spaces.
Riikka Pulkkinen (University of Helsinki)
Riikka Pulkkinen holds a PhD from the University of Helsinki's Doctoral Program in Philosophy, Arts, and Society. Her dissertation, "Urban Minds: Character Experiences of Athens in Greek Fiction, 1990–2020,” focuses on contemporary Greek fiction and character studies from a geocritical perspective. She has published articles on Greek city literature in various volumes, as well as literary translations.