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Scientific paper

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Utopias, liminalities and the commons. The case study of Gavdos island.

Author:
Angelos Varvarousis

Entry type:
Scientific paper

Year of publication:
2014

Publishers:
Degrowth Conference Leipzig 2014

Language:
English

Abstract: Gavdos is a small limitary islet in the southernmost part of Greece wherein has been formed an alternative community that has remained active for almost two decades. Based on ethnographic data assembled through fieldwork, this article examines the crucial role of liminality in the creation, maintenance and expansion of this community. The residents of this community perform their liminal identities in order to create social bonds within the community and also in order to sustain it. These alternative geographies emerge through individual and collective practices which mainly have been characterized from the processes of play, gift exchange, sharing and experiment, while alterity and fluidity dominate over stability and cohesion. Over the years this process has led to various results both negative and positive. The way that they have organized their common space and practices demonstrates a relatively unexplored vision of how a common can emerge and sustained, or not, over time, as well as offers valuable insights on how do the people’s identities change through the process of commoning.



There is no paper for this media entry. This was a contribution to a scientific session at the 4th International Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014, which doesn't exist in written format or is not published under open access.

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