State, Culture, Identities. Views from the Archaeological Archives
CALL for PAPERS - Hybrid conference
State, Culture, Identities. Views from the Archaeological Archives
Thursday, March 31 – Friday, April 1, 2022
Location:
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Souidias 54, Athens 106-76, Greece
The British School at Athens, Souidias 52, Athens 106-76, Greece
States are embedded in cultural systems, they are “concept-dependent” entities while they also create
concepts. In the case of Modern Greece, the state emerged at the intersection of interweaving
narratives about western civilization and classical antiquity. In turn, as protector and treasurer of the
cultural capital of the nation, the Greek state exerted a great deal of symbolic power, which it
routinely exercises to consolidate its political power constructing in the process hegemonic
identities. Yet state-building and the production of national ideology in Greece has never been a
process confined to national boundaries, neither was this process completed during the nineteenth
century: it is an evolving process shaped by transnational and national currents.
Moreover, state formation is a dynamic phenomenon which involves the interaction of cultural,
political, economic, and social networks. In Greece many of these networks revolve around the
archaeological field and its institutions. The Greek Archaeological Service, the Archaeological
Society and the Foreign Schools of Archaeology have served not merely as research centers and
centers of education but also as central nodes in complex networks of cultural, economic, and
political circles around which national and trans-national agents, foreign and national institutions
organize and act. The rich archival collections housed in the above institutions serve as testimonies
to this central role.
Capitalizing on the archival collections of the archaeological institutions in Greece, while also
inviting researchers to engage with them, the conference aspires to bring together scholars from a
variety of disciplines and fields – social history, historical and cultural sociology, social anthropology,
archaeology, urban studies and architecture, museum studies, geography, art history, literary studies,
and education – who take a relational approach to engage with culture as a significant determinant of
the state and the state as formative agent of culture to study the changing meanings attached to
modern Greek identity. While antiquity may have a central place in this discussion it is not the only
point of departure.
The conference seeks to explore the changing meaning of Modern Greek identity – in plural and in
its material and non-material expressions – largely within the analytical frameworks of “civilization,”
“trans-Atlanticism” and “Western/European identity” and proposes the following topics. Hellenism and Intra-Civilizational Processes in the Age of Nationalism – Empire,
revolutions, and liberalism – Philhellenism and orientalism – Liberal internationalism, transatlantic
markets, and grand-scale archaeology – Archaeologists as the high priests of modernity – Prehistoric
archaeology and the dawn of European civilization – Civilization, empire, and classical scholarship
Civilizing and De-civilizing Processes – Highbrow/Lowbrow: Aesthetic networks and the
judgment of taste – Minoritiziation, racialization and ethnic boundary-building processes – Culture
and women of power – Civil strife, political participation, and undeserving citizens – Education,
museums, maps, census, and national imagination – The West and the Rest
Cold War Narratives of Modernity, Development and Democracy for Greece – Philanthropy,
soft power, and cultural diplomacy – Trans-Atlanticism, circuits of capital and culture – Expertise
networks and the post-colonial order – Cultural Cold War, liberalism, materialism, and capitalist
democracy – Cultures of consumption, heritage markets and the archaeology of tourism
European Integration at the End of History – “The Cradle of Democracy” concept – Religion
and the clash of civilizations – The culture of crisis – Social movements and representations –
Neoliberalism and transnational networks of culture – Population movements, refugees and the
frontiers of civilization and barbarity
__________
The conference will take place at the American School of Classical Studies and the British School at
Athens in-situ and via zoom following the covid-19 measures and policies of the Schools. The
conference will be conducted in English. Please send your abstracts of maximum 400 words to
Despina Lalaki Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! or Zinovia Lialiouti Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! by February
5, 2022. Accepted papers will be announced shortly after and a selection of works will be published
in a special issue of an academic interdisciplinary journal.
__________
Organizers and Collaborators:
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Section of Social Theory and Sociology,
Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
- University of Crete, Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences
- City University of New York – CUNY, Department of Social Science, City Tech
- University of Amsterdam, Department of Modern Greek Studies
- King’s College London, Center for Hellenic Studies
- McGill University, Department of History and Classical Studies, Hellenic Studies Program
- The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
- The British School at Athens
- The French School at Athens
- The Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens
- The Swedish Institute at Athens
Organizing Committee:
Despina Lalaki, City University of New York – CUNY
Zinovia Lialiouti, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Nikos Vafeas, University of Crete
Ioannis Koubourlis, University of Crete
Scientific Committee:
Chryssanthi Avlami, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Tassos Anastassiadis, McGill University
Maria Boletsi, University of Amsterdam
Natalia Vogeikof-Brogan, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Sakis Gekas, York University
Yannis Hamilakis, Brown University
Alexandra Kankeleit, Freie Universität Berlin
Ioannis Koubourlis, University of Crete
Despina Lalaki, City University of New York – CUNY
Zinovia Lialiouti, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Suzanne Marchand, Louisiana State University
Gilles de Rapper, The French School at Athens
Despina Papadimitriou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Giorgos Tsimouris, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Nikos Vafeas, University of Crete
Gonda Van Steen, King’s College Londo
State, Culture, Identities. Views from the Archaeological Archives
Thursday, March 31 – Friday, April 1, 2022
Location:
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Souidias 54, Athens 106-76, Greece
The British School at Athens, Souidias 52, Athens 106-76, Greece
States are embedded in cultural systems, they are “concept-dependent” entities while they also create
concepts. In the case of Modern Greece, the state emerged at the intersection of interweaving
narratives about western civilization and classical antiquity. In turn, as protector and treasurer of the
cultural capital of the nation, the Greek state exerted a great deal of symbolic power, which it
routinely exercises to consolidate its political power constructing in the process hegemonic
identities. Yet state-building and the production of national ideology in Greece has never been a
process confined to national boundaries, neither was this process completed during the nineteenth
century: it is an evolving process shaped by transnational and national currents.
