enough: a greek woman’s manifesto
(originally published to my Substack June 2026) A Greek diaspora woman on cultural appropriation of Hellenic heritage and reclaiming my own mythology
During my very protracted chronic illness that has debilitated me for many years, I’ve thought a lot about what I might do once it started to release its grip. There were lots of ideas. I reflected on my path. I had reconnected with Greek myth through archetype and tarot work. I had been collecting methods to help me cope with chronic pain and its emotional toll, the PMDD hell weeks, integration practices for C-PTSD therapy I was undergoing, and the instability of not having a stable home, especially difficult while chronically ill. All of this led me to shadow and decolonial work. I saw what it was I needed to do, but I was scared. I didn’t want to cause trouble.
I was most fearful of academics and other established professionals. I was afraid that those who’ve built their whole lives or brands around Greek culture, but are not Greek themselves, might get angry. I have been afraid that my voice isn’t enough, that my knowledge isn’t sufficient. I’m still afraid. But that’s a bunch of internalised colonial bullshit.
When speaking on appropriation, it’s not just White vs the Global Majority. While this framework describes a real and ongoing oppression, it doesn’t fit all contexts. The Eastern Mediterranean has a fundamentally different history than Western and Northern Europe. Many Western and Northern powers were colonising continents and invoking Ancient Greek democracy as claims to humanised progress while Greeks spent hundreds of years under occupation. When you look at Europe as a whole the white binary falls apart, because Europe is not a monolith.
An English person and a Greek person do not have the same global privilege. Even I, being a dual US/Greek citizen, have different privileges than my cousins who were raised here, not abroad. I understand my role in imperialism and I feel it deeply, especially repatriating to the land of my ancestors. These realisations after living in the US, UK, and Greece are drivers of my work. Coloniality affects everyone, and dismantling its power requires us all to work from our own wounds, from our own lenses. A big part of that work is reclamation.
I have been afraid that my voice isn’t enough, that my knowledge isn’t sufficient. I’m still afraid. But that’s a bunch of internalised colonial bullshit.
I am tired of playing the nice girl, placating others while making myself small. I am tired of keeping quiet because I don’t have as many higher degrees to back up my knowledge. My knowledge is both academic and lived. So this is my manifesto. It is time for Greek people to have a bigger voice in global spaces about our myths, our stories, our philosophy and history. Greece does not belong to White hegemony. Greece is a mix of East and West, on the routes of trade and empires since antiquity; it is also complicit in horrendous atrocities. Its reality is nuanced.
So we must find ourselves in the middle to untangle the threads—wheat from chaff. My work is unlearning the extraction, and speaking about my culture from my perspective as a Greek diaspora, late-diagnosed ADHD, chronically in-pain and fatigued woman in surgical menopause. I am unlearning biases against all aspects of my being—woman, disabled, un-wombed, immigrant, queer—none of the things the patriarchy wants. My unlearning has to start at home, in my soul, with my own history.
It is time for Greek people to have a bigger voice in global spaces about our myths, our stories, our philosophy and history. Greece does not belong to White hegemony.
I am not here to gate-keep, nor can I undo thousands of years of appropriation of Hellenic heritage. I am here to speak from inside the culture about how the threads—the ones before the pantheon and before the church, before the word Hellene was born—are still carried within the people of the language and the region. I am here to uplift others who feel marginalised in the conversations about their own history. I am here to say there is more than one way to be a woman, to be neurodiverse, to be chronically unwell, and that we all deserve to take up space.
I am here to say enough with the extraction, both that I do to myself and my own body, and that which is done to me by systems that I did not choose, that I would never choose, and that I believe must be dismantled. We all must do our part. I stand from my own culture, my own heritage, and I shine a light on the practices that heal and on the parts that need repair. This is my ancestral work. This is my offering. It is difficult and dark and beautiful. It will make us whole. To all who are ready, Greek or not, to do this work, welcome. It’s good to have you here.
A Final Note
My work isn’t just for Greek folks. And my work is not just about Greek identity: it is about holding many identities at once without flattening the complexity. What I am asking is for Greek folks to be looked to as experts too. For Greek experts to be centred in discussions, for our work to be considered as primary reference points along with the 2000 years of Western study. If you’re quoting an Englishman, reference a modern Greek too. I will do my part to share resources from Greek folks whose work focuses on our heritage, so that you can access them more easily. Ultimately, if we’re trying to have ethical, decolonial and non-appropriative practice, we need to reference living inheritors, whose expertise is deepened by their direct connection to the living culture. Not all living inheritors are worth referencing, at least without a critical eye. I’m simply asking for inclusion and discernment.
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