On the Social Construction of Hellenism Cold War Narratives of Modernity, Development and Democracy for Greece

Abstract

Hellenism is one of those overarching, ever‐changing narratives always subject to historical circumstances, intellectual fashions and political needs. Conversely, it is fraught with meaning and conditioning powers, enabling and constraining imagination and practical life. In this essay I tease out the hold that the idea of Hellas has had on post‐war Greece and I explore the ways in which the American anti‐communist rhetoric and discussions about political and economic stabilization appropriated and rearticulated Hellenism. Central to this history of transformations are the archaeologists; the archaeologists as intellectuals, as producers of culture who, while stepping in and out of their disciplinary boundaries, rewrote and legitimized the new ideological properties of Hellenism while tapping into the resources of their profession.

Democracy and the challenges of globalisation: a theoretical framework

“…The term evolved to res publica (thing of the people) that was coined by the Romans to translate the Greek word polytheia, serving to connote a politically organised community so as to avoid the opposite -oligarchy (Winters, 2014) or ochlocracy (Kamitake, 2007). The Greek heritage has greatly contributed to everyone enjoying civic ability and being able to participate in public affairs -by its nature, man is a political animal (anthropos physei politikon zoon) -proclaimed by Aristotle (Lalaki, 2012;Aristotle, 2017).…”

Anticipatory nostalgia and nomadic temporality

“…These representations contrast starkly with visions of the 'oriental' Ottoman era and form continuities in hegemonic versions of national history between the classical past, Byzantium and a glorified 1821 war of Greek independence (cf. Lalaki 2012). They circulate alongside counter-histories told at family dinners, the legacy of communist-sponsored resistance to the Nazi occupation and other historical instances that make their way into songs, books, stories, urban landmarks, material culture, symbols and linguistic idioms.…”

“…The claim that Greece needs to be analysed as a colonial space caught between an idealized classical Hellenism and perceptions of what constitutes European modernity is thoroughly supported by previous research in the field of Greek studies (cf. De L' Estoile 2008; Herzfeld 1986Herzfeld , 1987Herzfeld , 2002Lalaki 2012;Leontis 1995;Stewart 2014;also Tziovas 2014). Hellenism (as a political and aesthetic representation of the Greek classical past) is a Western model cultivated in Europe and disseminated through Greek speaking elites and philhellenes to the Ottoman world where it became one of the ideological platforms of the 1821 war of independence (cf.…”

The Cultural Cold War and the New Women of Power: Making a Case based on the Fulbright and Ford Foundations in Greece

“…The advice and opinion of some of its most prominent members, including Alison Frantz, a staff member of the Agora excavations since 1937, was actively sought by American governmental and private institutions in their efforts to re-engineer Greek society. 24 In 1948, Blegen was invited by Gordon T. Bowles of the Associated Research Council, Committee on International Exchange of Persons -responsible for the appointment of researchers, professors, lecturers and scholars in general at the post-doctoral level -to provide his insights on the educational environment of Greece and the place of the existing American institutions. Blegen identifying the challenges as well as the opportunities that the country had to offer explained all the ways the Greek educational system was tied to the Greek Ministry of Education, and the obstacles that this system presented for adding any instructors from the United States at the primary and secondary levels, at least.…”