Immigrations–Ethnicities–Racial Situations

Ο Μετανάστης (1965) (Η Ταινία)

2012-02-25T22:19:00.000-05:00

http://vimeo.com/14091972

Modern Greek Studies – Popular Culture and the Media as Teaching Resources

2012-02-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

****New Item – Under Athens:
Athens Living: Information and Videos on Life in Athens, Greece, http://www.athensliving.net/
-----------------------------------------------------------

It is well established that popular culture (blogs, videos, films, magazines, newspaper, etc), strategically used, may serve as valuable resource in undergraduate teaching.

Used in conjunction with writings in the humanities and the social sciences, the analysis of popular culture in the classroom offers a further advantage: it demonstrates the value of academic research to help students make sense of and think critically about the cultural products they routinely consume as part of their leisure and entertainment. This strategy brings the humanities closer to the students' lives.

The attribute of popular culture familiarity may hold true in courses on Greek America, as American students may recognize Greek American popular culture as part of their own experience (Festivals, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Ellis Island museum, Ethnic Roots and Ancestry.com, etc). But it no longer operates, at least in a large scale, in courses on Modern Greece (The 2004 Athens Olympics is a counter-example here). Thus popular culture, particularly visual material, could be invaluable in introducing Greek culture to American students. Films, documentaries, and musical performances offer a visual point of reference to contextualize cultural practices, and to turn the exotic into the familiar and the familiar into the exotic.

I start therefore a new module identifying the popular-culture resources that I find useful in my teaching. It is my hope that those educators teaching courses on modern Greece, the Greek diaspora, and Greek America will contribute to this discussion.

ATHENS:

• Athens Living: Information and Videos on Life in Athens, Greece, http://www.athensliving.net/

• Μικροπόλεις: Κυψέλη / Το Υπόγειο, http://vimeo.com/30222595

• Architecture - Neoclassical Buildings (destruction of): Indispensable photographic and visual resource, which icludes a data base of contemporary monuments and the documentary "Here is Athens ... the city before" (circa 1980) (www.eie.gr/archaeologia/En/Index.aspx)

• Immigration, gentrification, multiculturalism, Metaxourgio: youtube.com/watch?v=6zgv_EzeN54 (with English subtitles)

• Immigrants in Athens (documentary, narrative in English): www.tvxs.gr/webtv/ντοκιμαντέρ/η-μάχη-για-την-πλατεία-αττικής (cross-listed with "Immigrants in Greece")

ECONOMY:

Economic Crisis–Rural Greece: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcYsvuFgXes

CNN report, 2.11' (produced in May 2010, aired in December 15, 2010)

FOLKLORE–ETHNOGRAPHY

• On Cretan Collective Improvisation

http://cretancollectiveimprovisation.blogspot.com/

• Lefkara Laces (documentary explores the history of the art and its socio-economic value

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuo1j_-doJQ&feature=relmfu

"Description: The tradition of lace-making in the village of Lefkara in southeastern Cyprus dates back to at least the fourteenth century. Influenced by indigenous craft, the embroidery of Venetian courtiers who ruled the country beginning in 1489, and ancient Greek and Byzantine geometric patterns, Lefkara lace is made by hand in designs combining four basic elements: the hemstitch, cut work, satin stitch fillings and needlepoint edgings. This combined art and social practice is still the primary occupation of women in the village who create distinctive tablecloths, napkins and show pieces while sitting together and talking in the narrow streets or on covered patios. Unique mastery of the craft is passed to young girls through years of informal exposure and then formal instruction by their mother or grandmother in applying cotton thread to linen. When she has learned her art thoroughly, the lace-maker uses her imagination to design work that embodies both tradition and her own personality. Testament to the ability to appreciate multiple influences and incorporate them into ones own culture, lace-making is at the centre of daily life for women of Lefkara and a proud symbol of their identity."
Country(ies): Cyprus
© 2008 by Lefkara Municipality / Ministry of Education and Culture

• Lacemaking in Lefkara, Cyprus (Text and Documentary)

www.etsy.com/storque/read/lacemaking-in-lefkara-cyprus-12782/?ref=fp_blog_post

• Greek Village Life: Documentary – "Hard Life"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRGkJo35LOo&feature=uploademail

Documentary Educational Resources have created a film about an old woman from a village in Epirus. A preview is available in youtube (see link above).

Kalliopi Kalogerou has spent her whole life in the Greek village of Ano Ravenia where she was born in 1900. Simple witness of the century, she lived through Turkish domination and successive occupations linked to different wars. Devoted exclusively to her life story, the result is a rich, yet austere film where nothing distracts the viewer from the dialogue and the face of the storyteller (originally posted at the MGSA listserv by Lampros F. Kallenos).

• Documentary on the life and work of folklorist Elias Petropoulos,www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpmNO4pVUB0 – (in Greek, Enas Ypogeios Kosmos)

• Lament from Mani (Μανιάτικο Μοιρολόι), giorgosmixos.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_08.html; see also, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5EqdCNhUWg&feature=related; www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3EYZtfopzg&feature=related

Weddings:

1. Cross-Cultural Wedding: ohnotanotherblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/this-american-life/

A Greek immigrant, newly arrived to the U.S., marries an American man and compares Greek and American weddings.

Topics: individualism and collectivism, religious vs civic weddings, Greek America, Greece and the U.S., cross-cultural comparisons.

2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Topics: Greek America, intergenerational conflict, collectivism vs individualism, traditionalism, in-group vs out-group in rural Greek culture, cross-cultural negotiations, interethnic marriage.

3. Traditional Greek Wedding in Anogia, Crete: youtube.com/watch?v=5QqBuvkJ6yg

Topics: Traditional wedding, rites of separation, wedding songs and music, wedding customs, food practices.

GREEK IDENTITY

• Global Representations – French Animation, the "Greek" as an anthropological experiment in neoliberalism: www.tovima.gr/world/article/?aid=425805

IMMIGRANTS IN GREECE

• Risky Crossings: Immigration in Greece – In TIMEPhotos, http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2042133_2226028,00.html

Source, TIMEPhotos, www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2042133_2226028,00.htm

• Immigrants in Athens (documentary, narrative in English): www.tvxs.gr/webtv/ντοκιμαντέρ/η-μάχη-για-την-πλατεία-αττικής (cross-listed with ATHENS)

MINORITIES:

• Representation of Roma in music videos: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKy39XNb7as&feature=related (in Greek)

• «Ελληνες Τσιγγάνοι» (Ντοκιμαντέρ), www.tvxs.gr/webtv/ντοκιμαντέρ/έλληνες-τσιγγάνοι

My Big Fat Greek Wedding and "High Stimulus Culture": Pranks as Means for Socializing into Ethnicity

2012-02-07T18:31:00.000-05:00

It is most likely that viewers of My Big Fat Greek Wedding will recall those moments in the film where Ian Miller's prospective kin capitalize on his lack of Greek to play pranks on him. These are memorable scenes in which a member of the dominant group participates in social life outside his "cultural turf," only to be subjected to embarrassment and ridicule. Why does the film emphasize this kind of situations? Obviously for their humorous effect, generated by the discomfort audiences may feel for the exercise of ethnicity's power. But there is more. For some time now I have been working on a close reading of the the film (forthcoming), and I discuss this situation along two axis:

• Ian clearly finds himself in a position of minority within the ethnic subculture. He lacks the linguistic and cultural skills to effectively negotiate his integration and belonging within ethnicity. Structurally, he is the weaker link in relation to ethnic networks. Let us pause for a moment and remind ourselves that this predicament has been a defining experience of immigrants and minorities. The film then "invites" the viewers to experience, at least momentarily, how it feels like to be a vulnerable outsider. If immigrants have been devalued and humiliated in the past (but also even in the present) by the dominant society, the film creates situations for the dominant to experience what it feels like being in the weaker side of the power relation. What purpose does this aim for identification serve? In my paper I argue that it functions as a condition for generating deep cross-ethnic understanding, intersubjectivity. If the dominant experiences marginalization, it feels its devastation, it is likely that it will empathize with those disenfranchised (one hopes then that the feelings this recognition of suffering generate will be those of empathy, not resentment).

In this post I suggest that the aforementioned scenes associated with Ian's introduction into ethnicity highlight the mechanisms through which he is acculturated into Greek American ethnicity (or more accurately, the version of ethnicity that the film presents, given that there is no uniform Greek American culture). Representing a super nice "white guy" (modeled after Tom Hanks, as a number of scholars have argued), Ian Miller eventually embraces ethnicity, representing in this manner the dominant society's openness to cultural diversity. Here is a more formal analysis of Ian's acculturation into ethnicity:

Understanding the conditions under which the male hero is socialized into ethnicity is important. The intimidation and pranks that the ethnics perform on Ian do not solely function to relegate the newcomer into a position of inferiority. They do not solely “return the gaze” at the dominant, reversing the hierarchies between Self and Other within an ethnic setting. They also initiate a process of ethnicization, namely Ian's education into the ways of ethnicity. This point is brought home once we note that Greek popular discourse exhibits high tolerance for verbal aggression while “white mainstream culture” inhibits it. The latter “is a low stimulus culture,” Thomas Kochman observes, “making individuals who would initiate potent stimuli (such as personal insults) entirely responsible for the serious way they might be taken,” thus “inhibit[ing] the production of potent stimuli” (335). As a result, recipients of insults display low capacity to manage verbal abuse. The filmic situations where the hero is battered (threatened and humiliated) therefore, dramatize volatile and potentially disruptive cross-cultural encounters (*). Confronted in this manner, the character of Ian would either follow the logic of his own low stimulus culture and have his sensibility seriously offended, or consent to the rules of the ethnic “high stimulus culture” and exhibit high tolerance toward the insult. The former option would signal an alienating posture jeopardizing the solidarity of his newly found extended family; the latter will signal his willingness to enter into the signifying webs of ethnicity. Ian’s frisky chasing off the abusers who have just humiliated him in front of the entire family (recall the “I have three testicles” scene) signifies his acceptance of the exchange as playful, a strategy of “high stimulus cultures.” Male ethnics here invite the newcomer to play along with their ethnic codes, initiating education into the ways of ethnicity. Ian will learn to negotiate taunts and retorts in the manner of the ethnics. In this manner, most importantly, the process into the agonistic play of difference and intersubjectivity begins.

(*) The middle class ethos of conflict avoidance does not mean that verbal aggression is absent in the socialization within “white culture” (see Ayoub and Barnett).

Ayoub Millicent R., and Stephen A. Barnett. “Ritualized Verbal Insult in White High School Culture.” Journal of American Folklore 78 (1965): 337-44.

Kochman, Thomas. “The Boundary Between Play and Nonplay in Black Verbal Dueling.” Language in Society 12.3 (1983): 329-37.

Diaspora in the News (2012– )

2012-01-29T08:20:00.002-05:00

Film

Σπύρος Σταθουλόπουλος: Ο Έλληνας Σκηνοθέτης από την Κολομβία
http://www.tovima.gr/culture/article/?aid=440651

Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 38.1-2 (2012)

2012-01-22T20:55:00.001-05:00

Articles:

7 “Greek American Studies in the Twenty-First Century,” by Dan Georgakas

29 “The Greek Communities of the Bahamas and Tarpon Springs: An Intertwined History,” by Tina Bucuvalas

71 “Greek American Identities in the 21st Century: A Generational Approach,” by Angelyn Balodimas-Bartolomei

99 “Love and Death in the Fiction of Harry Mark Petrakis,” by Dennis Q. McInery

127 “Review: Redrawing Borders: Basil Rouskas,” reviewed by Adele Kenny

130 “Review: Your Own Ox-head Mask as Proof: George Kalamaras,” reviewed by Dean Kostos

132 “Review: The Greek American Community of Essex County, New Jersey: John Antonakos,” reviewed by Theodore G. Zervas

133 “Review: Confronting the Greek Dictatorship in the U.S.: Orestis E. Vidalis,” reviewed by Steven Bowman

See, http://www.pellapublishing.com/journal-hellenic-diaspora.php

Greek-American Music

2012-01-20T22:46:00.003-05:00

Spyros Soukis «Η Μάγισσα της Αραπιάς»

For more on this musician see Angelike Kontis' piece in the National Herald:

http://www.thenationalherald.com/article/53336

Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexander Veliotes) (1921-2012)

2012-01-20T20:06:00.002-05:00

For those interested in the life and work of Johnny Otis the scholarship of George Lipsitz is exemplary:

Lipsitz, George. 1993. "Introduction. Creating Dangerously: The Blues Life of Johnny Otis." In Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue. xvii–xxxv. Wesleyan University Press.

Lipsitz, George. 2007. "How Johnny Veliotis Became Johnny Otis." Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora. Vol. 33(1&2): 81–104.

Lipsitz, George. 2010. Midnight at the Barrelhouse: The Johnny Otis Story. University of Minnesota Press.

There is also Johnny Otis' autobiography (Upside Your Head! Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue. Wesleyan University Press, 1993). To honor Otis's life-long anti-racist activism I share the following passage, a commentary about marrying his high school sweet heart Phyllis Walker, of Afro-Samoan ancestry (in Reno, Nevada on May 2, 1941):

[California anti-miscegenation law prevented them from marrying in California, but also in Nevada where] “we got around the problem by the same apartheid mentality in Reno” (59)

“Our parents could have the marriage annulled if they chose to [the couple were both underage]. My mother chose to. She sent my father to Reno with specific instructions to break us legally. But Pop had different ideas.
The first thing he did when he saw Phyllis was to take her in his arms and hug her and kiss her.
‘Your mother sent me to annul the marriage, but I came to meet my new daughter,’ he said in Greek, with tears in his eyes.
‘And besides, I don’t want to get God on my case.’
I never loved that old man more than I did at that moment” (59).

Ethnic Anxiety–Post Big Fat Greek

2012-01-13T21:49:00.001-05:00

In the intercultural contact zone
languages dive in power
splatter implications unknown.

– Τachycardia . . .
You intoned against an imaginary chart
amplifying the contours of your heart

– Ταχυκαρδία, from Greek!
I raced to match the climactic peak
to ruin alas the sultry trick

Τhe heart racing in the beat of self-defeat
– Taquicardia too
I rushed to your mother tongue awkward retreat.

