- Let’s start with where you grew up. Where was that and what was your experience with diversity?
I was born and raised in a small and picturesque city named Chania, in the Greek island of Crete. The population there was almost entirely homogenous and the only diversity to which I was exposed growing up was a result of tourism, mostly from the North and West of Europe. As a child, I equated the word ‘foreigners’ with ‘blond people’. I had learned at school that Black people were sometimes treated badly, but I thought that was happening far in the past and somewhere very far away.
- How did you learn about racism and how did that shape the way you see the world?
My late teens and early twenties were undoubtedly formative years for me. Being exposed to social inequalities and the phenomenon of racism fueled my desire to change the world and make it a better place. The main practical avenue I could see for achieving that was through continuing my formal education and conducting research on topics that pertain to human rights and social (in)equalities.
- Do you recall your first encounter with racism?
The first time I realized what racism actually exists is when I was 18 and had just moved to Northwest Florida College on a basketball scholarship, one year before transferring to UC Riverside. As most of my teammates were Black, and as I was spending most of my time with them, I quickly came to view the world around me through their eyes. I remember one particular time when, on our way back from school, a group of white boys in a pickup truck stopped in front of my teammates and waved the confederate flag at them in a very provocative manner. It took me some time to understand the symbolism behind their actions, but the hostility of their intentions was rather obvious. During the same time, I was exposed to formal statistics that demonstrate the extent and implications of racism. I remember looking at a figure on income distribution by race and feeling shocked with the level of inequality. In time, I came to understand how deeply rooted race relations are in the US society and history.
- Have there been any times you have felt discriminated against?
I wouldn’t say I have felt discriminated, but there have been several times when my interlocutors in the US would note my accent in English and respond by speaking to me more simply, slowly and loudly, sometimes making additional physical movements with their hands or mouth. I found this quite entertaining.
While in the US, I developed an understanding of what it feels like to be –and to be seen as— an outsider. Having experienced language barriers, cultural differences and home-sickness first-hand, I became naturally sensitized to the experience of being a migrant. Although I have not being a victim of racism myself, both my close relationship with individuals from minority backgrounds and my formal education concerning such social issues ignited my curiosity and willingness to pursue this research trajectory further.
- What was your takeaway from the time you spent at UC Riverside off the court?
The years I spent at UCR (from the age of 20 to the age of 24) were extremely important for my personal growth. That was when I became socially and politically aware as a person. After finishing my BA in Communications, I received an academic scholarship from the Sociology Department of UCR, where I pursued an MA degree. The openness of the US education system and the vibrant, stimulating environment at UCR helped me realize how much I love learning, and motivated me to continue my journey in higher education.
- Tell us about your postgrad life.
After UCR, I went to the University of Cambridge for one year (2011-2012), where I earned a second Master’s degree, this time in Social Psychology. My thesis concerned the construction of gender-related ideologies and inequalities, and it was a continuation from the previous research I had conducted, while at UCR.
After Cambridge, I played basketball professionally for three years, in Greece and Italy. I was also a member of the Greek national team but unfortunately, I suffered an ACL injury which held my athletic career back.
Then, I earned a PhD scholarship from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the department of European Studies. My PhD dissertation examined the so-called ‘European Migration Crisis of 2015-2017’ in Athens, Greece, and Berlin, Germany. More specifically, I looked at how those who work at the frontlines of migration management (e.g. migration officers, asylum judges, social workers, etc.) make decisions under conditions of high uncertainty and at how their discretionary decisions shape policy outcomes and affect human lives.
I have been living in England for the last five years: four years to complete my PhD and one year after that when I worked as a teaching fellow in Migration Policy at the London School of Economics. I have now just moved back to Athens, Greece, where I started a new job as an administrative employee at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Division of Justice, Home Affairs, Migration and Schengen.
- Tell us more about your current role with the Greek Ministry. How are you applying what you have learned into policy change?
My new position at the Greek Foreign Ministry allows me a close-up, inside view to what I have been studying over the past five years. For instance, at the moment I attend discussions on different articles of the proposal of the EU’s “New Pact on Migration and Asylum”. While my research thus far has mostly focused on the implementation of migration policies, I now get to observe closely the design aspect of such policies. My research experience can of course come handy, as being aware of the causes of the existing implementation gaps may generally help avoid the same pitfalls at the next policy cycle. At this point, however, this is still a learning experience for me, as it gives me the opportunity to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the entire policy process.
- How has the current civil rights movement in the United States affected the conversation about rights in Europe?
The world today is interconnected more than ever before, which means that a social movement in the US could potentially soon turn into a global movement. I, myself, took part in BLM demonstrations in London only days after the George Floyd incident in the US. Although it is still quite early to gauge the long-term impact of such developments, I have made the following observations. First, social scientists in Europe have not been studying the notion of race with the same rigor as their American counterparts, preferring to focus instead on that of ‘ethnicity’. This has now started to change, by incorporating both terms into the conversation. Second, given the fact that Black people in certain European countries are mostly African migrants, the BLM movement brings also other contested themes to the fore, such as that of international inequalities (and their roots) or the rights of migrants.
- Along with your career, are you in any social activist groups for diversity, equality and inclusion in which it helps make the community better?
I am not sure I am active enough to be considered an activist. That said, I have volunteered in various research projects concerning human rights, or women’s and minorities’ rights and I have also been involved in the delivery of social services for migrants, whether in Greece or in the UK.
- You mentioned you volunteered in research projects concerning human rights, women’s rights and minority rights. Can you tell us more about those projects?
As a master’s student at the University of Cambridge (2011-2012) I volunteered at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights and I conducted research for the UN Special Rapporteur on journalists' right to life. My research focused on the dangers journalists face under armed conflict. The outcomes of our research were incorporated in the
report by Mr. Heyns to the Human Rights Council in June 2012 to improve the safety of journalists, while in 2015 the UN Security Council adopted
Resolution 2222, which condemned impunity for attacks on journalists calling for
safe environments for media professionals.
After graduating from Cambridge, I volunteered as a research assistant for a number of projects concerning gender equality. For instance, my research was featured in the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in 2014, in a
report concerning “The Impacts of the Crisis on Gender Equality and Women’s Wellbeing”.
My first academic journal article is also going to be published very soon by the Journal of Social Policy and Society, and it will be focused on migrants’ access to housing.
- What kind of change do you think is needed to shift the attitudes and bias toward minorities and immigrants?
As a human, I believe the world would be a better place if we all made a greater effort to understand those who are different from us, develop empathy and compassion, and act with kindness and selflessness.
As a social scientist, I support the view that a change of attitudes, whether in terms of race, ethnicity or gender, needs to happen both at the micro and at the macro levels, and it is likely to take time. As Cecilia Ridgeway suggests, both micro-interactional approaches and institutional approaches are necessary to achieve a change in cultural beliefs because the one constantly informs the other. On the one hand, there need to be material changes, through political, economic and technological factors. These, in turn, are expected to change individual understandings, even if slowly. Through multiple ‘waves’ of material changes, a gradual and incremental shift in attitudes is also likely to occur. In Ridgeway’s words, “a single wave does not move a sandbar, but wave after wave does”.