Moreover, state formation is a dynamic phenomenon which involves the interaction of cultural,
political, economic, and social networks. In Greece many of these networks revolve around the
archaeological field and its institutions. The Greek Archaeological Service, the Archaeological
Society and the Foreign Schools of Archaeology have served not merely as research centers and
centers of education but also as central nodes in complex networks of cultural, economic, and
political circles around which national and trans-national agents, foreign and national institutions
organize and act. The rich archival collections housed in the above institutions serve as testimonies
to this central role.
Capitalizing on the archival collections of the archaeological institutions in Greece, while also
inviting researchers to engage with them, the conference aspires to bring together scholars from a
variety of disciplines and fields – social history, historical and cultural sociology, social anthropology,
archaeology, urban studies and architecture, museum studies, geography, art history, literary studies,
and education – who take a relational approach to engage with culture as a significant determinant of
the state and the state as formative agent of culture to study the changing meanings attached to
modern Greek identity. While antiquity may have a central place in this discussion it is not the only
point of departure.
The conference seeks to explore the changing meaning of Modern Greek identity – in plural and in
its material and non-material expressions – largely within the analytical frameworks of “civilization,”
“trans-Atlanticism” and “Western/European identity” and proposes the following topics.
revolutions, and liberalism – Philhellenism and orientalism – Liberal internationalism, transatlantic
markets, and grand-scale archaeology – Archaeologists as the high priests of modernity – Prehistoric
archaeology and the dawn of European civilization – Civilization, empire, and classical scholarship
Civilizing and De-civilizing Processes – Highbrow/Lowbrow: Aesthetic networks and the
judgment of taste – Minoritiziation, racialization and ethnic boundary-building processes – Culture
and women of power – Civil strife, political participation, and undeserving citizens – Education,
museums, maps, census, and national imagination – The West and the Rest
Cold War Narratives of Modernity, Development and Democracy for Greece – Philanthropy,
soft power, and cultural diplomacy – Trans-Atlanticism, circuits of capital and culture – Expertise
networks and the post-colonial order – Cultural Cold War, liberalism, materialism, and capitalist
democracy – Cultures of consumption, heritage markets and the archaeology of tourism
European Integration at the End of History – “The Cradle of Democracy” concept – Religion
and the clash of civilizations – The culture of crisis – Social movements and representations –
Neoliberalism and transnational networks of culture – Population movements, refugees and the
frontiers of civilization and barbarity
__________
The conference will take place at the American School of Classical Studies and the British School at
Athens in-situ and via zoom following the covid-19 measures and policies of the Schools. The
conference will be conducted in English. Please send your abstracts of maximum 400 words to
Despina Lalaki Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! or Zinovia Lialiouti Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! by February
5, 2022. Accepted papers will be announced shortly after and a selection of works will be published
in a special issue of an academic interdisciplinary journal.
__________
Organizers and Collaborators:
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Section of Social Theory and Sociology,
Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
- University of Crete, Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences
- City University of New York – CUNY, Department of Social Science, City Tech
- University of Amsterdam, Department of Modern Greek Studies
- King’s College London, Center for Hellenic Studies
- McGill University, Department of History and Classical Studies, Hellenic Studies Program
- The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
- The British School at Athens
- The French School at Athens
- The Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens
- The Swedish Institute at Athens
Organizing Committee:
Despina Lalaki, City University of New York – CUNY
Zinovia Lialiouti, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Nikos Vafeas, University of Crete
Ioannis Koubourlis, University of Crete
Scientific Committee:
Chryssanthi Avlami, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Tassos Anastassiadis, McGill University
Maria Boletsi, University of Amsterdam
Natalia Vogeikof-Brogan, American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Sakis Gekas, York University
Yannis Hamilakis, Brown University
Alexandra Kankeleit, Freie Universität Berlin
Ioannis Koubourlis, University of Crete
Despina Lalaki, City University of New York – CUNY
Zinovia Lialiouti, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Suzanne Marchand, Louisiana State University
Gilles de Rapper, The French School at Athens
Despina Papadimitriou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Giorgos Tsimouris, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Nikos Vafeas, University of Crete
Gonda Van Steen, King’s College Londo