In the intercultural contact zone
fingertips exclusivity dethrone
affinities zigzag dictionaries tag:

ager alacer animus
agriculture alacrity animosity

aguacate cocoa mandarina
αβοκάντο κακάο μανταρίνι

αρχέτυπο ακροβάτης αθλητής
archetype acrobat athlete

In the intercultural contact zone
where there can be no room for one
absolutely none
one language leads to another
one
tongues entangle in arches
of triumphant archeries
intermingling histories
splashing cherries
heart attacking hierarchies
spelling the taste of your heart
mi corazon καρδούλες μου arteries of art

July – September 2011

An Analysis of Hilary Sideris' Poem "Geometry"

2011-12-21T23:13:00.001-05:00

Hilary Sideris's [poem] "Geometry". . . deploys exceptional poetic economy to engage with the hyphen. A highly ambiguous piece with a multiplicity of semantic nuances, the poem presents hard interpretive challenges, requiring careful reading. I cite "Geometry" below in its entirety:

How can you be the you who called
the table of contents the plate
of compliments, who named the water
bottle baba wayo? Tonight we cram

isosceles, scalene & how the rhombus
differs from a square. I love your
getting-wavy hair, the way your lashes
graze the page, their half-moon curve,

like your father's, when you nod off.
I don't know which I prefer: math
from your mouth or your textbook's
definition of a line, the part where

it goes on in both directions forever.

The poem interrelates two unlikely practices: an explicit reflection on language, most strongly communicated in the speaker's incredulity over a string of incomplete and misplaced translations, and a math tutorial. At the start the reader is also confronted with doubt: who speaks to whom in the poem, who is the speaker and who is the addressee? Is it possible that there is more than one addressee? If so, how can the reader tell? This seeming indeterminacy brings to the fore the question of speaker, audience, and identity. Who speaks incorrect English? Who creates poetry in English? What is the place of Greek in the text? Where is the hyphen located, if in fact it operates at all?

The opening lines pose a puzzle, demanding the reader's careful navigation. The utterances plate of compliments, and baba wayo seem to point to two distinct linguistic registers. The former evokes a semantic slippage from "table of contents," a misplaced translation that might be committed by an adult whose command of the host language is partial. Could it represent a foreigner who inhabits English awkwardly? The latter most certainly points to an infantile effort to grapple with basic rules of phonetics. Could it represent an immigrant's grappling with the fundamentals of pronunciation? Alternatively, is it that it records a baby's incursion into spoken language? Or is it that "you" refers, perhaps, to both? It is difficult to tell. One element, however, is for certain. The incomplete grasp of English refers to a reality in the past. The speaker's incredulity ("How [End Page 284] can you be the you") leaves no doubt that those linguistic inadequacies represent a memory of a situation that has been spectacularly rectified.

To begin unraveling the identity of the addressee, let us note the speaker's objectification of the "you" that she addresses. As I mentioned, the expressed incredulity communicates dramatic transformations in linguistic fluency over time. Could this double reference of the second person pronoun also serve as a playful pun signaling the operation of two different subjects? One character from the pair in the poem represents the recipient of the tutorial, who in all likelihood is a young student, old enough to handle language. The poetic persona's connection with this subject is conveyed through the language of loving intimacy. The language borders on eroticism, but is also a language of affect that a parent might use to fondly address a child, ever attending to transformations in physical features ("your getting-wavy hair"), comparing mannerisms with the father's ("like your father's, when you nod off"), sprinkling adoring compliments ("I love . . . the way your lashes / graze the page"). On the other hand, if indeed there is a second addressee, this might be none other than the speaking subject, the objectified self of the speaker's monologue. But how can we tell? At this juncture I will take a detour, to attend to the poetics of the text before I proceed with the question of the poetic persona's relationship with the hyphen.

A reader with no interest in identifying the operation of the hyphen in "Geometry" could approach the poem as a reflection on language. The text certainly invites analysis on the ways language operates as both a constraining and liberating medium. The opening stanzas, for instance, point to the poetic potential of misnaming. The play of words and meanings is an activity which immigrants or children may unintentionally produce and poets often strive to create. Seen poetically, the bending of rules may delight a poet in the slippage between "table of contents" and "plate of compliments." Once measured against semantic rules, however, misnaming generates incredulity and the immediate impulse for correction. Misplaced poetic license seems to require immersion in rules and rationality, urging for a tutorial in geometry, a science of measuring and logic. The speaker fires in rapid succession images of symmetry, in fact she densely packs images of linear containment (isosceles, scalene, rhombus, square), which could be read as a metaphor of society's power to contain poeticity through socialization in linguistic conventions.

The narrative shifts from the practice of logical analysis to the language of emotion through images of linearity to references that turn into arcs and arches. The contrast is brought about through a marvelous economy of expression, as linearity gives way to curvature: "I love your / getting-wavy hair, the way your lashes / graze the page, their half-moon curve." The teaching of logic is superseded by the expression of affect.

Still, the poem evokes duality only to explode it, challenging conceptual dichotomies. Although it initially evokes linearity as a metaphor of logic and containment, it later also recognizes it as a sign of infinity. Math textbooks indeed define a line as an extension without end in two directions. Seen metaphorically, and in the context of my analysis, this geometric infinity aligns with the [End Page 285] potential of language—through the very craft of poetic world making—to create innumerable new realities. If language contains, it is the poet's task to enable flights of imagination. One must command the rules of language, however, in order to move into the realm of the infinite possibilities of poetry.

But the question persists, is there a hyphen in the text? The editor's decision to hyphenate Greek-derived American poetry motivates a reading that insists in excavating the hyphen within the poem.¹ Evidently, the tutorial cramming also crams the poem with Greek-derived English words: geometry, isosceles, scalene, rhombus. Greek certainly inhabits the poem in English, and it does so in cascading abundance. Still, this presence does not necessarily make the poem a Greek-American one, since words like "geometry" and "isosceles" have been naturalized into English. Neither does the Greek in English reveal anything about the speaker's relation with the hyphen. Though there is certainly popular and institutional memory of this historical association, the hyphen in this case is fully embedded in the dominant language. In this respect it is invisible, marking no Greek foreignness (difference) in the text.

If the poem reflects on language via a tutorial in geometry, it is precisely on the uses of language in the poem that one may look to trace the hyphen. The speaker brings generous attention to the Greek language, as I mentioned, packing the poem with Greek-derived terms in English. The marking does not only take place in the title. There is textual attention, in fact, to denote the difference between Greek in English and English, evident in the form and content of the following two lines: "isosceles, scalene & how the rhombus / differs from a square." "Difference" is marked in the clustering of the Greek in English and aligned in a single stanza, further highlighted by the "difference" between the Greek "rhombus" and the non-Greek square, the latter even placed in a different line. The architecture of the two lines functions as a sign differentiating Greek in English from English. As I will explain in fuller detail later, the hyphen appears as difference within sameness.

We can speak here about an inferential presence of ethnicity, a presence that is not announced by literal references to a Greek experience or identity, but implied by allusion and inference. A key to this inferential presence is located in the speaker's relationship with the Greek language in English. The litany of Greek-derived words such as "isosceles" and "scalene" is not neutral; the experience of hearing it spoken during the tutorial generates deep emotions. The speaker's tenderness toward the addressee is extended to include affect toward the sound of Greek in English ("I don't know which I prefer: math / from your mouth or . . ."). The utterance of words approximating Greek sound² generates affect, characteristic of a speaker's attitude towards the mother tongue. The speaker is no stranger to Greek after all. The possibility that the poetic persona herself is the "you" who once was a stranger to English confusing "plate of compliments" with "table of contents," could be now more confidently asserted, based on a poetics of "ethnic" affect.

The speaker is no stranger to English either. In fact, she is at home in this language too, as her admirable command of English, the linguistic plasticity, and the stunning economy of writing, clearly demonstrates. But there is more. [End Page 286] The naturalization of Greek into English enhances the poetic prospects in the host language. Just abbreviate a Greek-derived word, mathematics, and listen to the homonymic potential emerging in the juxtaposition between math and mouth: a mouthful poetics. The sound of spoken Greek in English and the sound of the homonymic pair math / mouth are simultaneously celebrated. The poet craftily showcases poeticity in English in a manner that cannot totally be separated from Greek.

But let us not mistake this reading as a final one, bringing closure to the poem. As my analysis demonstrates, the text is open-ended, hospitable to multiple interpretations. This is indeterminate poetry whose ambiguity in fact must be seen as its defining feature that serves a key purpose: it resists being contained within any single interpretation, being squeezed within a single category. To the question, "is this hyphenated poetry?" the poem may consent to an interpretive strategy that decodes the hyphen within its lines, but also to a reading that neglects to pay attention to the hyphen. Actually the speaker's unresolved dilemma ("I don't know which I prefer") only highlights the multiplicities of her affiliation. The poetic persona may cherish both Greek in English (the sound of "rhombus"), the poetic potential of combining Greek in English with English (math-mouth), and creating poetry in English (the metaphorical association of the infinite part of a line with the infinite possibilities of poetry I identified earlier). The poem, moreover, intimates the historical and cultural link between English and Greek. Thus the text explodes any attempt to contain it within a single ethnic or national category. In my reading, this is American poetry, and Greek-American poetry, and American-Greek poetry, and transnational poetry, all at once.

What does the poem tell us about the hyphen? In her double inhabitation in Greek and English, the speaker experiences a sense of "doubleness," of similarity and difference.³ She relates to Greek-derived words both as naturalized words in English—because she is at home in English; and as an affective site—because of her particular cultural affiliation with Greek. In this respect, ethnic identity is not experienced in terms of an absolute binary opposition (American/Greek). It does not signal pure otherness. Instead, Greek identity ("difference") is generated in relation to the dominant language (naturalized Greek in English). In this configuration the hyphen entails the production of new meanings—the experience of affect toward terms that others may read neutrally—within the dominant system of representation. It produces difference within sameness.

This particular construction of the hyphen underlines the power of an "ethnic" subject to attach new meanings to an object; to multiply the meaning of a sign, and as a result denaturalize it. In this manner, the poem posits difference as a constructed entity, always experienced or spoken about from a situated perspective. "Difference" is not naturally available; it is contingent instead upon historically and culturally situated subjects. Greek in English becomes a sign marking difference only from the point of view of the speaker, whose particular cultural biography turns Greek in English into an affective site. For the poetic persona, "isosceles" no longer points to a mere triangle with equal sites, but additionally as a location of emotive identification. Greek readers of the poem may feel this way too, and perhaps venture into discovering other situations to [End Page 287] apply this meaning-making process. The social implications of this insight are worth noting: encountering the host language and culture does not necessarily equal alienation. One could always resignify (translate) a "foreign" reality into one resembling the familiar, making life in the host society more spacious.* "Geometry" brings this point home. Poetry and ethnicity in the poem intersect to produce new sites for the hyphen to assert itself.

1. A caveat is in order here. One must resist confusing the poet, one with a Greek surname, and the poetic persona, and assume that the latter, the speaker, is Greek. As contemporary literary criticism instructs, the operation of the hyphen must come into play within the text itself, not outside of it.

2. This situation presents of course an imperfect equivalence, as the sound of isosceles in Greek and English is not identical. Once again, inhabiting two languages at once brings about the issue of translation (see Van Dyck, Karen. 2000. "Greek Poetry Elsewhere." Gramma: Journal of Theory and Criticism. Special Issue on Contemporary Greek Poetry, edited by Michalis Chryssanthopoulos, Ekaterini Douka-Kabitoglou, Lizy Tsirimokou. 8:81-98).

3. On the notion of "doubleness" see Hall, Stuart. 1996. "Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation." In Black British Cultural Studies: A Reader, edited by Houston A. Baker, Jr., Manthia Diawara, and Ruth H. Lindeborg, 210-222. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

*. Pioneer Cretan immigrants in Utah and Colorado, for instance, likened the regional mountain ranges with those in the ancestral island, producing affinity with the new place and thus alleviating the shock of their migration displacement. The meaning of place is denaturalized in the process of turning an American landscape into a point of reference for diaspora Cretan identity.
[Excerpts from my essay "Reading the Hyphen in Poetry," Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 29(2), 2011: 279–290.] (muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_modern_greek_studies/v029/29.2.anagnostou.html)

Μνημόσυνο

2011-12-14T17:10:00.002-05:00

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γέλιο εκτέλεση πόνου παραπόνου
γέλιο περιφρόνηση καταστολής
γέλιο απόρριψη καθωσπρεπισμού
γέλιο απλωσιά γέλιο λαβράκι
γέλιο φωσφορίζων θησαυρός
γέλιο φωτοβολίδα γέλιο βολίδα
γέλιο ουράνιο τόξο γέλιο μετεωρίτης
γέλιο φλογοβόλο γέλιο σαξόφωνο
γέλιο ήλιου γέλιο ελιάς
γέλιο μέχρι δακρύων
μια στιγμή διάρκεσε
ακόμα μια στιγμή.

"Who's Afraid of the Greek Diaspora?" An Exchange

2011-12-12T12:50:00.001-05:00

What is the place of the Greek diaspora in Greece's political life? Two points of view, one by the editor of the National Herald (TNH) and the other by a reader, take up the question from different angles:

1) By A.H. Diamataris, Editor, the National Herald, NY:

Ted Spyropoulos, U.S. Regional Coordinator of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) wrote an article in this past weekend’s Greek edition of TNH entitled “Ομογένεια, η μεγάλη απούσα” (The Greek Diaspora is the Big Absentee) that deserves special attention.

In his article, Mr. Spyropoulos, a Greek-American with progressive ideas, along with lots of successful undertakings to show for himself – including some of the most important initiatives in recent decades regarding our Community issues – touches upon important issues in the relationship between the Greek American Community and the Greek homeland.

Among other things, he expresses his disappointment over the fact that the Greek Diaspora has not been utilized, and he questions why “the political leadership in Greece has not put the question of where the Greek Diaspora stands during this critical juncture in the country's history to the Greek Parliament.”

He adds that “it should be understood that neither the Greek American Community nor the Greek state need to dominate one another. On the contrary, both sides would benefit from mutual support, coordination, and cooperation. It is time that we overcome the national division between ‘us and them’ and start operating with a collective vision.”

