出版社：CENTRE OF MODERN GREEK DIALECTS, DEPARTMENT OF PHILOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF PATRAS
摘要：The aim of our study is to examine the multiple ways Greek immigrants position themselves
in terms of cultural identity. Recent approaches to immigrants’ cultural identities tend to
employ the concept of transnationalism to account for their hybridity and fluidity. Here,
we intend to show that Georg Simmel’s ([1908] 1971) notion of the stranger is also relevant
to the analysis and interpretation of such transnational identities. In this context, and
drawing on positioning theory (Davies & Harré 1990), we argue that our informants mainly
construct hybrid “stranger” identities as both Greeks and Canadians or as feeling Greek but
not when in Greece. Our data consists of 15 semi-structured interviews exploring the
immigrant experiences of Greeks who migrated to Canada from the mid-1940s until the late
1970s. The analysis focuses on a) the discursive means the informants employ to construct
the hybrid identity of the “stranger”, and b) the specific purposes they fulfill. It appears that
hybrid self-positionings are achieved via the use of a) the disclaimer ‘I am/feel Greek
but…’, b) metaphors, c) small stories, and d) repair mechanisms. We also argue that, via
constructing “stranger” identities, the immigrants of our data claim Greekness, on the one
hand, and legitimize themselves as Canadian citizens on the other, while also distancing
themselves from the Greeks living in Greece and the respective negative stereotypes.
