For the Love of Women: Gender, Identity and Same-Sex Relations in a Greek Provincial Town

by Kirtsoglou,Elisabeth

• ISBN13: 9780415310314
• ISBN10: 0415310318
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-12-19
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This extraordinary book exposes the strange world of theparea--a lesbian secret society based in a small-town bar outside Athens, whose members meet clandestinely to drink, dance, and flirt. Based entirely on fieldwork within theparea, this book weaves stories of the women's lives and relationships into an intriguing and perceptive analysis.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
1 For the love of women	1	(19)
Documentations	1	(3)
Introducing the parea	4	(11)
Fieldworking	15	(5)
2 Theoretical reflections	20	(19)
Gender and Greek ethnography	20	(4)
Homosexualities	24	(3)
Sexuality, sex and gender	27	(2)
The body	29	(4)
Towards a performative approach to gender	33	(6)
3 Flirting with the 'other': ritualistic incorporation in the realm of the parea	39	(23)
About Chrisa and Maria	42	(12)
Interlude	54	(1)
About Bea and Maro	55	(5)
Conclusion	60	(2)
4 Relationships	62	(26)
The idiosyncratic structures of kinship	63	(8)
Falling in love; tying the knot: flirtation and relationships in the parea	71	(15)
Epilogue	86	(2)
5 Separation	88	(14)
The end	90	(5)
The end, part two: some more instances of collective mourning	95	(2)
The relationship has died. Long live the relationship Or Let's befriends again	97	(5)
6 Contextual identities	102	(23)
The case of Elena	104	(7)
The case of Carolina	111	(4)
The case of Aphrodite - the case of Maro	115	(3)
The case of Emily	118	(7)
7 Different people, same places - different places, same people	125	(26)
The journey	126	(1)
Greece: from Kallipolis to Athens during the early 1980's	127	(10)
Greece: Thessaloniki and Kallipolis in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's through the stories of Julia, Nena and Soules	137	(11)
The parea - a last note	148	(3)
8 The long zeimbekiko	151	(11)
Notes	162	(15)
Bibliography	177	(11)
Index	188