Mr. Spyropoulos’ three main points are absolutely correct, and all share the common indisputable fact that Greece, and to a lesser extent Cyprus, never wanted to utilize the Hellenic Diaspora in any essential way. On some occasions, they were compelled to recognize certain personages (i.e., Archbishop Iakovos), because their influence on public opinion was simply so great that they could not do otherwise. They wanted to promote their policies to the Diaspora in certain extraordinary situations, but they never dared to make this cooperation official and they never “coordinated” with the Diaspora. They never wanted to recognize it as an official, essential interlocutor.

And the reason for this reluctance to utilize the Diaspora and give it an official role is simple: they fear it. Granting the Diaspora an official role and naming Greeks abroad to important government posts, i.e. prime minister, president of the republic, cabinet ministries, etc. represents a threat for the majority of the politicians operating inside Greece. They fear that utilizing Greeks of the Diaspora would open the floodgates and usher in healthy forces aimed at cleaning up the country, which would mean that the politicians back in Greece would lose their ability to exert political influence (in the form of corruption) because of the selflessness of Greeks abroad, which has been cultivated by the environments in which they live. Simply put, it would mess up their entire operation.

That is why even the few members of the Diaspora who have been given secondary positions, are, with few exceptions, examples of Greeks abroad to be avoided, and share a very similar mentality with the politicians inside Greece.

A similar example can be found in the attempts that some Greek businessmen are making to get the country to return to the drachma. They simply want to control the national currency, like they did back in the day.

There is only one way to overcome the obstacles being raised by Greek politicians to upgrading the role of the Greek Diaspora to some official capacity: by forcing their hand.

The Greek Diaspora must gain such strong representation that no political party would dare to ignore it.

Only then will it be taken seriously.

2) Response by Elissaios Paul Taiganides, editor@GreekEthos.org:

I have responded briefly to an earlier editorial of yours on the same topic as today's blog [below], but this time I like to go into details.

After I gave the banquet address at a national convention of environmental engineers in the early 1970s at Purdue University in Indiana, the word got around to the few Greeks on the faculty in Lafayette that a Greek had given a humorous speech . So I got an invitation to the home of professor of mechanics and hydraulics Dr Lianis. He was helping Andreas Papandreou who was in Diaspora trying to get support for his political cause and the overthrow of the anachronistic military junta that had usurped the power of governance from his father.

I listened politely but I was too busy with my career in engineering academia to get involved in politics. 15 years later I was visiting Singapore where I had managed a United Nations environmental project for a decade and was returning on short visits as consultant. The Greeks in town insisted that I join them to a lunch where the newly appointed Greek Ambassador to Japan was to be. I did not recognize him [he had grown a beard], but he recognized me.

Prof Lianis was the newly appointed Ambassador; he had arranged to remove Singapore and Malaysia from the Thailand Embassy and bring it under his umbrella. He sought my advise on the key politicians in these countries where I had worked and cultivated high level friendships. I introduced him to some people both in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur where I had also served for several years.

Ambassador Lianis brought me up to date; he had returned to Greece with Papandreou after 1974 giving up his professorship. Worked to get Andreas elected; served as a parliamentarian unelected but appointed [Vouleftis Epikratias]; run for a seat in Naoussa, got elected, got appointed as a minister, and finally became ambassador having developed close relationship with Papandreou who on his way back from Australia, as a prime Minister, stopped in Singapore [I was told by the local Greeks that Andreas supplied his newly acquired home with electronics, furniture and gifts for his girlfriend a Liannis relative].

The moral of the story is that if the Greeks of Diaspora want to be appointed Ministers they have to work for a political party and get elected or appointed as is Ms Elena Panaritis of www.prosperityunbound.com who left her job in Washington to work for the Papandreou team.

After all, Papandreou, Samaras, Papademos et al are fruits of Greek Diaspora.

So I do not see the point of Mr Spyropoulos of SAE complaining that prominent Americans are not appointed in leadership political posts in Greece. Greece makes it possible for everyone of us in Diaspora who can prove to be descendants of Greek blood to enter politics and fight for our political ideas. Only a military junta can appoint as ministers Greeks of Diaspora without going through elections, with disastrous consequences, of course.

We need to enter into the dance [Prepei na mpoume ston horo]. We stay outside in our comfortable jobs unaffected by the politics of Greece; we advise, we criticize as most of us did about a brilliant politician, distinguished American University professor Andreas Papandreou calling him un American and even communist. (printed by permission)

Νίκος Αλεξίου, «Δίνη»

2011-12-08T18:54:00.001-05:00

Αστόρια της μετανάστευσης
και τώρα μιας καλύτερης ζωής

Ανατολικά της νύχτας
ένας κρυμμένος ποταμός
περνάει με ορμή
κάτω από την ψυχή σου
τίποτα δεν μένει στο νερό
δεν κρύβεται τίποτε
μόνο ο σκοτεινός βυθός
στο μάτι του ψαριού

Astoria immigrant city
Astoria for a better life

τα χρυσά σου χέρια σιώπησαν
σπασμένα κλειδοκύμβαλα
ξέχασα τη μακρινή μου ταυτότητα
στο κλειστό πιανοποιείο
έσπασαν κι οι πολύχρωμες χάντρες
σκόρπισαν παντού,
τι χρώμα έχει ο θάνατος
στη Νέα Ορλεάνη;

Ό,τι ήταν στέρεο σωριάζεται
σαν τις ζωές μας

ελαφρύς
θάνατος
ρευστός.

Από την συλλογή, Κυκλικά Τραύματα, Σ.Ι. Ζαχαρόπουλος, 2011: 41-42.

Facebok = Η Εμπορευματοποίηση της Φιλίας

2011-12-04T20:13:00.001-05:00

Τα συμφραζόμενα: Ανατρέχοντας το facebook παρατηρεί κανείς πως ο μεν ποιητής έχει 15,650 φίλους, ο δε λογοτέχνης 14,313. Ο μέγιστος αριθμός που πέτυχα ήταν 125,566, και αντιστοιχούσε σε έναν σταρ, κάτι μεταξύ ακαδημαϊκού και πεζογράφου με τηλεοπτική αύρα, που στη φωτογραφία φαινόταν σαν να ρουφούσε την επιτυχία με καλαμάκι. Το σημαντικό της ιστορίας είναι ότι οι επιλεκτικές πληροφορίες που οι εν λόγω άνθρωποι των γραμμάτων και της τέχνης μοιράζονται με το κοινό (με τους «φίλους») έχουν να κάνουν κυρίως με τις λογοτεχνικές επιδόσεις τους (ομιλίες, δημοσιεύσεις, αφιερώματα, βιβλία, κτλπ). Έχουμε εδώ ένα παράδειγμα όπου το μήνυμα στον «φίλο» είναι άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένο με την προώθηση των οικονομικών και κοινωνικών συμφερόντων του καλλιτέχνη, με τις μετοχές του στην πολιτιστική αγορά, την εκτόξευση της αξίας του στη βιομηχανία κουλτούρας. Και ενώ ίσως τα μάτια μας εσκεμμένα αποφεύγουν τις διαφημίσεις στο περιθώριο της συγκεκριμένης σελίδας, ας φρενάρουμε την οθόνη για ένα λεπτό να σκεφτούμαι ότι το μήνυμα προς τον φίλο αυτό καθ' εαυτό, αυτό το μήνυμα είναι η διαφήμιση. Η μοιρασιά με τον φίλο λειτουργεί διαφημιστικά, και επομένως εμπορεύσιμα. Κάθε ματιά πίσω από τον τοίχο είναι και μια ηδονοβλεπτική πρόσβαση στη μυθολογία του ειδώλου, κάθε φίλος και ένας πιθανός πελάτης. Είναι κι αυτός ένας αόρατος τρόπος με τον οποίο το facebook προωθεί την εμπορευματοποίηση της φιλίας μπρος στα μάτια μας.¹

¹ Για εκτενέστερη ανάλυση, δέστε Gregory Jusdanis' "Friendship as Commodity" (http://arcade.stanford.edu/friendship-commodity).

Η Σχετική Στιχοπλοκή:

Φίλοι τώρα φυλάνε τα φυλλαράκια της τιμής μας

Φίλοι φιλάνε τις φυλλορροούσες φραγκοσυκιές μας

Φίλοι φυλλομετρούν τις καταθέσεις στα φυλλοκάρδια μας

Οι φίλοι φιλαράκια μου φαλιρίζουν

Ποίημα για την Αστόρια – Poem for Astoria

2011-12-02T01:05:00.001-05:00

Υπόσχεση Ανqρθογραφίαs ή Inferential Ethnicity

Κατευθυνόμενη σφαίρα το Q

stops the conversation in its tracks

Θρύψαλα το κ σε άναρχα ν

λείψανα δύο c το ε που ξεκίνησα

το θ να χρειάζεται χαζαπλάστ

Κραδάζει η 31st,

οι θαμώνες του συλλόγου «Βατοπέδι»

σα να συγχρονίζονται με το αλλού

που κάποτε ονομαζόταν ΣΕK

«Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπόλεως»

«Μπαρ Το Αγκίστρι»

OlympicLaundry

StekiEstia

Baptisms andChristenings To Noufaron

«Ομιλούμε Ελληνικά»–η επιγραφή

πριονίζει το t στο σταυρουδάκι του

βαφτίζεται ο δούλος του Θεού Δημήτριος-Jimmy

Το Seaburn

πελεκίζει δίγλωσσα ράφια

που δεν ξελαφρώνουν με τίποτα

Στριμώχνονται

ρίγανη σουβλάκι swarma empanadas

το Indian Goddess

σαν να τρώει μια σπιθαμή curry από το

Acropolis

Αστόρια,

Q και N lines

οι μεζέδες σου,

δολώματα πολυγλωσσίας

«Οποροπολείο Ο Κήπος»

αλεξίσφαιρη αντίκα

για μια προφορικότητα ήδη κιόλας

στην εντατική

Mike’sBrunch Οmelets

στη βιτρίνα

πολυχτυπημένες

καταπίνουν εν ριπή οφθαλμού

τα διασκορπισμένα φωνήεντα

στην άκρη του ματιού στάζοντας

Οmeletεs

Αστόρια

καταφερτζού της διαφοράς

πολυεθνική σουπιά μου εσύ

σου το χρωστώ·

ένα απογευματάκι που σήκωνε καμπαρντίνα Midwestern επισκέπτη

λαμπιόνιαπαρέταξες

ξεφάντωμα ξεφλούδισες

παράδοση επιδόρπιο τράταρες

ορεκτικό του μέλλοντος ξεφoύρνισες

[Δέστε, http://diasporic.org/2011/12/anagnostou/promise-anqrthografias-or-inferential-ethnicity/]

Αστόρια – Astoria

2011-12-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Στο κύμα που πάει τους έχασαν, πότε ήρθαν ξέχασαν. Κοιτάν τη ζωή, βρήκαν γη πριν πάνε στην Αμερική,

στη μέση ακριβώς, μια θεόρατη, μια πόλη-νησί
Τώρα πια δεν είν’ ούτε 'δω ούτε 'κει στη μέση ακριβώς, η Αστόρια
Στις γιορτές μοιράζουν τις ευχές
στην υγειά σας, στην υγειά σας
γράφουν γράμματα σαν προσευχές
και ρωτάν για τα δικά σας
Ποιός ποιός πήγε πού ποιός ποιός ξέρει πώς περνάει
Ο κόσμος περνάει τον έχασαν, πού πηγαίνει ξέχασαν
Κοιτάν τη ζωή. Σιωπή στα δυο σπασμένη,
με ξένη φωνή στη μέση ακριβώς, σαν επώνυμο
πού 'χει χαθεί το μισό του μόνο είν’ ακόμα εκεί
μονάχο, μικρό και ανώνυμο
Στις γιορτές μοιράζουν τις ευχές
στην υγειά σας, στην υγειά σας
γράφουν γράμματα σαν προσευχές
και ρωτάν για τα δικά σας
Ποιός ποιός πήγε Πού Ποιός ποιός ξέρει πώς περνάει

Στίχοι: Βασίλης Νικολαΐδης

Μουσική: Στάμος Σέμσης

Ερμηνεία: Eli Paspala

Live with David Lynch and Stayros Lantsias

Με Μαρίνα Σκιαδαρέση in the context of fighting immigrant prejudice in Greece

Visualizing Greek Identity in the U.S.

2011-11-30T22:44:00.001-05:00

THE OSU MODERN GREEK PROGRAM

AND THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER PRESENT

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΓΛΕΝΤΙ –

GREEK FESTIVAL

3:30-5 PM

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2

CRANE CAFÉ, HAGERTY HALL

OSU MODERN GREEK STUDENTS PRESENT:

LIVE MUSIC, DANCE, GREEK FOOD,

PRESENTATIONS ON GREEK LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

FEATURING SINGER PARIS GYPARAKIS

FLC RADIO LIVE GREEK BROADCAST IN CRANE CAFÉ 2:30-3:30

Φήμες

2011-11-30T00:46:00.001-05:00

Βλέμματα υπερωρίας

πακετάρουν

σιλουέτες στα κάρβουνα to go·

«φως φανάρι

δίκης ζευγάρι»

στάζει λίγδα το μενού

από στόμα σε στόμα

Itinerary Change for Study Abroad in Greece (2011-2012)

2011-11-24T20:00:00.001-05:00

Ημέρα 5:

Ακύρωση περιήγησης στο Σούνιο.
Αφιέρωση της ημέρας στην απεργία των εργαζομένων στην Ελληνική Χαλυβουργία.

Chancellor Katehi: A Transnational Moment

2011-11-23T12:41:00.001-05:00

«... προσέθεσε, κάνοντας αναφορά και στα γεγονότα της 17ης Νοεμβρίου του 1973 στην Αθήνα, όταν η χούντα έστειλε τα τανκς για να ρίξουν τη σιδερένια πύλη του Πολυτεχνείου. «Ήμουν εκεί και δεν θέλω να το ξεχάσω» τόνισε στους φοιτητές του Ντέιβις.»

Δες, www.tovima.gr/world/article/?aid=431568&h1=true

Local vs National Bylaws

2011-11-21T22:00:00.001-05:00

From the Salt Lake Tribune, by BY SCOTT D. PIERCE AND ERIN ALBERTY

Holladay • After death threats, litigation and a church meeting supervised by police, members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake voted Sunday against adopting the bylaws of its national hierarchy.

The seemingly technical issue has thrown the church into an ongoing emotional dispute that culminated at Sunday’s general assembly. Hundreds of people turned out, and some were not allowed in the doors of the Diamond Z. Miles Multi-Purpose Center.

