The Greek American Studies Resource Portal – Fall 2013

The MGSA Transnational Studies Committee has now compiled its latest update of The Greek American Studies Resource Portal. The new material will soon be incorporated into the existing Portal (http://mgsa.org/Resources/port.html)

The update is available below for convenient perusal.

Lia Kindinger, Elaine Thomopoulos, committee members
Yiorgos Anagnostou, Peter Jeffreys, Co-Chairs

The Greek American Studies Resource Portal – Fall 2013

Anthropology and Cultural Studies

c) Reviews

Tricarico, Donald, Robert Viscusi, Phylis Cancilla Martinelli; Yiorgos Anagnostou reply. Roundtable review of “Contours of White Ethnicity: Popular Ethnography and the Making of Usable Pasts in Greek America,” by Yiorgos Anagnostou. Italian American Review 3.1 (2013): 52-61.

Autobiographies – Memoirs – Biography

George, Harris. By George. Baltimore: BrickHouse Books, 2005.

The author writes about his childhood in the Greek community of Baltimore, his Navy years, and the challenges of practicing law. He says, “I’ve tried to capture my fondest memories of a happy life punctuated by special people and amusing predicaments in which I found myself.”

Rassogianis, Alexander. Return to Glenlord: Memories of Michigan Summers. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2013.

With humor, the author captures adventures with family and friends in Stevensville, Michigan during the 1950s. He describes being part of the vibrant and loving Greek community that journeyed from Chicago to spend their summers in this area of old-fashioned resorts, quaint cottage and sandy beaches. Included are vintage photos.

Savas, Georgianna. Eyes on Stamos: A Sister's Memoir – A Brother's Wishes. Georgianna Savas, 2005.

The author writes about her brother, the Greek American artist, Theodoros Stamos.

Strongylis, Cleopas. Dean James A. Coucouzes as a Model of Priesthood. Archbishop Iakovos’ Ministry at the Annunciation Cathedral of New England (1942-1954). Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2012. 

Blogs and Resource Portals

a) Blogs

Bouikidis, Aphrodite. “Leading the Greek American Community Towards Global Change.” Huffington Post. 27 July 2012.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aphrodite-bouikidis/leading-the-greek-america_b_1711743.html

Leland, John. “After 25 Years, Confronting Alienation in Astoria.” New York Times. Lens Blog, 17 May 2013.  http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/searching-for-greek-identity-in-astoria/?hp

Miller, Ken. “Under the Influence: Ari Marcopoulos, the Man Behind Jay Z’s New Album Cover.” New York Times. Culture Blog, 19 July 2013. http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/under-the-influence-ari-marcopoulos-the-man-behind-jay-zs-new-album-cover/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/19/t-magazine/Ari-Marcopoulos-mood-board.html

Pappas, Gregory C. “It Is Time to Let Hope out of Pandora's Box.” Huffington Post. 23 Dec. 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-c-pappas/it-is-time-to-let-hope-ou_b_2349542.html

Souvaliotis, Adreas. “How I Became a Successful Misfit.” Huffington Post. 24 Sept. 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andreas-souvaliotis/andreas-souvaliotis-misfit_b_3976790.html

Dissertations and Theses

Morrow, Eric V. Transnational Religion in Greek American Political Advocacy. Diss. Baylor University, 2012.

Documentary

a) Documentaries

Booth, Clark. Agganis: The Golden Greek – Excellence to the End. WGBH Documentary. Boston, 2013.

http://www.wgbh.org/programs/Agganis-The-Golden-Greek-Excellence-to-the-End-2316

Kαρπόζηλος, Κωστής και Κώστας  Βάκκας. [Karpozilos, Kostis and Kostas Vakkas]. Ταξισυνειδησία – Η Άγνωστη Ιστορία του Ελληνοαμερικανικού Ριζοσπασμού. [Greek-American Radicals: the Untold Story]. Idea Films, 2013.

H άγνωστη ιστορία του ελληνοαμερικανικού ριζοσπαστισμού από την εποχή της μαζικής μετανάστευσης στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες έως τα χρόνια του Μακαρθισμού σε ένα ντοκιμαντέρ. Μία ιστορία συλλογικών αγώνων, ριζοσπαστικών ιδεών, συναρπαστικών διαδρομών και ξεχασμένων παραδόσεων που διαπλέκεται με τις εποχές της αναστάτωσης, τα κοινωνικά και πολιτικά κινήματα, τις διώξεις και τις συλλογικές απογοητεύσεις.

