[MGSA-L] the question of Cyprus

Marinos Pourgouris pourgouris.marinos at ucy.ac.cy
Mon Apr 1 07:13:16 PDT 2013


George, I couldn't agree more. With all due respect to Vassilis, I cannot imagine anyone posting a similar reminder on this list during the Greek riots of 2008.  We have discussed every possible subject on this list and, from time to time, we have wondered about its purpose. BUT even if one believes in maintaining strict rules concerning what is posted here, this is not a good time to advise members not to talk about it (for whatever reason). Those of us who live in Cyprus are feeling rather isolated at  the moment, particularly when the message across Europe is that this is a unique and exceptional case (i.e. the rest of you are safe, don't worry about it). Indeed, the silence on a Modern Greek Studies list was strange and maybe it's even worth taking an academic look into...

Having said this, I must also say that I have had it with reading mediocre analyses or news reports on the situation. Which is reason enough to expect greater things from colleagues in the US. 

Marinos Pourgouris



On Mar 31, 2013, at 6:10 PM, Syrimis, George wrote:

> Dear Vassili,
> 
> 
> It is unfortunate than in addressing the silence on the current Cyprus
> crisis your comments resort to technicalities about the use and purpose of
> the list that essentially preempt discussion of the crisis. I assume that
> your comments were not suggesting that Cyprus is not within the scope of
> the "field" or
> that it does not merit academic "study" so I will not comment on those
> issues.
> 
> 
> I am, however, perturbed by the presumption that the discussion would not
> be academic. There are a number of theoretical angles through which one
> could address what has happened in Cyprus, including a Gramscian critique
> of the way the Troika--Germany in particular-- is exercising its hegemony
> in European economic policy, the adoption of neoliberal banking practices,
> the state of Greco-Cypriot relations, geostrategic and energy politics,
> the political culture in Cyprus and non-violent public response after the
> final bailout/in, Orientalist responses in the international press and
> Germanophobia in local media, and many
> others. Why can't these questions be covered under "scholarly inquiries
> and Š info on research matters"? Is there a meaningful ³field² outside
> these topics and their discussion?
> 
> 
> What is most puzzling however is the limited, almost prohibitive,
> assumption of what constitutes "academic" discourse. I beg to differ that
> we must limit ourselves to the announcement of events, bibliographies, and
> other Œclinical¹ bulletin-board postings, which must be the minimum of
> what a list such as ours should be doing and not its limit. Surely we
> cannot wait until books and articles are published on what transpired last
> month in order to begin discussion. In addition, academic research and
> scholarship originates and germinates in many and varied ways and fora,
> and one such fertile ground should be lists such as that of the MGSA.
> Academic writing takes many forms from books and articles to reviews,
> opinions, and journalistic contributions that bridge the lamentable gap
> between academia and public discourse. Many members of this list, and of
> the field in general, publish such commentaries, and well they should.
> They make the field and its scholarship richer and should be encouraged,
> not stifled. And you, perhaps more than anyone else in the field, to your
> credit have been in the past a fervent proponent of such agonistic
> engagement.
> 
> 
> At times of severe crisis such as what Greece went and is still going
> through, and Cyprus is now experiencing, anecdotal accounts are of primary
> importance especially for scholars who are not in Cyprus. Anecdotal
> evidence is only that until it is published, scrutinized, evaluated and
> analyzed so that it can form the basis of future and legitimate
> scholarship. We cannot wait for scholarship to emerge ex nihilo. For
> starters, we should be vigilant of how the Greek, Cypriot, and
> international press are covering the Cypriot crisis on a daily basis. I
> honestly do not see how this demeans our academic standards. One of
> the complaints of Cypriots is that their case was treated as an
> 'exception' that required 'exceptional measures.' Surely the MGSA is not
> going to 'regulate' debate just now because of some debatable and vague
> rules regarding the list's content. There have been numerous discussions
> on the list from the Macedonian question, to the rise of Golden Dawn, and
> the prospects of Syriza, postings that were for the most part political
> rather than academic. Why weren't such standards invoked a few years ago
> when Greece was facing similar pressures? Why and how did that discussion
> strictly serve "the field of Modern Greek Studies
> precisely as a field" and if it did not why did not anyone raise the
> issue? Does the possessive "ourŠlist" not include everyone?
> 
> George Syrimis
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/28/13 3:35 PM, "Vassilios Lambropoulos" <vlambrop at umich.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Regarding the absence of a discussion of Cyprus from the list
>> it may be worth reminding ourselves that this is the list
>> of the Modern Greek Studies Association.
>> 
>> It is a wonderful and unique list reserved for matters of Modern Greek
>> *Studies,*
>> that is, matters of Modern Greek as a *field:*
>> announcements of scholarly events and course offerings, of conferences
>> and new publications.
>> We circulate bibliographic or filmic inquiries, scholarly inquiries and
>> in general share info on research matters.
>> 
>> The list is meant to facilitate research and advance the field
>> *academically.*
>> 
>> Most of the time we do not discuss issues, and I for one am very grateful
>> for that.
>> There are many fora for those interested in Greek issues of all kind, and
>> they do a great job.
>> 
>> Ours is the only list that strictly serves the field of Modern Greek
>> Studies precisely as a field.
>> 
>> Vassilis Lambropoulos 
> 
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