“It’s very heated. People are getting upset,” said church member Mary Kontgis. “My mom [is] 90 years old. She’s just beside herself. It’s dividing the community.”

“I’ve never seen so many Greeks in my life,” said Bob Baliban. “Honest to God, they must have come from Idaho and Wyoming, too. I think the Mormons must be getting a kick out of this.”

Members of the local parish, which includes both the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Salt Lake City and the Prophet Elias Church in Holladay, have clashed over whether to bring local church bylaws in line with Greek Orthodox Uniform Parish Regulations. Opponents fear the move would take control of the local finances away from local members.

Parish council members dispute those claims, saying adopting the bylaws would only codify the way the church already makes decisions.

Church member voted on two resolutions that would have adopted the new bylaws, rejecting them approximately 60 percent to 40 percent, parish council president Jim Mylonakis said.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mylonakis said. “We will see what directives we’re going to receive.”

Continue, www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52956816-78/church-members-bylaws-parish.html.csp?page=1

Greek Names, Old and New Technologies of Americanization

2011-11-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

Η καταναγκαστική Αμερικανοποίηση Ελληνικών ονομάτων στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα (αλλά και αργότερα, για λόγους οικονομικής και κοινωνικής επιβίωσης των μεταναστών) έχει θρηνηθεί σα μια οδυνηρή καρατόμηση. Πώς να ήταν διαφορετικά όταν στον βωμό της πραγματιστικής αφομείωσης θυσιαζόταν κάτι τόσο κοντά στον πυρήνα της ταυτότητας; Παπαδόπουλοι γίναν Παπ, Κατριπούληδες Κατρ, και Αγγελόπουλοι Αγγελοι.

Το κουτσουρεμένο επώνυμο συνεπάγεται μια απόσταση από τον εαυτό, μια αποξένωση που βιώνεται, τελικά, σα μία ανωνυμία. Έτσι ακριβώς όπως το πιάνει το τραγούδι «Αστόρια»:

«[Οι μετανάστες] Κοιτάν τη ζωή. Σιωπή στα δυο σπασμένη,
με ξένη φωνή στη μέση ακριβώς, σαν επώνυμο
πού 'χει χαθεί το μισό του μόνο είν’ ακόμα εκεί
μονάχο, μικρό και ανώνυμο»

Από την άλλη μεριά, όσοι κράτησαν το όνομα τους ακέραιο, σήμερα εκφράζουν δημόσια την υπερηφάνειά τους για αυτήν την οικογενειακή απόφαση. Η περίπτωση της Μελίνας Κανακαρίδης μου έρχεται στο μυαλό, καθώς και του Τζορτζ Στεφανόπουλου.

Ας σημειώσω ότι η εμπειρία του να ζεις στην Αμερική με ένα «εθνοτικό» επώνυμο απαιτεί δημιουργικούς τρόπους επικοινωνίας, ένα είδος πολιτιστικής μετάφρασης.

Το παράδειγμα του Michael Kalafatas είναι ενδεικτικό:

"By conservative estimate I have spelled my name 25,000 times … the receptionist in my office, when asked to spell my name, would say, “Kalafatas: All the vowels are A’s, and it’s ‘K’ as in kiss, ‘l’ as in love, ‘f’ as in fudge, ‘t’ as in toffee, and ‘s’ as in sugar.” Somehow I never spelled it that way. In America the subtext of spelling an “ethnic” name is the act of an outsider trying to spell his way in" (The Bellstone, 192)

ή, ακόμα, το παράδειγμα του Αμερικανού ποιητή Jaswinder Molina:

«During the introductions that preface each event, even the organizers who’ve invited me have difficulty getting my name right, and in one school library, I enunciate it over and over again. I say, “Jas as in the first part of justice; win as in the opposite of defeat; der, which rhymes with err, meaning to be mistaken.” I say, “JasWINder,” lilting the second syllable, and smile as about a dozen audience members mouth each syllable along with me until they feel they have it right. When they do, they grin broadly.» (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/243072)

Θα περίμενε κανείς ότι η εποχή μας, με την έμφαση στις ρίζες και το δικαίωμα αυτοπροσδιορισμού θα ενθάρρυνε την διατήρηση Ελληνικών επωνύμων. Αλλά η ιστορία επιφυλάσσει ειρωνικά γυρίσματα. Το τελευταίο κεφάλαιο περικοπών ονομάτων δεν έχει γραφτεί ακόμα. Αυτό που γράφεται (κυριολεκτικά και μεταφορικά) διαδραματίζεται με τους όρους της νέας τεχνολογίας. Παραθέτω το σχετικό παράδειγμα (χωρίς σχόλια), από το μπλογκ της Stephanie Nikolopoulos, a New York based writer:

"You Know You're Greek When... Your Name Is Too Long for Twitter" stephanienikolopoulos.com/2011/09/09/you-know-you’re-greek-when…-your-name-is-too-long-for-twitter/

«From Μπρούκληδες to Brooklynites»

2011-11-19T10:46:00.001-05:00

«Ο Αλέξανδρος Κιτροέφ, ιστορικός που ειδικεύεται στη μελέτη της νεοελληνικής συνείδησης και ταυτότητας διαπιστώνει ότι η κρίση μας βάζει στον αστερισμό ενός νέου συσχετισμού δυνάμεων, στην Ελλάδα και σε όλο τον κόσμο. ... Ο καθηγητής ιστορίας και διευθυντής του Κέντρου Ειρήνης και Παγκοσμιοποίησης του Haverford College στην Πενσυλβάνια των ΗΠΑ μίλησε για τις διαφορές στην ελληνική ομογένεια την Τρίτη 15 Νοεμβρίου στο Αμερικάνικο Κολλέγιο Αθηνών με τίτλο «From Μπρούκληδες to Brooklynites- a Greek American History.

Κύριε Κιτροέφ μιλήσατε στην Αθήνα για την ελληνική ομογένεια, την παλιότερη και την τωρινή. Ποιες ομοιότητες και ποιες διαφορές παρατηρείτε;

Η Ελληνο-αμερικανική ομογένεια που αριθμεί περίπου 1,2 εκατομύρια ανθρώπους είναι πράγματι μια πολύ διαφοροποιημένη ενότητα. Η πρώτη γενιά είναι οι καθεαυτό μετανάστες που γεννήθηκαν έξω από τις ΗΠΑ και μετανάστευσαν εκεί την περίοδο 1890-1924 όπως και την περίοδο 1950 - 1974. Η δεύτερη γενιά είναι η πρώτη που έχει γεννηθεί στις ΗΠΑ και η τρίτη γενιά είναι τα εγγόνια των ελληνογεννημένων. Υφίσταται ακόμη και τέταρτη γενιά, που δηλώνει με υπερηφάνεια ελληνική καταγωγή. Η «γενιά» του κάθε μετανάστη καθορίζει την φύση της «ελληνικότητας» του καθένα. Οι ελληνογεννημένοι, (έχει εκλείψει βέβαια η πρώτη γενιά) διατηρούν μιά άμεση σχέση με την Ελλάδα – πρόκειται για έλληνες που ζουν στο εξωτερικό, εκ των οποίων οι πιο μορφωμένοι έχουν προσαρμοσθεί/ ενσωματωθεί στη Αμερικανική κοινωνία, στην επαγγελματική τους ζωή και μερικά στην οικογενειακή και κοινωνική τους ζωή, ιδίως εάν δεν έχουν παντρευτεί με έλληνα η ελληνίδα.»

Συνέχεια εδώ, www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=430949&h1=true

On Ethnic Writing

2011-11-17T15:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a recent high-brow take on ethnic writing:

"First-generation American writers often have two stories to tell. There's the story of their inspiration and the quest for a discipline to give form to their imaginings. Then there's a more constricted tale: the arrival myth. How did my parents get here from Hungary or Nigeria or China, say, and at what cost? The children of immigrants sometimes feel a kind of moral responsibility to address their parents' struggle. And that sense of duty can saddle the work with a reverence that makes it feel ponderous or didactic, drained of the very thing that moved them to write in the first place: imagination. So it's especially exciting to find first-generation American artists who don't traffic in guilt or remorse, and who can laugh ..."*

Let's unpack: According to this piece, the immigrant past stifles the creativity of an "ethnic writer." The experience of family functions as a constraining, albeit moral force, bogging down ethnic writers. The excerpt above creates a normative category, ethnic writing, frames it as a handicap, and then proceeds to praise an exception that the author discovers.

But this approach hides more than it reveals. The fact that "ethnic writers" are fundamentally frustrated by the dominant society's label of them as authentic bearers of ethnicity and therefore are seen as uniquely qualified to write about it (and only about it) is never acknowledged in the above excerpt. (see, katpaintsair.blogspot.com/2009/11/ethnicity-writing.html)

In other words, what is a mainstream expectation is diagnosed as an ethnic problem, which in turn is criticized as a symptom of its own making. The fact that ethnic writers often imaginatively deal with their immigrant past is not given due credit.

There is nothing new in this formulation, ethnic writing is routinely devalued as lesser than "mainstream" American literature. Ethnic arts are labeled inferior to national arts because of the former's ethnographic obligation to entangle the past. Painful immigrant memories demand a voice that compromises artistic freedom. Ethnic writers are "condemned," held liable for compulsively visiting this past (and criticizing the dominant society, one might add).

Such framing of ethnic writing is an artificially fragile (and ideologically suspect) category. This becomes clear once we probe any realist national narrative that takes as its subject the narrator's difficult past. Are there no examples in American art where the narrator or the artist delve into their ("non-ethnic") family's economic hardships, injustices, dislocation, eviction, despair, or displacement?

When "ethnic" writers write about a painful past are lesser artists. Does the same apply to "American" writers who feel the moral responsibility to explore their family's adversities?

To summarize in a manner that can easily be memorized, here is a template that could anchor any discussion on ethnic writing:

There is mediocre ethnic writing delving into the past and there is great ethnic writing delving into the past. There is mediocre national writing delving into the past and there is great national writing delving into the past.

And let us then proceed to interrogate the notion of an independent "ethnic arts" category, to investigate instead its permutations with American arts. For instance, is Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex, a novel organizing itself around the immigrant past, a Greek-American or an American work of art? And let us consider that this might be a misleading question, as this novel, like so many others, can be simultaneously claimed as ethnic and national, not solely one or the other. Let us view, in other words, American art as an experience of border crossing, not a pure category.

* Hilton Als. "Double Talk: Two Comedies of Miscommunication." The New Yorker, Nov. 7, 2011: 86.

Ελλάδα: Προς μια Νέα Μυθοπλασία

2011-11-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

Το παρακάτω, που έχει δημοσιευθεί πριν τρία χρόνια (10/5/2008), είναι νομίζω εξίσου επίκαιρο σήμερα:

«Εδώ καράβια χάνονται βαρκούλες αρμενίζουνε.» Με αυτή τη λαϊκή ρήση θα μπορούσε κάποιος να αντιδράσει στη συνεχιζόμενη αντιπαράθεση περί «Ελληνικότητας». Η εύλογη απορία του θα ήταν «τι συνεισφέρει τούτη η συζήτηση στην αγωνία αυτού του τόπου σήμερα, όταν η περιβαλλοντική κρίση, η χαμηλομισθία, η υποαπασχόληση, η κοινωνική παράλυση και η δυσπιστία πιέζουν για πολιτική λύση και όχι για ακαδημαϊκή ενδοσκόπηση;».

Η σύντομη απάντηση είναι ότι το θέμα «ταυτότητα» δεν είναι ανεξάρτητο από την πολιτική. Η ταυτότητα μάς προσδιορίζει και επομένως κατευθύνει τη δράση μας. Το ερώτημα λοιπόν τι είδους ταυτότητα προκρίνουμε, είναι ακραιφνώς πολιτικό. Γι΄ αυτό και διακυβεύονται τόσα στον «διάλογο» για την Ελληνικότητα.

Προς τα πού να στραφούμε λοιπόν για ένα καινούργιο όραμα ζωής, αν λάβουμε υπόψη μας και την κατάρρευση των αξιών;

Συνέχεια εδώ, www.tanea.gr/vivliodromio/?aid=68434

και εδώ, www.tanea.gr/vivliodromio/?aid=68435

Καιροί Αυτοκριτικής

2011-11-16T06:30:00.000-05:00

πάνω στον πάτο

πατώ έναν αφρό που

η βαρύτητα αποπλάνησε

με γλυκό κουταλιού

σε κρυστάλλινο πιάτο

ανύποπτος δήθεν
αφήνω αποτύπωμα

στα άπλυτα των νόμων

Labada Interracial Love

2011-11-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

Just in case corporations decide to break the inter-racial love taboo here is a background for their commercials

Σε περίπτωση που οι πολυεθνικές αποφασίσουν να αψηφήσουν το ταμπού της διαφυλετικής αγάπης να ένα σκηνικό για τις διαφημίσεις τους

Φτάνει πια η εξίσωση εθνότητας με αίμα

2011-11-14T11:57:00.001-05:00

Τόσες πειστικές εργασίες που αποδεικνύουν ότι η πολιτιστική ταυτότητα και συμπεριφορά ουδεμία σχέση έχουν με το αίμα· τόσες περιπτώσεις ανθρώπων γεννημένων σε μια εθνότητα που για διάφορους λόγους δεν ταυτίζονται με αυτήν· τόσα ιστορικά παραδείγματα στα οποία η εξίσωση της εθνότητας με αίμα έχει οδηγήσει σε ανθρώπινα δράματα. Κι όμως η ιδεολογία αίμα = εθνότητα επιμένει να αναπαράγεται. 'Οσο πιο φυσικά εκφράζεται ο συσχετισμός, όσο αναδιπλώνεται στο όνομα του εθνοτικού συμφέροντος, όσο επιβεβαιώνει την αισθηματική αλληλεγγύη του διασπορικού με την Ελλάδα, και όσο πιο επιφανής είναι ο φορέας της, τόσο πιο ισχυρά αυτή η τόσο εύκολη αλλά και τόσο απόλυτη συσχέτιση νομιμοποιείται:

