This public lecture is now available as MP3 (please listen to the file below in two parts).

This paper discusses aspects of the Greek diaspora in Australia with the aim of contributing to debate about how diasporas assist home country development. Home country governments are increasingly seeking to use diasporas in strategic ways. However, questions remain about the extent and willingness of diasporic groups to be involved in home country affairs, and therefore the degree to which these groups and their networks can be mobilised to address home country issues. Despite the sizeable Greek diaspora in Australia and continued linkages to Greece, the economic relationship between Greece and Australia remains limited. In the context of the current economic difficulties in Greece, this paper explores reasons why this is the case. It also addresses the question how diasporic Greeks consider the crisis in Greece, and is based on recent qualitative research among Greek Australians in Canberra and Melbourne.

Dr Elizabeth Mavroudi is Lecturer in Human Geography at Loughborough University. She holds a PhD from the University of Durham and BSc (Hons) and MSc (Hons) degrees from the University of Birmingham. Her research interests are focused on issues of migration and diaspora. She conducted research on the cultural and political identities and spaces of diasporic Palestinians in Greece and is currently researching a variety of themes including the perceptions of immigration policy and surveillance among international students and staff in the UK, issues of surveillance and the identity and incorporation of transnational migrants in Greece, as well as German academic diasporas in relation to the development of German higher education. Her articles were published in several academic journals, including Space and Polity, Antipode, Political Geography and Geopolitics.

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