https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038518765559 Sociology 2018, Vol. 52(3) 619–625 © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0038038518765559 journals.sagepub.com/home/soc Kρίση and Μετανάστευση in Greece: From Illegal Migrants to Refugees Olga Lafazani Harokopio University, Greece Abstract In this essay I outline the ways in which κρίση (krísi – crisis) and μετανάστευση (metanástefsi – migration) have been interrelated during the last decade in Greece. By being grounded in concrete times and places, I argue that these interrelations, far from being stable and fixed, take their form and meaning within wider social, economic and political contexts. Keywords Crisis, dominant discourse, migration Over the last decade mainstream public discourse in Greece has been replete with refer- ences to different κρίσεις (kríseis – crises): from the global financial κρίση (krísi – crisis), which was soon coupled with the Greek κρίση and in turn transposed into multiple κρίσεις in society and everyday life, to the more recent refugee κρίση of 2015. Here I outline the interrelationship between κρίση and μετανάστευση (metanástefsi – migration) in Greece by focusing on two separate periods in the country’s recent history. The first period is in 2012 when, amid the Greek economic crisis and national elections, the two main political parties (PASOK on the centre-left and Nea Dimokratia on the centre-right) and the mainstream media frequently represented migrants as ‘enemies’ of the Greek economy and society. The second period is in the summer and autumn of 2015 during which the massive migration movement to and through Greece, labelled as a ‘refugee κρίση’, was accompanied by a shift towards a humanitarian vocabulary to describe the phenomenon. The ways in which migration and crisis are defined, described and managed are never neutral but mirror and transform the wider political, economic Corresponding author: Olga Lafazani, Department of Geography, Harokopio University, Eleytheriou Venizelou 70, Athens, 17676, Greece. Email: olgalafazani@yahoo.gr 765559SOC 0 0 10.1177/0038038518765559SociologyLafazani research-article 2018 Essay