"Τα τελευταία χρόνια ο Αλεξάντερ Πέιν νιώθει «όλο και πιο Eλληνας». Oχι ότι δεν ένιωθε πριν, στο κάτω-κάτω Eλληνας της Διασποράς είναι. «Ακούγοντας όμως πια σε καθημερινή βάση τις ειδήσεις ή διαβάζοντας την εφημερίδα, ή μιλώντας με τον κόσμο, νιώθω μέσα μου να πονάω για τα όσα γίνονται στην Ελλάδα και αυτό υποθέτω συμβαίνει γιατί το αίμα μου είναι ελληνικό» λέει σήμερα. Ο Πέιν είχε αρκετά χρόνια να έρθει στην Ελλάδα και το βρήκε ειρωνικό που ήρθε στην «πιο τραυματική εβδομάδα της σύγχρονης ιστορίας της». Αυτό όμως που τον σοκάρει περισσότερο είναι τα όσα μαθαίνει μιλώντας από εδώ και από εκεί, όχι από τις εφημερίδες: «Δεν διαβάζεις στις εφημερίδες για τις αυτοκτονίες, ούτε και για τους μαθητές που δεν έχουν μαθητικά βιβλία, ή που λιποθυμούν στην τάξη επειδή δεν έχουν να φάνε στο σπίτι. Ολα αυτά τα πράγματα σε κλονίζουν, σου ραγίζουν την καρδιά». Συν τοις άλλοις, έχει πιάσει τον εαυτό του να υπερασπίζεται την Ελλάδα σε συζητήσεις: «Ναι, νιώθω κάπως πιο προστατευτικός απέναντι στην Ελλάδα. Οταν ακούω να κριτικάρουν με μια φοβερή προχειρότητα την Ελλάδα εξοργίζομαι και τους λέω “αν κάποιος έχει το δικαίωμα να κριτικάρει την Ελλάδα αυτός είμαι εγώ που είμαι από εκεί και όχι εσείς”». Ο Πέιν θέλει να εγκατασταθεί κάποια στιγμή στην Ελλάδα και να γυρίσει μια ταινία στη χώρα μας. Μεγαλώνοντας στην Ομάχα άκουγε τη μητέρα του να μιλά ελληνικά, αλλά τα δικά του είναι «ελληνικά νηπιαγωγείου. Είχα αυτήν την αόριστη ιδέα να μετακομίσω στην Ελλάδα για ένα εξάμηνο, να μάθω καλά τα ελληνικά μου και να ζήσω σαν Ελληνας. Εχω την αίσθηση ότι η ελληνική γλώσσα θα ξεκλειδώσει το DNA μου. Η γλώσσα είναι το σημαντικότερο κλειδί της ταυτότητας, της γνώσης και του χιούμορ. Και κάποια στιγμή θα ήθελα πάρα πολύ να γυρίσω μια ταινία στην Ελλάδα»."
(www.tovima.gr/culture/article/?aid=429875&h1=true)

Dr. Bouzouki – Μαύρη γυναίκα μάγισσα ή η αλληλομαγεία της υβριδικότητας

2011-11-11T20:19:00.001-05:00

Εθνομουσικολόγος για να σχολιάσω την ποιότητα και τα μουσικά κόλπα της μείξης του Σαντάνα με το μπουζούκι δεν είμαι. Αυτό όμως που μπορώ να πω με κάποια νομιμότητα είναι πως η παραπάνω εκτέλεση αποδίδει την χαρά του πολυπολιτιστικού ατόμου που συμβαίνει και το μπουζούκι να αγαπάει και τη μουσική του Σαντάνα να λατρεύει. Είναι η στιγμή του φλερταρίσματος δύο ειδών και της ευφορίας που αυτή η εμπειρία συνεπάγεται, η στιγμή που η διαφορά μεταφράζεται σε κέφι που διαλύει σε τελική ανάλυση τη διαφορά, η στιγμή που η επιθυμία για (δήθεν) πολιτιστική καθαρότητα βάζει τρικλοποδιά στον εαυτό της, η στιγμή που η ερωτική επιθυμία για το άλλο εκφράζεται στη «μητρική» γλώσσα, τραγουδιστά, η στιγμή που η λάμψη της πολιτιστικής συνύπαρξης μόνο με χορό σπινθηροβολεί, η στιγμή που η ευρυχωρία παρελαύνει με τα μεγαλοπρεπέστατα μάξι της· είναι η στιγμή που το διασπορικό κλείνει το μάτι στο άλλο να αλληλομαγευτούν.

Some "London Greeks"

2011-11-11T18:59:00.001-05:00

http://www.tovima.gr/finance/article/?aid=429770

– Αμέeriκα!

2011-11-10T12:53:00.001-05:00

This is how she said it,

she who spoke no English.

– Αμέeriκα…

This is perhaps how she said it,

a wrinkled imprint in her deathbed.

...

Continue, http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/jspui/bitstream/2328/25512/4/America%21.pdf

"Attracted to Astoria Again"

2011-11-09T15:16:00.003-05:00

"Greek-Americans and their children began moving out of Astoria decades ago, abandoning the Queens neighborhood that once boasted the world's largest population of Hellenic immigrants for the suburbs or their homeland.

But amid the political and economic turmoil that has shaken Greece this year, that tide may again be shifting. The evidence—only anecdotal so far—can be seen in the clientele at Immigration Advocacy Services, an Astoria-based nonprofit where many "older clients are coming in with questions like, 'How can I get my nephew here from Greece?'" said director Debra Gilmore...."

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190704577023884035124276.html

Defining Greek-American Identity

2011-11-06T20:35:00.000-05:00

In a recent talk I gave at the National HellenicMuseum in Chicago, the audience raised urgent questions of concern to all of uswho care about Greek America and its future. In the hospitable setting of themuseum, the question regarding Greek identity in the U.S. came up repeatedly:Who is a Greek American? What is it that makes us Greek Americans? What does itmean to be Greek in America?

A powerful impulsedrove some in the audience to define Greek Americans as a homogeneous group. Therewas the conviction that defining ourselves around a fixed cultural core–saylanguage, dance, food, and a common understanding of history–is the most securepath to ethnic preservation. According to this view, the sharing of cultural practicesand ideas translates into ethnic strength and vitality.

Others doubted thispremise. What if one does not speak Greek but nevertheless self-identifies asGreek? What if one is not drawn to dance but finds alternative Greek expressionsmeaningful? What if one interprets history differently? This line of thinkingencapsulates the multitude of ways in which Greek-American identity could findexpression today.

Though seductive inits cultural focus, the idea of defining Greek America as a homogeneous group inevitablyworks via exclusion. It erects a wall banning a vibrant sector of GreekAmericans who do not conform to any single definition. It certainly alienates apool of valuable human resources from our communities. The relentless pursuitfor sameness will stifle those who do not conform. Is this a desirable visionfor Greek America? Can we afford to exalt America’s embracing of diversitywhile insisting on a Greek-American monoculture?

The issue of homogeneityraises practical issues as well. Let us admit this: We are a fragmentedcommunity, linguistically and culturally. Some families visit Greece often, revitalizingdiaspora connections; others do not. Greek Americans living in close proximityto Greektown Chicago have at their disposal a rich gamut of venues to experienceethnicity, unavailable in, say, suburban Columbus, Ohio. Interethnic marriagesadd to our internal diversity. Competing lifestyle options as well asideologies contribute to our heterogeneity. There are millionaires in GreekAmerica, a visible middle class, and a toiling working class, each pointing to fundamentallydifferent experiences. And rival interpretations of our history and culture animatescholarly debates. It is simply impossible to excise heterogeneity when onetries to define Greek America. Those who have ventured to portray us as asingle culture have managed to produce only monstrous caricatures.

Let us pause for along moment and pose the question afresh: What if we see this heterogeneity as aresource rather than a weakness? What if we see it as a source of enrichmentrather a cause for despair? What if we embrace the notion that there are manyways of being a U.S. Greek?

I anticipate alegitimate concern. Diversity threatens to dissolve community and dilutecommunal values. It encourages privatization of identities, compromising collectivebelonging and modes of action. It is a force that pushes toward the criticalpoint at which all cohesion breaks down. It enables those who make no effort toreach out to the group to see identity as a pursuit of personal discovery inthe colorful pool of American ethnic selfhood. In this scenario the obligationto support ethnic institutions weakens or even evaporates.

These concerns help toreframe the question of interest here: How can we maintain a collective that isspaciously inclusive while also maintaining a functioning degree of cohesion?In other words, how do we sustain cultural democracy under the collective banner“Greek Americans”?

It is possible toimagine an alternative definition of Greek-American identity, one that iscentered on active participation in and support of specific events, initiatives,and cultural projects that cultivate Greek cultural connectivity and learning. Letus conceptualize this kind of involvement as the creation of a “public square,”a thriving space hospitable to broad-minded and informed exchange of ideas. Inthis respect, I see my talk at the National Hellenic Museum as a quintessentialGreek-American moment. A collective came into being on the basis of a sharedinterest in a specific issue, namely the relevance of the past for ouridentities today. There was agreement within the audience on several issues aswell as disagreement. Most importantly, however, we participated in a commonproblematic within the context of a welcoming institution fostering thisdialogue. If this is not cultural democracy at work promoting Greek learning,what is it?

Similarly, Greek-Americancollectives can materialize around specific interests, namely dance, food, education,cultural activism, and literature, for example. This network of culturalaffiliations produces knowledge and comprises the building block of institutions.It may animate local heritage organizations, sustain dance troupes, promoteethnic food, inspire regional societies, and support centers of Greek learning,museums, journals and presses promoting Greek letters and scholarship, amongothers. Thinking of Greek America as a network of cultural exchanges, an ideaproposed by scholar Artemis Leontis, promises an inclusive vision of GreekAmerica, a view of ethnicity which welcomes internal diversity as a resourcethat ultimately contributes to a richer self-understanding.

Still, one pressing ideapreoccupies me after my visit in the museum: The importance of Greek-American culturalliteracy. Raised by the audience, the idea of cultural literacy inescapablypoints to the importance of creating a learned Greek-American public via Greek and Greek-American education. This is aproject of enormous complexity that I cannot possibly do justice here. It callsfor a multifaceted dialogue and in-depth discussion. Yet one could safelyargue, it seems to me, that cultural education could anchor the future of U.S.Greek identity. How many of us know of Helen Papanikolas, George Pelecanos, or GeorgeEconomou, for instance, and why are they important to know? We cannot sustain ameaningful network of connectivity without knowledge of Greek America’s literatureand history.

Seriously addressingthe issue of Greek literacy in all levels of Greek-American education is longoverdue and one of the most important issues for our institutions to address. Workingtoward inclusive literacy in both Greek-American and Greek culture is preciselyone commitment that could define us as U.S. Greeks. In this context we willhave to think hard about what must be taught and how, what must be exhibited inmuseums, or portrayed in documentaries, and how, what civic values must behighlighted, and how. This is a particularly challenging prospect that requiresenormous resources, political will, and open-minded intellectual engagement.

In closing, it is onlyappropriate to evoke the motto in the National Hellenic Museum: “Connectinggenerations through Greek history, culture, and art.” In Chicago at least, aGreek institution holds the promise of producing identity through culturalliteracy. The more inclusive this literacy the richer we will be becoming. Whatis holding us from undertaking comparable initiatives in various cities acrossAmerica?

This essay was originally published under the title "What Exactly Does it Mean to Be a Greek American?" in the National Herald Online, November 3, 2011

Alexander Payne: Visit to Greece revitalizes diaspora connection

2011-11-06T15:51:00.002-05:00

"Looking at the dire straits that Greece is in, is 'horrifying, heartbreaking and frustrating,' said Payne, who is in the country during one its most intense political crises this weekend, 'and there doesn't seem to be a solution.'

'I have to tell you I've been very touched to be here; it's been meaningful for me to be here, even for three days, to talk to people, to feel it, to feel a little more solidarity,' added Payne. 'We Greeks of the Diaspora read the paper every day, scratch our heads, very heartbroken, but feeling very much in solidarity. I'm American and I have a much different life than if my grandparents had not emigrated – I'm not saying better, just different – but it's in situations like this that my Greek DNA and my Greek heart are reawakened.'"
www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite4_22743_05/11/2011_413421

Διγλωσσία αλά Ελληνοαμερικανικά

2011-11-05T00:03:00.001-04:00

Να δημοσιεύσω είπα κι εγώ
δυό δίγλωσσα στιχάκια
πόρτες χτυπώ εκδόσεων Αργώ
κουφώτητα πικρά σφηνάκια.

Πού ΄ναι οι δίγλωσσοι θεσμοί,
η δίγλωσση κοινότης;
Πού των ντ και d οι καλπασμοί,
της ποικιλίας ο πότης;

Μονόκλ Αγγλικής αγαπητοί
διπλή ΄ναι μυωπία
ξένοι εξόριστοι Ε.Τ.
ελλείψει ήτα κοινωνία.

Όταν λοιπόν κληρονομιές
διθύραμβοι υμνούνε
ομόφωνες τσιριμονιές
κιτάπια γλώσσας πούναι;

Σύρσιμο σούσουρου ακούω
«ρίμες παράδοση το ποίημα»
τυφλό κροτάλισμα status quo
τεμενάδες σ΄ουδενός το bima

Στο LA ζάρια έρριξα τα παρδαλά στανζάκια
Στης Ορλεάνης τα βαθειά το δίστιχον μπλοκάκι
Στο Φρίσκο κι αν σπινάρισα οργανικά τιτλάκια
Στημένο ραντεβού παντού το δύστυχον ποιητάκι

Λέω λοιπόν ένα τουίστ του ράιντ
προς βόρεια του East astride
σε λεγομένης διασποράς
οικόπεδα
μή και προφτάσω
τις κόπιες να περάσω
σε κάποια Andromeda
κοπιάζουσας αγοράς...

