Monitoring the Legal and Social “Passing” of Muslim Minority Citizens in Greece

In the Greek region of Thrace, the category of Muslim “Minority” citizen has long had social and legal consequences. But is it possible to evade minority status by avoiding recognition as a Muslim? This paper analyzes two representations of “passing” – attempts to access majority status or rights by avoiding classification as Muslim. The first, a Greek tv drama, depicts a young man’s social passing as he struggles to conceal his Minority identity. The second – an example of legal passing – depicts a man avoiding legal classification as a Muslim to have his estate administered under Greek civil rather than Islamic inheritance law. Analyzing “passing” across these contexts illuminates anxieties around minority legibility and how legal and social practices intersect to regulate identity and rights. This analysis problematizes how popular culture representations may unsettle or reinforce the idea of Muslims as a discrete, separately administrable, population of citizens.