The Greek Revolution and the Greek Diaspora in North America

2021 marks the bicentennial anniversary of the Greek Revolution, the struggle against the Ottoman Empire. The ten-year war with the help of the Great Powers culminated in the establishment of the Greek state. The symposium will focus on the historical and cultural impact of the Greek Revolution for the Greeks in North America. The conference aims to document how North American Greek communities perceive and enliven this milestone of the modern Greek history. The symposium will also discuss its contemporary significance in the identity formation of those communities and the mechanisms by which they cultivate the memory of the revolution. The revolution is imprinted in every immigrant’s mind and serves as the foundational event of their collective identity. Internally, diasporic Greeks also identify with the specific region of their origins, but the commemorative events of the war remain the nexus of their Panhellenic cohesion. The symposium on The Greek Revolution and Greek Diaspora will offer both historical and contemporary critical reflections about the expectations and assumptions diasporic Greeks foster about their history. Scholars from several fields (history, folklore, anthropology, education, sociology, literature, film studies) will come into dialogue for a better understanding of the past and current importance of the Revolution, its evolution, accommodations, and adaptations as these come to bear on the identity of the Greeks in Diaspora.
Panel I: Communities and Associations | 10:00AM-11:00AM EST
Alexander Kitroeff (Haverford College): AHEPA’s Commemorations of 1821
Nick Alexiou (Queens College, City University, New York): Commemorating the Revolution in New York. A Historical Overview
Athanasios Gekas (York University, Toronto, Canada): Perceptions of the Greek Revolution and the Greek Communities of Canada, 1920s-2021
Panel II: Literature and Art | 11:15AM-12:15PM EST
Dan Georgakas (Queens College, City University, New York): Harry Mark Petrakis’ Novels Chronicle the Greek War of Independence
Kostis Kourelis (Franklin & Marshall College): Architecture, Abolition, Revolution: A Greek American Revival (1920s) of the American Greek Revival (1820s)
April Kalogeropoulos Householder (Honors College, University of Maryland, Baltimore County): Reflections on Greek Nationalism and the Making of a Documentary Film about Bouboulina
Panel III: Culture and Education | 12:30PM-1:30PM EST
Maria Kaliambou (Yale University): Like Another Rigas Feraios. Reviving the Revolution in Greek American Publications
Fevronia Soumakis (Queens College, City University, New York): Celebrating the 1971 Greek Independence Day Jubilee through Greek Orthodox Schools in the United States
Yiorgos Anagnostou (Ohio State University): The Bicentenary across Greece and the Diaspora: Toward the Making of a Global Greek Civic Identity
Final Remarks: 1:30PM-2:00PM EST
Sponsored by
Hellenic Studies Program, Yale University
The activities of the Hellenic Studies Program are generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Hellenic Studies at Yale University
Modern Greek Studies Association, Innovative Initiative Grant
The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
The European Studies Council, Yale University