An Analysis of George Economou's poem "An Evening in Kingfisher"

2011-11-01T13:38:00.000-04:00

I begin the analysis by reflecting on the poem "An Evening in Kingfisher," a thinly disguised autobiographical piece by noted scholar and poet George Economou. Structuring the poem in dialogic form, the poet recalls an ordinary conversation between two strangers of different class and, as it turns out, cultural backgrounds. "Huck" Rice, the old guard at the Elks Club in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and George, the visiting professor with a Greek surname in his tag, engage in a conversation of "odd sincerity," excerpts of which I provide below:

He ["Huck" Rice] squeezes [the handshake] harder,
—"But that's not an American name."
—"Sure it is, from Greece. (And making a good guess)
When did your people come over here from Germany, Huck?" [End Page 281]
Easing up on the squeeze,
—"Oh hell, we bin here forever."
—"You mean you're Native American?"
—"No, no Indian. What d'yuh do at OU?"
—"I teach English."
—"With a name like that, yuh teach English?"
—"I run the whole show in English, Huck.
I'm chairman of the department . . .
. . .
—"I like yuh, George, I'd like
to talk
to yuh 'bout your beliefs."
Remembering Roy Rogers' characterization of Reagan when he was nominated in 1980,
—"Why, I'm 'a fine Christian gentleman,' just like you. Only my kind is the oldest, Huck. Greek, you know, right back to the language of the New Testament (making another good guess) while you Lutherans are pretty recent."
Shaking his head,
—"Greek, and yuh teach English and don't even have an accent."
—"No, no accent, Huck, perfect English. You've got the accent. . . .

A representative of the assimilated "old stock" Americans, Huck deploys a nativist argument regarding the right to authentic national origins. According to this position, only people with Northern European ancestries can lay claim to true Americanness. This is to say that the hyphen, signaled by the Greek surname, is deployed here as a distancing device, a marker holding the "ethnic American" "at hyphen's length," in Daniel Aaron's (1964) apt metaphor. It may function to deny national membership, the poem cautions, at least in certain contexts such as rural America, where the narrative takes place.

Hyphenated identity in this text is contested identity, and the contest is a high-stakes one about national belonging. To frame the two competing voices, so at odds with each other, the poet adopts a dialogic form, a narrative practice conducive to featuring dissenting perspectives, to activating contestation and the repositioning of opposing views. This serves the narrative purpose exceedingly well. Following the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, dialogism in the novel, but also poetry, functions to disrupt the voice of authority in the text by the presence of a plurality of interacting perspectives (see Piñero-Gil 2002:97). The dialogue in the poem juxtaposes two competing definitions of American identity and delves into the ensuing negotiation that ultimately subverts nativism.

The poem's dialogic structure unequivocally frames a recurrent historical reality: inhabiting the hyphen requires rhetorical skills to counter national exclusion. The poetic persona deploys all the resources at his disposal—institutional position, knowledge of American and Greek-Orthodox cultures and histories, wit, educated guesses, and good English—in an exchange that turns into a battle of positions. The speaker displays his credentials and qualifications to establish full membership to the nation, opting for a tactic that defamiliarizes the nativist [End Page 282] logic, turning it on its head on several key matters. First is the matter of English: it is not only that a Greek professor holds a chair in an English Department, but also that his English has "no accent," while Huck's Oklahoma English is the non-normative, accented one. Second is the matter of religion: it is not only impossible for an American of Northern European ancestry to claim nativity, it is the "foreign" Greek Orthodoxy that reaches back to a more ancient Christian history than that of Huck's Lutheran faith. This "hyphenated ethnic" performs assimilation, speaking out indeed "uninhibitedly as an American" (Aaron 1964), certainly reproducing linguistic hierarchies (standard vs. regional English), but also appropriating the hyphen to reverse hierarchies entrenched in dominant society (native vs. ethnic).

The speaker then reclaims the hyphen. From a marker of inferiority he recasts it into a badge of superiority; from a device separating the national from the ethnic, he turns it into a tool leveraging the position of the "ethnic" within the national. But what are the conditions enabling this reversal? We may begin answering this question by registering the speaker's tentativeness in crafting the argument. Guesswork, unmistakably, operates in the identification of Huck's ancestry and the history of language in Greek Orthodoxy ("making a good guess," "making another good guess"). It is plausible here that the poetic persona winks at the reader, establishing an ironic distance from the discourses that define the conversation: naturalizing certain facial characteristics with specific ancestries, and claiming origins to establish legitimacy. This recognition only amplifies the rhetorical dimension of the exchange. The speaker is set to exploit any argument that is required to empower his position embattled by nativism, unabashedly offending his interlocutor.

Tentativeness builds tension in the poem; what if Huck claims native Indian ancestry? What direction would the dialogue take then? Once again, the rhetorical aspect of the poem is highlighted. But tentativeness also marks a point of instability in the effectiveness of the argument; it is marked by the second "good guess," which indicates the dimming of knowledge about ethno-religious ancestry. In contrast to the confident familiarity about American society ("Remembering Roy Rogers' characterization of Reagan," references to national history, and the chronologies of migration histories), knowledge of the hyphen seems fickle. But given the high stakes in this kind of exchange can the hyphen afford uncertainty about its history? A misplaced argument could tip the scale against the speaker's agonistic performance. The poem seems to bring contingency to the fore not merely for the sake of plot dramatization but also for pedagogical purposes: to highlight the importance of cultural literacy about both components of the hyphen.⁶ If the hyphen is seen as a divide by the dominant society, linking it requires a rhetoric that draws from bicultural education. The link asserts itself at the level of knowledge about both American and Greek worlds.

Putting the hyphen on trial is a political issue. Just recall country music celebrities ridiculing Michael Dukakis's foreign family name during the 1988 presidential election campaign. There will certainly be situations that will interrogate the hyphen, and aggressively at that, as the poem makes unmistakably clear ("and definitely name him [Huck], / to my first team offensive line"). A [End Page 283] hyphenated identity cannot take anything for granted. It means readiness to enter an argument, equipped with all the rhetorical means at one's disposal. The poem is asking, "how should one be positioning himself as a hyphenated American?" to point to biculturalism as a prescriptive answer. It offers to Greek America a normative template of cultural becoming.

[Excerpts from my essay "Reading the Hyphen in Poetry," Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Vol. 29(2), 2011: 279–290.] (muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_modern_greek_studies/v029/29.2.anagnostou.html)

Greek Diners as Cultural Ambassadors

2011-10-31T00:48:00.000-04:00

One might say that Greek Diners are at the forefront of American multiculturalism. Their eclectic menu interfaces with standard American diner fare. Greek dishes are standard menu fixtures, occasionally listed next to dishes from other cuisines (I have seen "Taco salad" along with "Salad of Myconos"). Also, they often venture into fusion arrangements, mixing elements of various cultures ("Greek burrito," for instance, in the Southwest). Greek Diners are uniquely placed, therefore, to promote Greek cuisine to the American public.

They may also take it upon themselves to disseminate cultural and historical facts about Greece, introduce Greek letters and words in the national vocabulary, as well as translate Greek words such as gyros. In other words they function as cultural ambassadors, as I found out while visiting the ΑΩ Authentic Greek Cuisine in Flagstaff, Arizona. Located at the historic Route 66, this family restaurant exhibits all the features of the diner experience with a strong element of Greek cuisine (and a generous dose of hospitality, to which I was graciously treated).

In addition to the cuisine, a brochure in each table introduces Greek culture to customers. Here is a sample:

Greece – Did you Know?

• Feta, which is made from goat's milk, is the Greece's national cheese. It dates back to the Homeric ages, and the average per-capita consumption of feta cheese in Greece is the highest in the world.

• In Greece, people celebrate the "name day" of the saint that bears their name rather than their own birthday.

• Thousands of birds stop in Greece's wetlands on their migrations. As many as 1000,000 birds from northern Europe and Asia spend their winters there.

• The saying "taking the bull by its horns" comes form the Greek myth of Hercules saving Crete from a ranging bull by seizing its horns.

• Rhodes has been inhabited since the Stone Age.

...

• Slaves made up between 40% and 80% of ancient Greece's population. Slaves were captives from wars, abandond children, or children of slaves.

...

• Greece organized the first municipal dump in the Western world around 500 B.C.

• During the Nazi occupation of Greece in WWII, most Jews were taken to concentration camps across Europe. The Jewish population in Greece fell sharply from 78,000 to less than 13,000 by the end of the war.

(the complete list consists of 13 items as well as brief introductions to Demeter and Dionysus)

Women in early Greek America – Ελληνοαμερικανίδες: Μεταξύ Παράδοσης και Νεωτερικότητας

2011-10-21T12:16:00.000-04:00

Μία ιστορία των Ελληνοαμερικανίδων θα μπορούσε να άρχιζε με την αντιπαράθεση δύο τραγουδιών, «Πετζάμες» και «Αχ Μπαρμπουνάρα μου», τραγουδημένα και τα δύο εδώ από το Γιώργο Κατσαρό(www.youtube.com/watchv=FHRd44BM5gY&feature=related και www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSt_b4EUdeQ αντίστοιχα).

Στο πρώτο έχουμε μια κριτική-παρωδία της βιομηχανίας ομορφιάς και έμμεσα του Αμερικανικού φεμινιστικού κινήματος που σάρωνε τις παραδοσιακές επιταγές του τι σημαίνει γυναικεία ταυτότητα στα 1920 και 1930, μαγνητίζοντας τις κόρες των μεταναστών.

Στο δεύτερο η δυναμική γυναικεία «φωνή» παραμερίζει χωρίς δισταγμό παραδοσιακούς φραγμούς, στοχεύοντας τον όρο που συμπυκνώνει κοινωνικό έλεγχο, «τι θα πει ο κόσμος». Να λοιπόν η είσοδος στη νεωτερικότητα με αυτοπεποίθηση και την αυθάδεια που απαιτεί η ακύρωση βαθειά εμπεδομένων δομών: «έτσι μ΄αρέσει να περνάω τη ζωή δε με νοιάζει ο κοσμάκης τι θα πει».

Μια στιγμή σύγκρουσης του παλιού και του καινούργιου, παράδοσης και νεωτερικότητας, διαμεσολαβημένης από τον φεμινισμό καθώς και από τις αντιδράσεις των μεταναστών προς αυτόν. Τι υποσχόμενη εισαγωγή στις πολυπλοκότητες της ιστορικής εμπειρίας των Ελληνοαμερικανίδων!

{τα τραγούδια έχουν αποδοθεί και από το συγκρότημα Καφέ Αμαν, με την φωνή μιας τραγουδίστριας (νομίζω είναι η Α. Παιδούση αλλά πρέπει να ελέγξω τις πηγές μου) να αποδίδει την «Η Μπαρμπουνάρα»}. Αλλά επίσης από τις Μαρίκα Παπαγκίκα (www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmHMQCBdvUQ&feature=related) και Μαρία Κατινάρη (www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOemDH7S2E&feature=related), ευχαριστώ τη Κ.Μ. για την τελευταία υπόδειξη.

Greek-American Students Report on Economic Protests

2011-10-09T21:11:00.001-04:00

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/world/july-dec11/greece2_10-07.html
Vasiliki Mitrakos, Age 20

A group of Greek-Americans traveled to Athens this summer as youth reporting fellows for the organization Reinventing Greece. Twenty-year-old Vasiliki Mitrakos shares her perspective on the economic turmoil in Greece.

This story is part of a series of reflections on the economic situation in Greece from students in the Reinventing Greece program.
Why this Student Spoke Out: The Greek government is in significant debt, which has caused economic problems for the rest of Europe as well since Greece is part of the European Union. Protesters have taken to the streets in Greece to rally against resulting cuts to government jobs and programs.

On June 29, 2011, protests against the adoption of EU austerity measures quickly turned violent in front of the Hellenic Parliament in Greece. Reporters broadcasted live with gas masks to protect themselves against the excessive amounts of tear gas used to dispel the crowd. For days, major media outlets emphasized the political
instability and turmoil happening in the heart of Athens.

Just a few days later, we arrived and observed a completely different scene. The takeover of Syntagma Square by the protesters was more like a communal festival of sorts. In the morning, protesters would occupy the square and at night they would sing and dance, mocking the government in their celebrations. Everyone else, on the other hand, was going about his or her daily business. Storefronts were reopened and repaired in days and buses were packed with people commuting to work. The only significant sign of turmoil was a decimated kiosk close to the unscathed tram ticket booth. Other than that, we never witnessed any signs of extreme or violent protests.

That is not to say all aspects of life had simply bounced back. At one point we were walking through Kolonaki, one of the most expensive areas in central Athens, and we witnessed an old lady trying to make some money selling handpicked herbs at the doorstep of a bank. A few minutes later, we were approached by a man who was persistently asking for money to buy some food. It became clear at that point that the economic situation was becoming increasingly stressful on the entire Greek population.

The problem lies in figuring out how to fix the system that has been around for over 30 years. Among the people we interviewed for the Media Project, there was a general consensus on the policy changes that needed to be implemented. Essentially, the government needs to cut the public sector, cut through the bureaucracy, and cut the debt. Most academics would agree that policy changes, like tax reform and reduced state employment, are necessary for Greece to stabilize its finances and start repaying its debt.

Yet, over the past year, these measures have caused great public resistance that lowers public confidence and keeps the government from moving forward. We must make a distinction, however, between the kinds of protests happening in Greece and the rest of the world. In the Arab Spring countries, for example, people are fighting for greater freedom and a more democratic government. In Greece, people are fighting against reforms that could liberate them from a systematic lock on development and growth.

Cuts and tax increases are not easy to accept, especially when a large portion of the population is used to avoiding taxes and finding long-term job security in the public sector. Many families or individuals, for example, dearly depend on state assistance or government employment. Furthermore, a recent study showed that suicide rates in Greece have increased as a result of economic stress.

But Greece has to adjust and break away from the old system, which required the government to borrow excessively just to meet yearly expenses. More specifically, Greece needs to liberate the business sector and open professions to competition. There is plenty of potential for export-oriented growth, whether in agriculture, tourism, technology or shipping. The Greeks simply need to accept the challenge
and reinterpret the crisis as a chance for a new beginning.


	Vasiliki attends Northwestern University where she is studying Legal Studies and International Studies. She traveled to Athens in the summer of 2011 as part of the Reinventing Greece Athens Fellow Program. For the perspective of another student, Alexis Georgiadis, see www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/speakout/world/july-dec11/greece_10-05.html

«Ιστορίες της πόλης: Μεσαία Τάξη» της Σοφίας Κολοτούρου

2011-10-05T19:30:00.001-04:00

Μέχρι τα πέρσι εγώ ήμουνα εντάξει -
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Μεγάλωσα μη βρέξει και μη στάξει-
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Πήγαινα διακοπές κι είχα έν' αμάξι -
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Οι τράπεζες δεν τα 'χαν όλα αρπάξει -
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Με την πολιτική δεν το 'χα ψάξει -
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Τη φτώχεια δεν τη γνώριζα στην πράξη -
ήμουν μεσαία τάξη.

