Setting the Limits of the Nation: Greek Migrants and Religious Faith in Egypt at the Turn of the 20th Century
Setting the Limits of the Nation: Greek Migrants and Religious Faith in Egypt at the Turn of the 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: It has often been assumed that modern Greeks have been an exclusively (Orthodox) Christian population. Religion was supposed to be a decisive factor of differentiation, especially for Greeks living in countries predominantly populated by Muslims or ruled by them. In the present text, the relation between national affiliation and religious belief is examined through the case study of a migrant community; it concerns a time crucial for the process of formulating a Greek national ideology. On the one hand, the complexity of the relation of religious and national communities are presented. Furthermore, the consequences of a shift of Greek migrants in Egypt to Islam are explored. It is claimed that national ideology, although supposed to be a secular one promoting equality among all the members of the nation based either on a belief of a common origin and/or on participation in a common political project, in fact carried with it various religious – not to mention social – classifications.

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