On security, minorities, and opportunistic narcissism

Stavroula Pipyrou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

At a global level, the last two decades have consistently witnessed the encroachment of right-wing rhetoric and anti-minority logos, with several states clearly promoting a discourse of fear of minorities. Seeing minorities either as the ‘enemy within’ or a political necessity that must be endured, states are sceptical in how they recognise or incorporate minority identities that threaten ideologies of national homogeneity. Adopting an anthropological perspective and having engaged in long-term research on minorities in Greece and Italy, I argue that the state selectively recognises minority traits that are deemed ‘secure’ enough to be incorporated into the national body of policies and governance in what I term opportunistic narcissism; the process of highlighting minority differences, territorialising them, and finally claiming them for the national corpus.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-44
Number of pages21
JournalJournal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe
Volume20
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Aug 2021

Keywords

  • Freud
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • Minorities
  • Narcissism
  • Nationalism

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