Παρακολουθώντας τα χρόνια της Μεγάλης Ύφεσης, τους ελληνοαμερικανούς εθελοντές στις Διεθνείς Ταξιαρχίες του Ισπανικού Εμφυλίου, τις δραστηριότητες των Ελληνικών Εργατικών Εκπαιδευτικών Συνδέσμων και τις απελάσεις του Μακαρθισμού το ντοκιμαντέρ Ταξισυνειδησία – η αγνωστη ιστορια του ελληνοαμερικανικου ριζοσπαστισμου φέρνει στο προσκήνιο μία εναλλακτική αφήγηση της ελληνοαμερικανικής ιστορίας, η οποία υπογραμμίζει τους μετασχηματισμούς και τις αλληλεπιδράσεις της εθνοτικής καταγωγής, της τάξης και του πολιτικού και κοινωνικού ριζοσπαστισμού στον Αμερικανικό 20ο αιώνα.

The documentary narrates the story of Greek-American radicalism from the era of mass migration till the McCarthy period in the 50s. A history of collective struggles, radical ideas, exciting journeys and forgotten traditions interwoven with the times of upheaval, social and political movements, persecutions and collective disillusionments. Focusing from the Great Depression to the demise of ethnic radicalism in the 50s, the documentary Greek-American Radicals: the Untold Story brings forth an alternative vision of Greek-American history that highlights the transformations and multiple interrelations between ethnicity, class and radicalism.

Film trailer and information:

http://www.greekamericanradicals.com/about/?lang=EL

Skevas, Giorgos. Naked Hands. Town Film, 2013.

Dimitris Mitropoulos conducted his orchestras without a baton, with his bare hands. In Giorgos Skevas’ documentary, Lefteris Voyiatzis meets Dimitris Mitropoulos. Taking its cues from the letters the maestro exchanged with his dear friend, Kaiti Katsogianni, and from rare archive footage, the film covers the years in which Mitropoulos lived in the United States as chief conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and later the New York Philharmonic, through until his tragic death in La Scala, Milan, in 1960, conducting Mahler’s Third Symphony.

Stamelos, Valantis. Hello Anatolia. Crescent Street Films, LLC, 2012.

After working in the corporate world for years, Greek-American filmmaker Chrysovalantis Stamelos decided it was time to satisfy his desire to search for his roots in Anatolia, the historical birthplace of his ancestors. So, he picked up and moved to the homeland of his great-grandparents: Turkey.
His family and friends thought he was crazy. Maybe he was, but he couldn't shake off the stories he heard growing up...of old Smyrna and Asia Minor.
Hello Anatolia follows Stamelos' reconnection with his ancestry through the exploration of neighborhoods, interviews with Greeks of Turkey, and his immersion into the art and culture. Stamelos will break down barriers between two cultures with a history of feuding, as well as build a bridge from the Aegean to the US.
Produced by Crescent Street Films, LLC (www.csfilms.org).
Executive produced by Greek America Foundation and Gregory Pappas. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHzogsFgH0

c) Reviews

Λαλάκη, Δέσποινα. [Lalaki, Despina]. Η Aμηχανία της Ελληνικής Διασποράς. [The Embarrassment of the Greek Diaspora]. Χρόνος 3. Ιούλιος, 2013. [Chronos 3. July, 2013]. http://www.chronosmag.eu/index.php/e-ll-ll-esp.html.

