‘How can you be Muslim? You look like you’re Greek!’: Investigating Muslim women’s experiences of Islamophobia in Greece

This thesis investigates Muslim women’s lived experiences of Islamophobia in Greece. The first research of its kind, it documents their experiences and understandings of their victimisation, and the coping strategies they develop and deploy. Beginning with a historical overview of Muslims in Greece from the 13th century onwards, the opening chapter identifies and elucidates the Greco-specific relevance of history, culture, Orthodoxy and geography on contemporary Islamophobia. From here, this thesis examines the nature and scope of Islamophobic victimisation and the associated discourses and practices that function to ‘Other’ Muslims. It also focuses on what is currently known about gendered Islamophobia. The next chapter explores the methodological approaches underpinning this research, justifying the qualitative methods preferred as well as the process of engaging participants and the methods for collecting and analysing the data gathered. Positionality and reflexivity are also considered. Three findings chapters follow, which draw from interviews with twenty-four Muslim women in Athens and Western Thrace. In the first, the nature of Islamophobia and the victimisation of Muslim women is evidenced and considered, paying close attention to factors increasing their vulnerability and the challenges faced by them in integration, acceptance, employment, and combating stereotypes and discrimination. In the second, the women’s response to actual and prospective victimisation as also its impact is examined. Here, three new categories of coping strategies are evidenced: engaging in conversation, reciprocating abuse and downplaying significance. The final findings chapter centres on the factors that determine the prevalence and severity of Islamophobia in Greece. The reasons for not reporting Islamophobia are also considered. In conclusion, the themes and concepts developed throughout are reflected upon. This study makes a timely and significant contribution to what is currently an embryonic body of work and puts forward much needed new knowledge that has social, political and cultural salience.