The Price of Water: Reflections on an Anthropological Play

Abstract

Immigrants, refugees, hotspots, smugglers, police and border control—these are some of the recurrent concepts that fill government narratives, the media and news. These concepts are also filled with stereotypes that often mask the lived realities as well as the systemic conditions that lead to “invasions” and exploitation. Both anthropology and theatre offer powerful ways to challenge these and to share research with the public. This paper outlines the life of such a project by outlining the creative process of performing The Price of Water, a play based on ethnographic research with Syrian refugees in Greece during the so-called “refugee crisis” and the time of the implementation of the EU Hotspot approach to migration.