Μα φέτος με βυθίζουνε στον πάτο -
στην άβυσσο, στο προλεταριάτο.

Αναρτήθηκε στο www.vakxikon.gr/content/view/962/4204/lang,el/

Greek American Studies Resource Portal–Update

2011-10-05T01:14:00.002-04:00

The MGSA Transnational Studies Committee announces its latest update of the Greek American Studies Resource Portal. The new material has been incorporated into the existing resources, see mgsa.org/Resources/port.html

I list the update below for convenient perusal.

Anthropology and Cultural Studies

Kindinger, Evangelia. “‘Only Stones and Stories Remain’: Greek American (Travel) Writing about Greece.” COPAS Vol. 12 (2011).

King, Russell, Anastasia Christou, and Janine Teerling. “‘We Took a Bath with the Chickens’: Memories of Childhood Visits to the Homeland by Second-generation Greek and Greek Cypriot ‘Returnees.’” Global Networks 11, 1 (2011): 1–23.

Archive

Greek Anti-Junta Struggle Collection, 1949-1975 (bulk 1967-1974). Papers of James G. Pyrros, James. 7.25 linear ft. University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library Labadie Collection of radical history in the United States. Unpublished finding aid available in repository.

Collection of materials on the Greek coup d'etat by military leaders in 1967 and the ensuing junta, which continued until 1974. Mostly concerned with the anti-junta struggle, but also present are some materials from the pro-junta viewpoint. Contains correspondence, reports, legislative materials, periodicals, transcripts, press releases, pamphlets, essays, clippings, programs and invitations, and biographical sketches. Materials were compiled by Detroit native James G. Pyrros (b.1948), member of the U.S. Army liaison detachment to the Greek Expeditionary Force, Assistant Attorney General for Michigan (1955-1961), administrative assistant to U.S. Congressional Representative Lucien Nedzi (D-Michigan) (1961-1980), activist in the Greek anti-junta effort in the United States, particularly involved with the U.S. Committee for Democracy in Greece (1967-1974). Primarily in English.

Georgakas, Dan. Papers, 1960s-1990. 1.25 linear ft. University of Michigan Hatcher Graduate Library. Boxlist available in repository.

Includes marked-up manuscript of Georgakas’s book, Detroit, I Do Mind Dying; file cards on some resources for same; manuscript of Don't Mourn, Organize: Joe Hill, the IWW and Western Labor Meeting; research materials related to Abdeen Jabara v. FBI regarding Arab Americans in Detroit; Martin Sostre Defense Committee materials; raw interviews with veterans of the IWW that were edited for use in Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW; original version of Georgakas’s essay on 19th century Detroit labor radical Richard Trevellick with two follow-up articles; fliers pertaining to Libertairian Communism in Detroit and the Greek Underground.

Eva C. Topping Papers, 1933-2010 (accession date was 11/12/10), University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library.

Personal and professional papers of Harvard-trained classicist and Greek Orthodox feminist author and lecturer Eva Topping (1920-). Her papers includes family and professional correspondence and notes and drafts of finished manuscripts of articles, lectures, and books on topics from Philhellenes in Michigan to women in the Greek Orthodox tradition. Topping's advocacy of a female deaconate and arguments for a female priesthood her into conflict with Greek Orthodox Church leaders in America and into dialogue with many people.

Richardson, Aaron. “The Basil John Vlavianos Papers (1880-1994).” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora Vol. 35.1 (2009): 91-100.

Offers a substantial guide to the Vlavianos papers housed by the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, California State University-Sacramento. Author was an intern at the Collections and wrote a MA Thesis on the content and research potential of the Vlavianos papers. Essay also places Vlavianos papers within the context of the broader SCUA project.

Autobiographies, Memoirs, Biographies

Fey, Tina. Bussypants. Reagan Arthur Books, 2011.

“She’s a comic genius, every woman’s imaginary best friend, and the thinking man’s sex symbol. Tina Fey didn’t get this far without pulling on her bossypants.

Before there was Liz Lemon, before there was “Sarah Palin,” before there was “Weekend Update”—there was a woman with a dream. A dream that one day she would write a book about how she got here. But she had to get there first.

On her way to becoming an award-winning superstar, Tina Fey struggled through some questionable haircuts, some after-school jobs, the rise of nachos as a cultural phenomenon, a normal childhood, a happy marriage and joyful motherhood. Her story must be told! Fey’s pursuit of the perfect beauty routine may actually give you laugh lines, and her depiction of her whirlwind tour of duty as the Other Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live takes you behind the scenes of a comedy event that transfixed the nation. Now, Fey can reflect on what she’s learned: You’re no one until someone calls you bossy.” (Book description, Reagan Arthur Books website)

Contis, Angelike. “Tina Fey’s Greek Gags – Uh, It’s Complicated For a Greek Thinker.” The National Herald Online. September 1 (2011).

“Is she Greek? Isn’t she? Does she feel Greek? Doesn’t she? While the general U.S. public may have focused on Tina Fey’s uncanny Sarah Palin impersonation or her television show 30 Rock, Greek Americans have wondered for a while how Emmy-winning writer/actress Fey – perhaps our highest profile pop culture figure after Jennifer Aniston at the moment- feels about her Greek heritage.”

Spanos, William V. In the Neighborhood of Zero: A World War II Memoir. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2010.

The haunting recollection of living through the British and American fire-bombing of Dresden as prisoner of war in a Nazi camp is the focal point of this memoir by William Spanos, Professor of English and comparative literature at Binghamton University and an esteemed Heideggerian literary critic and founding editor of boundary 2. The author’s motto: “Did you ever return to Dresden, Professor Spanos?” “I never left there.” Critical to the narration are the first words of the first chapter: “I am a Greek American” (1). Note that Spanos comes from a working class immigrant family that became highly educated and prominent, with one brother a politician in N.H. and Massachussets. In his early years in Newport, N.H. Spanos recalls running away from his ethnic self in response to treatment as a second-class citizen. His “conflicted experience” of his unit's probable betrayal in the Battle of the Bulge and “American’s destructive power in the world” in the Dresden bombing, and the forced labor he endured picking up corpses and enduring spittings by Germans who survived the attack, functions to draw out “the silent hyphen between my Greek and American selves” (3). Spanos’s memories, unspoken for decades, the act of narrating the unbelievable story of his disappearance for 5 months and return to his family in Newport NH as if from the dead become grist to his intellectual mill. The Dresden firebombing is the ground zero of his intellectual skepticism with respect to American institutions and ideals. (Artemis Leontis)

Families & Intermarriage

Karpathakis, Anna and Dan Georgakas. “Demythologizing Greek American Families.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora Vol. 36. 1-2 (2010): 45-62.

This analysis of the Greek family data in the 2000 census was conducted by Karpathakis with the assistance of Georgakas. The major conclusion of the article is that the census data clearly demonstrates that Greek families, do not significantly differ from their American counterparts, but they have decidedly different patterns in different regions of the United Sates.

Film (Film Reviews)

Anagnostou, Yiorgos. “Greek America 101: My Big Greek Wedding’s Lessons.” The National Herald Online, June 25 (2011).

“…I also take an alternative route in teaching the film. Instead of asking what is true and what is false in the script, I encourage students to probe its significance: What is the purpose of portraying certain groups in specific ways? Why for example are immigrants caricatured? Why is it that the Millers are ridiculed in their WASPy ways? What does the contrast between the unruly Portokaloses and the uptight Millers accomplish? What is it that the film promotes? Clearly, the film denigrates immigrants and WASPs alike.”

Film (Film Scholarship)

Dombrowski, Lisa ed. Kazan Revisited. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan U Press, 2011.

“Fifteen essayists take on various dimensions of the film work of Kazan. Complete filmography and select bibliography featuring most recent books and basic sources on his film work.”

Georgakas, Dan. “Kazan, Kazan,” Cineaste Vol. 31-4 (Fall, 2011): 4-9.

Designed as a starting point for evaluating Kazan’s entire artistic career as a whole rather than in distinct segments as is the current practice. Strong emphasis also given on the leftist cultural influences in the work of Kazan and the impact on his work and politics that stem from his Anatolian identity.

Gender Studies

Arapoglou, Eleftheria. A Bridge Over the Balkans: Demetra Vaka Brown and the Tradition of “Women’s Orients.” Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2011.

“This book is a critical study of Demetra Vaka Brown, one of the most significant Greek American writers of the turn of the last century, framed within the fields of “Orientalism” and cultural studies. Offering an overview of her life and career with analytical readings of her major works, the book’s focus is on the role of Vaka Brown as cultural agent: at once a white female and an immigrant of Greek descent and a former citizen of Ottoman Turkey who worked as a journalist and author in the United States, writing in English and contributing her work to mainstream publications. The book presents the identity and spatial politics of Vaka Brown, recovering the discursive techniques employed in her identification processes and assessing the significance of her cultural agency in the context of the dominant themes and preoccupations of the Orientalist tradition. Vaka Brown is further examined as a case study which provides historically informed and cultural perspectives on the complexities and ambiguities of women’s imperial positionings at the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries in the East and West. By exploring the author’s predicament in constructing an authorial and narrative identity in the interstices between the East and the West, modernity and tradition, ethnicity and nationalism, the book articulates a nuanced historical and cultural reading of Vaka Brown’s writing and ultimately probes the alternative responses Vaka Brown’s texts offer to the “scaffoldings” of nationalism.”

History (History and Historiography Scholarship)

Παπαδόπουλος, Γιάννης, Γ.Σ. “Οι μετανάστες από τη Μακεδονία στη Βόρεια Αμερική από «διατοπικά» σε «διεθνικά» υποκείμενα»” [“Immigrants from Macedonia in the USA: From translocal to transnational subjects.”] Archeiotaxio. No. 11 (2009): 37-54

History (Community and Regional Histories)

Stamos, Helen Coidakis, et al. The Greeks of Newport, New Hampshire. Newport, NH: Hedgehog Publishing, 2011.

The book compiles stories of Greek-born individuals, their businesses, families, descendants, networks (by place of origin, businesses, gender, belief) and practices, and their relationship to the "American Dream." Helen Coidakis Stamos has edited the words of others and composed many of her own accounts with respectful attention to the legacies of the people she has known who are no longer present, their difficult lives, and the sense of community they managed to recreate. The book is carefully researched, with an avid reader's attention to the multiple layers of Greek lives in American.

Literature and Poetry (Literature and Poetry Scholarship)

Zaharopoulos, Helen (Eleni). “Greek American Identity Under Historical, Social, and Literary Transformation.” Honors Thesis completed under the guidelines of the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and Arts, Winter 2011.

Author’s note: “Greek American Identity Under Historical, Social, and Literary Transformation” encompasses three generations of Greeks in Michigan and analyzes Greek identity within and through these generations. I used Yiorgos Anagnostou’s book, Contours of White Ethnicity, as my theoretical base model; I questioned, analyzed, and developed his argument by suggesting that Greek American identity constantly changes throughout each generation via circumstance, social environment, or political atmosphere (just to name a few). I examined three different texts: Legends and Legacies by Pearl Kastran Ahnen, My Detroit by Dan Georgakas, and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I discovered as each text distinctions in literary richness. As we move from pure fact in Ahnen’s work, to memoir in Georgakas’ text, to fictionalization in Eugenides’ novel, the level of flexibility in identity interpretation increases. In other words, the more fiction involved, the more room there is for interpreting identity. This suggests that Greek identity is extremely fluid and is constantly questioned and developed depending on circumstance.”

Trendel, Aristi. “The Reinvention of Identity in Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex.” European Journal of American Studies Oslo Conference Special Issue 2 (2011): document 6. ejas.revues.org/9036

Review of The Open Hearth: The First Generation: A Novel Immigration (Thomas Doulis) reviewed by Anastasia Stefanidou Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora Vol. 26.1-2 (2010).

Literature and Poetry (Poetry)

Tolides, Tryphon. Poems [“Village Time,” “After Vespers (I.M. Esfigmenou),” “First Rain in the Village,” “String Beans,” “After,” “The Last Apple,” “Next to Silence (Kenosis),” “Unexpected Dailiness”]. The Adirondack Review: An Arts & Literature Quarterly, Vol. XII.2 (Fall 2011).www.theadirondackreview.com/TryfonTolides.html

Tolides, Tryfon. Poems [“Aperture,” “Place,” “Stuff I’m Looking For"]. New Purlieu Review: Life in the Second Decade of the Century, Issue 1. 2011. newpurlieureview.com/page10.php

Kalfopoulou, Adrianne. Passion Maps. Pasadena: Red Hen Press, 2009.

Literature and Poetry (Fiction and Poetry Ph.D. Dissertations)

Patrona, Theodora. Novels of Return: Ethnic Spaces in Contemporary Greek-American and Italian American Literature. Diss. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University, 2011.

Abstract: “The present thesis is a comparative approach to six Italian-American and Greek-American literary works written in the last three decades of the 20th century. Based on the common theme of the authors’ return, either metaphorical or literal to the two countries of origin and their respective cultures, this doctoral thesis explores the common motifs of mythology, ritual and storytelling where the heroes and heroines resort to in their quest for self-definition. In specific, my analysis attempts to answer two questions: how is the journey to self-definition, as well as the formation of subjectivity, connected with the recourse to ethnic space in each of the novels examined? In addition, to what extent are these two elements affected by the constantly changing framework of social, historical and economic conditions, covering two decades?

Within the context of the seventies, I discuss Daphne Athas’s Cora (1978) and Helen Barolini’s Umbertina (1979), whose heroines, caught under the spell of feminist and psychoanalytic trends of their times, realize the importance of ethnic space in their journey towards self-definition. Assisted by diverse theories, I argue that though differently approached, in the end for both novels ethnic space is proven to be a site of resilience and inspiration. Moreover, in the so-called era of post-feminism, Catherine Temma Davidson’s The Priest Fainted (1998) and Susan Caperna Lloyd’s No Pictures in My Grave (1992) portray heroines who seek enlightenment and guidance by returning to the home country and its culture. In both cases, I consider the theoretical arsenal of revisionist mythmaking and the late-capitalist dictates reflected, and I argue that the two heroines are carriers of a similar “haughty” air of Orientalism. I conclude that since they opt for a “selective” ethnicity, they oversimplify and disorient readers as to the importance and difficulty of the ethnic female quest. Finally, utilizing two novels written by male authors, Stratis Haviaras When The Tree Sings (1979) and Tony Ardizzone’s In the Garden of Papa Santuzzu (1999), I break away from the exclusive attention to a feminist approach, and view the conceptualization of ethnic space as this is unraveled by the powerful narrative mode of storytelling. Thus, I argue that overcoming the twenty years that separate them, both novels come to underwrite the surviving powers of the oral narrative, project the ethnic story as “alternative” history, and portray the diachronic character of ethnic space as a site of rebelliousness and anti- conformism.

