Humanitarian Agents, Colonial Officials, and the Greek State

Abstract This article studies the negotiation of sexuality among Greek refugees in the Middle East and Africa during World War II. It explores the ways wartime displacement and the colonial space conditioned the body politics, specifically the negotiation of sexuality, between refugees, colonial and nation state officials, and humanitarian agencies. The colonial context of displacement offered refugees opportunities to negotiate their sexuality against the will of family elders and Greek officials, who were trying to contain what they saw as sexuality that was trespassing social and political borders. State officials were anxious that uncontained refugee sexuality would impede their colonial ambitions and challenge the image of Greece as part of European civilization. Colonial state agencies, and especially humanitarian officers, implemented a wide range of politics directly targeting the refugee body. Yet they appear disinclined to treat refugee sexuality completely, leaving its management to nation-state agencies. The article shows the centrality of the sexuality of refugees from Europe in the colonial world and its place in the body politics of international humanitarian, colonial, and nation-state agencies.