Everyday Invisibility

The Lives of African Women in Greece

Viki Zaphiriou-Zarifi

294 pages, 20 ills., bibliog., index

ISBN 978-1-83695-298-5 Hb Published (January 2026)

eISBN 978-1-83695-297-8
web ISBN 978-1-83695-297-8

Details

“This is a very intriguing book and I believe it taps into an understudied area as regards to the specific group and issues of racialization in Greece.” • Anastasia Christou, Middlesex University

Greece’s economic collapse of 2008, compounded by years of austerity, soaring unemployment and increasing anti-migrant sentiment, intensified the vulnerabilities of African women in Athens. This book explores their everyday lives, showing how processes of gendered racialization render them both invisible and hyper-visible, heightening exposure to discrimination and precarity. Drawing on rich ethnographic material, it highlights the strategies they deploy to counter the disadvantages they face and secure livable lives. Resisting exclusion, liminality and marginalization, these women challenge who can and who cannot belong in contemporary Athens. The book offers a compelling account of resilience, agency and the creative ways in which people navigate conditions of economic crisis and rising xenophobia.

Viki Zaphiriou-Zarifi is a scholar-practitioner in gender, migration and development who has worked with international and grassroots organizations in Africa, South Asia and Europe. Her research combines feminist ethnography and participatory methods to centre marginalized voices.