"Greece and the Balkans: A Story of a Troubled Relationship (19th-20th centuries)"

Basil C. Gounaris is Professor of Modern History at the Department of History & Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has studied Modern History in Thessaloniki (BA 1983 & MA 1985) and in St Antony’s College, Oxford University (D.Phil 1988) on the ‘Ismene Fitch’ Scholarship (British Council of Athens). 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, Florina). In 2009-10 he was visiting Professor at King’s College, University of London. 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 Steam over Macedonia: Socio-Economic Change and the Railway Factor, 1870-1912 (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1993); Family, Economy, and Urban Society in Bitola, 1897-1911 (Athens: Stachy, 2000 in Greek); Social and other Aspects of Anticommunism in Macedonia during the Greek Civil War (Thessaloniki: Paratiritis, 2002 in Greek); The Balkans of the Hellenes, from Enlightenment to World War I (Thessaloniki: Epikentro, 2007 in Greek); The Macedonian Question from the 19th to the 20th century: Historiographical Approaches (Athens: Alexandreia 2010, in Greek); ‘See how the Gods Favour Sacrilege’: English Views and Politics on Candia under Siege (1645-1669) (Athens: Ethniko Idryma Erevnon, forthcoming). He was honoured twice with the Athens Academy award for his books.

Speaker: Basil C. Gounaris, Professor in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History, Folklore, and Social Anthropology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki