Dancing into darkness : cosmopolitanism and 'peripherality' in the Greek goth scene

Abstract

This thesis discusses concepts of cosmopolitism and peripherality in the Greek and wider European goth scene. The research took place primarily in Greece but extended to Germany, the United Kingdom and online as I followed the movement of Athenian goths who were searching for connectivity, hybridity and their cosmopolitan selves. In living a hybrid cosmopolitan identity, goths regularly challenge national stereotypes and transgress international boundaries. But sometimes the complexities of goth cosmopolitan identity may also contain unpalatable aspects, such as hard-core Greek or German nationalism and views that verge on xenophobia or anarchism that are seemingly at odds with the ‘open’ and ‘egalitarian’ persona put forward by Athenian goths. It is through performance (particularly dance) that Athenian goths choose to express their beliefs and desires, blending aspects of the contemporary goth scene with twists of ‘traditional’ Greek ideas. Often performance, with all its paradoxes and hybrid contradictions, says more than words. Movement is at the centre of goth identity; the movement of ideas on social media, the physical movement of goths to overseas festivals and the exchange of opinions among goths at nightclubs in Athens all contribute to a hybrid cosmopolitan identity of a group of people who reside both on the geographical periphery of Europe and on the periphery of their own society. Goth identity is hybrid and complex with layers of peripherality being channelled toward becoming an ever-developing cosmopolitan subject. This thesis focuses on the core aspects of the goth life-project which aim for individuality, connectivity, movement and inclusivity. Being able to creatively display one’s hybrid cosmopolitanism is the very essence of what it is to be goth.