On the whole, with geographical proximity, common historical and cultural background in the old countries, and similar reception of the two immigrant groups in the new world facilitating a comparative approach, I conclude that the ethnic writers discussed depict parallel courses of the ethnic persona’ journey towards self-definition and their similarly changing perception of ethnic space. Thus, this comparative study, based on its originality, should be seen as an initial attempt to liberate both literatures Greek-American and Italian- American from their respective insularity, with the hope to instigate a better understanding and appreciation of both cultures as well as strengthen the status of both literatures within and outside their respective communities.”

Music and Song (new category)

Annabouboula, “Immortal Water.” Record Label: Byzan-Tone, 2010.

"Annabouboula" is a Greek expression meaning a mixed-up noise, but for years, Annabouboula the group has been exploring a seductive alternate musical world where Greek, Middle Eastern and Balkan traditions are re-tooled and re-imagined with an anything-goes attitude befitting their Athens-meets-downtown New York origins. Starting out in the late 1980's with the ground-breaking singles "Hamam" and "Don't Worry Ma", Annabouboula went on to thrill festival and TV audiences world-wide with their challenging approach to Greek roots-rock, setting precedents for the next two decades of ethnic fusion. Featuring the spellbinding Anna Paidoussi singing provocatively over the rhythms and soundscapes of guitarist George Barba Yiorgi and friends, their new release Immortal Water picks up where their classic critically-acclaimed World Beat albums like In The Baths of Constantinople left off, injecting surf-rock, big-beat electronica, and gypsy-pop flash into their unique blend of Greek folk, rebetika, and contemporary flavors. From the hard-rocking anthem of the Athens underworld Hello Sailor, to the haunting dub-reggae inflected What Do You Care, to the odd-meter electronic dance workout of The Drum Lesson, to the title song, a reworking of a 1920s folk tune for the 21st century, Annabouboula will take you on a trip to the outer limits of global pop.

Lingas, Alexander. "The Domestication of Greek Orthodox Liturgical Music in America 1930-1960." Conference Talk in Pilgrims and Pioneers: The Growth of Orthodox Christianity in 20th Century America. Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, October 1, 2011.

Abstract: This paper explores the early reception of Greek Orthodox liturgical music in the United States of America during its crucial formative period of 1930–1960. It begins by identifying a number of ‘Old World’ sources for Greek American repertories, the most important of which are the received traditions of post-medieval Byzantine chanting as practised throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, polyphony as cultivated at the Royal Chapel of the Hellenic Kingdom, and the reformed idiom of Byzantine chanting proffered by the Athenian cantor John Sakellarides. It then addresses the transformation of these sources in publications of liturgical music issued on the East Coast of the USA from 1931 to 1953 by Nicholas Roubanis, Christos Vrionides, George Anastasiou and Anna Geortheou Gallos. It concludes by briefly discussing the early work in Los Angeles of Frank Desby, whose publications combined further movement toward what was at that time the American musical mainstream with an academic agenda adopted from European composers and musicologists.

Politics

Karpozilos, Kostis. Μακαρθισμός: Τα Ελληνικά Ονόματα της Μαύρης Λίστας. ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, Βιβλιοδρόμιο, Ιούλιος (2011):16-19.

Tzortzinis, Christina. “Expressions of Greek America.” Honors Thesis completed under the guidelines of the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and Arts, Winter 2011.

Author’s note: “Expressions of Greek America” is a multilayered study about key moments in foreign policy when Greek and United States interests came into opposition, challenging the place of Greek Americans in U.S. society while also inspiring lasting community-building efforts. My thesis charts Greek American reactions to events abroad through the Junta government 1967-74, the Cyprus crisis of 1974-75, and the more recent community outcry over the Macedonia naming issue. I argue that the significance of Greek identity in the diaspora is not a tenuous connection to static, distant heritage, but a continuing interaction in which changing homelands and diasporic communities influence each other in meaningful ways.

I was initially drawn to this project for the challenge of developing a multidimensional research topic that could integrate my interests in the dynamics of American society, my passion for Modern Greek studies, and my training as a History major at U-M. This study matters because the past is an integral part of the present, just as the present builds the future. I think that reflecting on past changes in communities is an important way for them to understand how circumstances shaped them and how they can move forward from those experiences to build upon them in the present—and this is very relevant to the changes happening with U.S. society today. I find historical and social complexities compelling. I was also excited to link my own experience as a Greek American with the grounding of a sustained academic study, and I welcomed the opportunity to work closely with faculty members to shape my own research project and add something to the field.

Working on my thesis was an even more valuable experience than I had anticipated when I began the process: not only did I gain valuable knowledge about life during one of the most revolutionary periods in American social history, the 1960s. I also learned how to work with an archive to develop a focus for my research. I had the fortune to shape my project with the richness of the primary source documents in James Pyrros’s collection of Greek Junta papers housed in U-M’s Hatcher Graduate Library Special Collection. I read the words of those who had been active in the community during this time, and it became very important for me to showcase their voices in my work. My thesis contrasts the materiality of the archive—paper telegrams, personal letters, and newspaper clippings— with my sources from the current millennium, which are nearly exclusively web-based and therefore exist electronically. I found it really interesting to look at these shifts in media and examine their effects on community building in Greek America.

As a student who grew up in the 1990s with the rise of Internet communication, I am a member of the last generation to remember a world without computers, cell phones or social media. Connecting my knowledge of the recent past with that of the radically different present became an integral part of my understanding and learning as I proceeded with this project. My research is, in a very real sense, an homage to our globalizing world.

Pyrros, James G. The Cyprus File: Washington, DC-A Diary of the Cyprus Crisis in the Summer of 1974. New York: Pella Publishing, 2010.

“James Pyrros, served for twenty years as top aide to Congressman Lucien Nedzi, Democrat from a Detroit district in Michigan. Pyrros offers a behinds-the-scenes account of efforts by Washington insiders, journalists, and activists to redirect American policy regarding the Cyprus crisis which was generated by the anti-Makarios coup initiated by junta in Greece. Extensive accounts of efforts of anti-junta efforts and the responses to the Turkish invasion.”

Stivachtis, Yannis A. “Greek Anti-Americanism and Its Implications for the Relations Between Greece and the Hellenic Diaspora in the United States.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora Vol. 26.1-2 (2010).

Blogs and Resource Portals

liberopoulos.gr/index.php

(memoir and archival photographs, including U.S. magazine covers; Manos Hadjidakis and Melina Mercouri in New York City)

stephanienikolopoulos.com/blog/

(see under “Greekish” category for posts on Greek America by Stephanie Nikolopoulos, a writer).

WORLDWIDE GREEK DIASPORA AND TRANSNATIONAL WORLDS (new subcategory “Latin America”)

Τάμης Αναστάσιος Μ. Οι Έλληνες της Λατινικής Αμερικής. Ελληνικά Γράμματα, Αθήνα: 2006 [Δίγλωσση έκδοση, Μετάφραση στην Ισπανική Margarita Larriera, Ίδρυμα Μαρία Τσάκου,Montevideo]

"Orthodoxy: Ethnicity and Conversion" and "Greek Orthodox Liturgical Music in America"

2011-10-03T12:03:00.001-04:00

This weekend I attended the "Pilgrims and Pioneers: The Growth of Orthodox Christianity in 20th Century America" Conference, held at the Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition to Rev. Dr. Demetrios Constantelos's plenary talk on Archbishop Iakovos, two papers addressed Greek America. Here is the respective titles and abstracts:

Dr. Amy Slagle, University of Southern Mississippi, From Saint Raphael to Father Gladky: The Influence of Ethnicity and Conversion on Orthodox Church Growth in Mississippi

"Despite the dominance of Protestantism in the history and cultural life of Mississippi and portions of the Deep South more generally, Orthodox Christians have had a long-standing presence in the state, with the founding of its first parish by Syrian/Lebanese immigrants (under the spiritual direction of St. Raphael Hawaweeny) in Vicksburg in 1906 and the second by Greeks in the state capital, Jackson, in 1951. Furthermore, beyond immigration and the establishment of “ethnic” parishes, Mississippi was also been the beneficiary of missionary activity carried out by the late Archpriest George Gladky (1931-1989) and the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of the South since the 1970s. Much of this missionization has, simultaneously, targeted and arisen in response to the increasing numbers of Americans interested in investigating and embracing the Orthodox faith. Drawing upon historical and ethnographic research, this paper explores alternative patterns of parish formation and development among Orthodox churches in Mississippi over the course of the twentieth century. While highlighting its regional particularities, I argue that Mississippi stands as an important case study for reflecting upon the dynamic interplay of ethnicity and conversion found more generally within modern American Orthodoxy."

Dr. Alexander Lingas, City University London, The Domestication of Greek Orthodox Liturgical Music in America 1930-1960

"This paper explores the early reception of Greek Orthodox liturgical music in the United States of America during its crucial formative period of 1930–1960. It begins by identifying a number of ‘Old World’ sources for Greek American repertories, the most important of which are the received traditions of post-medieval Byzantine chanting as practised throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, polyphony as cultivated at the Royal Chapel of the Hellenic Kingdom, and the reformed idiom of Byzantine chanting proffered by the Athenian cantor John Sakellarides. It then addresses the transformation of these sources in publications of liturgical music issued on the East Coast of the USA from 1931 to 1953 by Nicholas Roubanis, Christos Vrionides, George Anastasiou and Anna Geortheou Gallos. It concludes by briefly discussing the early work in Los Angeles of Frank Desby, whose publications combined further movement toward what was at that time the American musical mainstream with an academic agenda adopted from European composers and musicologists."

Ιστορία Μετανάστευσης

2011-09-28T17:42:00.001-04:00

olaxidyo-x2.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_20.html

Η ευεργεσία στον τόπο καταγωγής, η προσωπική επίδειξη πλούτου, η διακαής επιθυμία αλλά και διαρκώς αναβαλλόμενη απόφαση για επαναπατρισμό αποτελούν μοτίβα της μεταναστευτικής αφήγησης, η συχνότητα των οποίων δεν πρέπει να μας τυφλώνει στις ιδιαιτερότητες των ανθρώπινων δραμάτων που εκτυλίχθηκαν γύρω τους.

Το δράμα στην ιστορία που μοιράζεται ο olaxidyo είναι ότι η υποκειμενικότητα του μετανάστη ενίοτε παραμένει στο παρασκήνιο, μια θαμπή σκιά, ένας άγνωστος χ παραχωνιασμένος στα ενδόμυχα της ψυχής, και την οποία αμετάκλητα σφραγίζει ο θάνατος.

Δεδομένης της έλλειξης ημερολογίων, επιστολών, ή άλλων μαρτυριών και καταθέσεων, ο ιστορικός καλείται να ανασκαλέψει την βαλίτσα που παρέδωσε ο αποθανών, ένα αρχείο material culture, και αφού απαριθμήσει ένα ένα τα ευρήματα, να αναζητήσει ίχνη υποκειμενικότητας στη πολιτιστική βιογραφία των πραγμάτων.

Το ¨Διπλό Βλέμμα" του Μετανάστη

2011-09-15T18:05:00.003-04:00

«ΤΟ ΤΑΞΙΔΙ ΑΥΤΟ εμπλούτισε τη ζωή μου. Αισθάνομαι ότι τα κατάφερα. Νομίζω ότι από παιδί απέκτησα ένα “διπλό βλέμμα”. Είναι το “χάρισμα” αυτού που βρίσκεται σε υποδεέστερη θέση. Εκείνος που είναι κυρίαρχος, συνήθως, βλέπει τα πράγματα μόνο με το δικό του βλέμμα. Εάν όμως δεν είσαι κυρίαρχος βλέπεις και τις δύο προοπτικές. Τη δική σου και του κυρίαρχου. Στα παιδικά μου χρόνια μπορεί να ήταν η διαφορά ανάμεσα στις αξίες που κυριαρχούσαν επίσημα και στις αξίες που ίσχυαν στο σπίτι. Αυτό το “διπλό βλέμμα” σε βοηθά για να επιβιώσεις, κυρίως ηθικά, όταν οι άλλοι σε εξευτελίζουν... Τι σημαίνει για μένα να είσαι μετανάστης; Να έχεις το θάρρος να γελάς ακόμα και με τη δυστυχία σου. Μερικές φορές τυχαίνει να βρεθούμε μετανάστες από διάφορες χώρες και αφηγούμαστε τις ιστορίες μας. Διπλωνόμαστε από τα γέλια καθώς οι σουηδοί φίλοι μας μάς κοιτάνε σαν εξωγήινους. Δεν καταλαβαίνουν πώς μπορούμε να γελάμε με τόσο τραγικά περιστατικά. Αλλά αν δεν είχαμε το χιούμορ θα είχαμε καταλήξει στο τρελοκομείο. Και μερικοί είναι ήδη εκεί... Υστερα από είκοσι χρόνια με τη σφραγίδα του μετανάστη στο κούτελο έχω αποκτήσει μια δεύτερη συνείδηση που είναι πιο ευαίσθητη και πιο σημαντική από την ελληνική μου ταυτότητα.»

Απόσπασμα από την συνέντευξη της Εύας Αυγερινού στον Γκαζμέντ Καπλάνι, δέστε www.tanea.gr/ellada/article/?aid=4585974

2011-09-14T12:09:00.001-04:00

Το περιοδικό Πλανόδιον

παρουσιάζει το αφιέρωμα

"Δέκα Χρόνια Μετά"

Τρία μπονζάι

"ἀπὸ τρεῖς Ἕλληνες συγγραφεῖς

Τρεῖς διαφορετικὲς ματιές"

γιὰ τὴν

11-09-2001

1) Ίωάννα Καρατζαφέρη - Ή Ενδεκάτη

bonsaistoriesflashfiction.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/ioanna-karatzaferi-i-endekati/