INMATTER addresses this urgent reality by examining the profound impacts of constructing and dismantling refugee camps in mainland and island Greece. While existing literature primarily focuses on policies and interactions among volunteers and refugees, and less on camps’ materialities, the project shifts the perspective by highlighting overlooked relationships, agents, and practices that, though significant, remain unnoticed. It will incorporate the experiences of local camp workers—whose involvement in camp management has substantially increased—and the affected landscape by combining state-of-the-art approaches from social anthropology, migration and material studies and environmental humanities.
Since 2015, when thousands of asylum seekers arrived on Greek shores, there has been a dramatic shift—from temporary to new permanent camp structures, and from narratives of hospitality to hostility. Violence is now routinized and systematic. Dehumanizing policies and inhumane infrastructures erode empathy, shape the lives and perceptions of refugees and locals, and an ever-changing precarious landscape.
Through a nuanced exploration of material remnants, memories and spaces where lives intersect, INMATTER will examine practices of symbiosis, care and healing amid disruption and conflict. Utilizing multimodal ethnography and an engaging audiovisual narrative, it will provide a more inclusive body of knowledge, ensuring its findings resonate with broad audiences.
The project’s impact will extend beyond the fellowship, offering crucial perspectives on the transformations of European landscapes and communities in times of crisis, and fostering continued dialogue and understanding.
