[MGSA-L] Feb 12-14| Basil Gounaris at Columbia University: Program in Hellenic Studies

ks3061 at columbia.edu ks3061 at columbia.edu
Tue Feb 5 13:33:30 PST 2013


THE PROGRAM IN HELLENIC STUDIES at COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
presents a series of talks by Basil C. Gounaris (Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki) made possible by the generosity of the University
Seminars Program of the Onassis Foundation (USA)

February 12th, 467 Schermerhorn Hall, 6:10-8:00pm, Global Core Course:
The World Responds to the Greeks
Salonica: A City of Ghosts? The Endless Search for Identity and the
Post War Politics of Memory
Mark Mazower's book on Salonica has triggered a heated debate about
the "true past" of the city: Is its multicultural tradition more
genuine than the Greek one? Can we talk about a deliberate policy to
silence the non-Greek voices of the past? Should we look back to the
Ottoman period to find a recipe suitable to tackle the future? Mazower
eventually assumed the threatening role of a modern Fallmerayer,
bringing unwanted skeletons out of the closet.  This lecture will
attempt to clarify the issue of the "cosmopolitan past", present the
restrictions of local historiography and explain the city of Salonica
has acquired so much added value.

February 13th, Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room, 1219 International
Affairs Building, 6:15-8:00pm, Harriman Institute
Greece and the Balkans: A Story of a Troubled Relationship (19th-20th
centuries)
Before the idea of Hellenism was refashioned, Balkan peoples shared a
common mentality. During the long 19th century it became increasingly
clear that the Hellenes had absolutely no relation with their
neighbours, formerly thought to be their brethren in God and in
servitude to Islam. It is argued that this process of estrangement was
no easier or smoother than the transformation of the Greek-Orthodox
society itself into a Modern Greek nation. In fact the Balkans became
for the Greeks a convenient point of reference for evaluating their
own social modernisation, politics, financial progress and
irredentistic efforts. To this day this troubled relationship reflects
the endless political dispute as to the exact position of Greece
within the European civilisation.

February 14th, 703 Hamilton Hall, 7:30-9:30pm, Modern Greek Seminar at
the University Seminars Program
Clio meets Alexander the Great: Reassessing the Historiography of the
Macedonian Question (19th-20th centuries)

The negotiation of names, terms and identities has been the central
theme in the historiography of  the Macedonian Question as early as
the mid-19th century. At different points the interested countries,
parties or pressure groups produced a vast literature with convenient
ethnographic, historical and linguistic arguments that supported their
national and political claims in Macedonia. It is argued that this
literature indeed is an integral part of the question rather than a
pool of sources to seek the truth. The identity debate has been
nothing more than a powerful tool used to manipulate a border region.



Basil C. Gounaris is Professor of Modern History at the Department of
History & Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. From 1990
to 2001 and since 2005 he has been the Director of the Centre for
Macedonian History & Documentation in Thessaloniki. From 2000 to 2005
he taught Social and Economic History as Associate Professor at the
Department for Balkan Studies (University of Western Macedonia).  From
May 2011 he is the Dean of Humanities and member of the Governing
Board at the Hellenic International University in Thessaloniki.
Professor Gounaris is the author of several books, including Steam
over Macedonia: Socio-Economic Change and the Railway Factor (1993);
Family, Economy, and Urban Society in Bitola  (2000, in Greek); Social
and other Aspects of Anticommunism in Macedonia during the Greek Civil
War (2002, in Greek); The Balkans of the Hellenes, from Enlightenment
to World War I (2007, in Greek); The Macedonian Question from the 19th
to the 20th century: Historiographical Approaches (2010, in Greek);
'See how the Gods Favour Sacrilege': English Views and Politics on
Candia under Siege (1645-1669) (2012). He was honored twice with the
Athens Academy award for his books.


-- 
Katerina Stefatos
Program Coordinator,Program in Hellenic Studies
Classics Department,Columbia University
617 Hamilton Hall
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212-851 0297
Fax: 212-854-7856
ks3061 at columbia.edu
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/hellenicstudies/



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Basil Gounaris.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 93399 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/mgsa-l/attachments/20130205/997ad807/attachment-0001.pdf 


More information about the MGSA-L mailing list