Christina Sakali

Postdoctoral associate, research project ‘Property and Democratic Citizenship’, Ghent University, Belgium

Title of research proposal: “Housing financialization and the ‘debtfare state’: Institutions and practices of financialization in Greece during crisis”

BioPublications

Dr Christina Sakali is an interdisciplinary researcher with a PhD in International Political Economy from the University of Macedonia. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate in the ERC-funded research project “Property and Democratic Citizenship” at the University of Ghent, Belgium, where she conducted postdoctoral research in collaboration with Prof. M. Maeckelbergh (PI). Her research explores the impact of property relations and institutions on experiences of democratic citizenship and housing inequalities/precarity, with a focus on debt relations, bankruptcy law and other policies, and the financialization of housing. In 2017 – 2019, she coordinated research team for a study about the impact of the economic crisis and austerity policies on the right to food and the agri-food sector, in collaboration with the Transnational Institute, FIAN International and Agroecopolis Hellas, and co-authored a collective volume produced as output of this project. She has taught at academic institutions in Greece (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Crete, Hellenic Open University), the United Kingdom (University of Gloucestershire) and Belgium (University of Ghent) in topics of Political Economy, Comparative Economic Systems, History of Economic Thought, Ethical Finance and Theories of Social and Solidarity Economy. She is the co-founder and coordinator of the Political Economy and Law Working Group, which is part of the International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy (IIPPE). Between 2020-2022 she was a member of the local stakeholders’ group of the European URBACT/ROOF project in Thessaloniki, which aimed to promote sustainable urban development through innovative policies and models for the provision of social and affordable housing. 

Scientific Publications

  • Katsinas, P., Sakali, C. and Vrantsis, N. (forthcoming). “Marginal gentrification – touristification – financialization in post-crisis Thessaloniki: Rent gaps and housing investments”. In Alexandri, G. et al (eds), Special Isse ‘The Nexus of Housing Financialization / Gentrification / Touristification in Southern Europe: Decolonising Dominant Perspectives’. European Urban and Regional Studies (see below).
  • Alexandri, G., Gourzis, K., Katsinas, P., Sakali, C., Vrantsis, N. and Dagkouli-Kyriakoglou, M. (eds) (forthcoming). Special Issue “The nexus of housing financialization / gentrification / touristification in southern Europe: Decolonising dominant perspectives”. European Urban and Regional Studies.
  • Karyotis, T. and Sakali, C. (2024). “Housing precarisation and the reshuffling of worthiness, blame and vulnerability during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Mylonas, Y., Psyllakou, E. (eds), Class Cultures and the Media in Greece, London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Sakali, C. and Karyotis, T. (2022). “¿Cómo #QuedarseEnCasa si no hay casa? La politica de la precariedad habitacional en tiempos de pandemia”. In Petropoulou, C., Doulos, P., Matamoros Ponce, F., González Cruz, E., Melgarejo Pérez, M. A., Tzanetatos, D. (eds), Εxperiencias de Resistencias entre Utopías y Distopías: Luchas Invisibles en Tiempos de Pandemia, Puebla: Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades Alfonso Vélez Pliego, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.
  • Sakali, C. and Karyotis, T. (2022). “Can’t #StayAtHome without a home: politics of housing precarity in Greece in the time of pandemic. In Petropoulou, C., Holloway, J., Matamoros Ponce, F., González Cruz, E., Doulos, P., Melgarejo Pérez, M. A., Tzanetatos, D., Zafeiris, K., Tsavdaroglou, C. (eds), Luchas Invisibles en Tiempos de Pandemia. Vol.II, Territorialidades en Movimiento: Resistencias y Creatividades en Geografías Urbanas – Regionales durante la Pandemia., Mytilene – Puebla: University of The Aegean / BUAP.

 

Presentations at Conferences

  • Sakali, C. “Debtor’s home and the marketization of bankruptcy”. Presentation at the 2023 IIPPE Conference The Chronicles of Multiple Crises Foretold’. International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy IIPPE, University of Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain, 6-8 September 2023.
  • Sakali, C. “Law and financializarion in the context of austerity and the debtfare state”. Presentation at the Special Panel The nexus of housing financialization, gentrification and touristification in the Greek and wider southern European context of the Conference for the 25 years of the Geographies Journal ‘Crises, Resistances, Perspectives. Geographies Journal, Harokopio University, Athens, 24 – 26 November 2022.
  • Maeckelbergh, M. and Sakali, C. Co-ordination of Special Panel Contested property relations: Landed property regimes and housing precarity amid the Covid-19 pandemic at the RC21 Conference ‘Ordinary Cities in Exceptional Times’. Research Committee on Urban and Regional Development RC21, International Sociological Association, Harokopio University, Athens, 24 – 26 August 2022
  • Sakali, C. “Σχέσεις χρέους και κυβερνητική επισφαλοποίηση: Η επισφάλεια ως πολιτικο-οικονομικό εργαλείο διακυβέρνησης”. Presentation at the Scientific Workshop (after invitation) ‘The Governance of Crisis in Greece (2010-2019)’. Research Project GRESPA (ΕΛΙΔΕΚ) – Department of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 24 September 2021.
  • Sakali, C. “Primary residence, debt and insolvency legislation: From institutional protection to marketization”. Presentation at the 2021 IIPPE Conference ‘The Pandemic and the Future of Capitalism: On the Political Economy of our Societies and Economies’. International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy IIPPE, Online, 12-19 September 2021.