Η φτωχοποίηση την οποία έχει επιφέρει η πρόσφατη οικονομική κρίση στην ελληνική κοινωνία αποτελεί πηγή μεγάλης αμηχανίας για την ελληνοαμερικανική διασπορά, η οποία ήδη από τις αρχές του 20ού αιώνα κατέβαλε μεγάλες προσπάθειες να συμβιβάσει την εθνοτική της ταυτότητα με τις επιταγές του εξαμερικανισμού. Ενός εξαμερικανισμού στη βάση των θεμελιωδών αρχών της μεσαίας αστικής τάξης και του «λευκού» προτύπου, και σε αντιδιαστολή με την εργατική ταξική συνείδηση ή τα εργατικά κινήματα. Η ίδια αμηχανία έγινε ιδιαίτερα αισθητή κατά τη διάρκεια της συζήτησης που ακολούθησε την πρόσφατη προβολή του ντοκιμαντέρ Ταξισυνειδησία – Η Άγνωστη Iστορία του Eλληνικού Pιζοσπαστισμού στο Σταθάκειο Πολιτιστικό Κέντρο στην Αστόρια. Σχόλια από το κοινό όπως «ο Έλληνας δεν είναι ποτέ κομμουνιστής» και «οι Έλληνες, είτε στην Ελλάδα είτε στη Νέα Υόρκη, δεν υπήρξαν ποτέ κομμουνιστές» έκαναν σαφές ότι η ιστορία του ελληνοαμερικανικού ριζοσπαστισμού που αφηγείται το ντοκιμαντέρ, από την εποχή της μαζικής μετανάστευσης στις Η.Π.Α. στις αρχές του 20ού αιώνα έως τα χρόνια του μακαρθισμού και της ενσωμάτωσης των μεταναστών στο «αμερικανικό όνειρο», αποτελεί πρόκληση. Πρόκληση για το επίσημο ιστορικό αφήγημα (τόσο της ελληνοαμερικανικής διασποράς όσο και της «μαμάς» πατρίδας) σύμφωνα με το οποίο το ιδεολόγημα του ελληνισμού είναι ασυμβίβαστο με την ιδεολογία του κομμουνισμού και της εργατικής ταξικής συνείδησης.

Education

Soumakis, Fevronia K. “Training the ‘Community Servant’: The Greek Orthodox Church of America and the Teachers College of St. Basil’s Academy, 1959-1973.” Power and Authority in the Eastern Christian Experience: Papers of the Sophia Institute Academic Conference. New York: Theotokos Press, 2010.

The history of Greek educational institutions and Greek American women’s participation and experiences in their development in the United States remains largely absent from the scholarly literature. Despite the emphasis of the vital importance of Hellenic-Christian paideia found in official church documents, the press, and other sources, the Greek Orthodox Church community’s expansive educational efforts, as well as the role of Greek American and Greek born women who staffed the expanding community day and afternoon schools throughout the twentieth century have yet to be the subjects of comprehensive studies. As Greek women in America were actively supporting the expanding Greek Orthodox educational system as teachers, secretaries, choir directors, and fundraisers, it was the church hierarchy, which articulated the needs of the Greek immigrant community and constructed a physical and ideological space for women to fulfill those needs. In doing so, the hierarchy ultimately directed their resources and efforts and defined their position within the community. In this essay, I examine the role of the Greek Orthodox Church of America in shaping the trajectory of St. Basil’s Academy Teachers College during the period 1959-1973. Although the College was established in 1944, I focus on the time period when Archbishop Iakovos assumed his position and turned his attention towards expanding Greek education. This study ends in 1973 when the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America (hereafter Archdiocese) along with community leaders decided to merge the Teachers College with the newly established Hellenic College in Brookline, Massachusetts. To that end, three questions guide this paper: What was the purpose of the Teachers College and how did it change over time? Who defined this purpose and why? Who was the college designed for?

Film

c) Film Scholarship

Georgakas, Dan “Ethnic Humor in American Film: The Greek Americans.” A Companion to Film Comedy. Eds. Andrew Horton and Joanna E. Rapf. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.  

Patrona Theodora. “Migration, Space and Ethnic Female Subjectivities: Pantelis Voulgaris' film Brides.” Migration and Exile: Charting New Literary and Artistic Territories. Ed. Ada Savin. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 2013.

d) Film Review

DeWitt, David. “Greek Hero in an All-American Tale: ‘A Green Story,’ Directed by Nika Agiashvili.” New York Times. 23 May 2013.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/movies/a-green-story-directed-by-nika-agiashvili.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

Fine Arts

Manos, Constantinos. A Greek Portfolio: Κωνσταντίνος Μάνος. Athens: Benaki Museum, 1999/2013.

http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?lang=en&id=50501&sid=79

---. Ομιλία και προβολή φωτογραφιών. [Talk and Projection of Photographs]. Lecture.

http://www.blod.gr/lectures/Pages/viewlecture.aspx?LectureID=814

Globalization, Transnationalism, Diaspora

Βεντούρα, Λίνα και Λάμπρος Μπαλτσιώτης, Επιμ. [Ventoura, Lina and Lambros Baltsiotis, eds.] Το Έθνος Πέραν των Συνόρων: «Ομογενειακές» Πολιτικές του Εληνικού Κράτους. [The Nation Beyond Borders]. Αθήνα: Βιβλιόραμα, 2013. [Athens: Vivliorama, 2013].

“Greek Diaspora Intellectuals Reflect on Cavafy.” C.P. Cavafy Forum, University of Michigan Modern Greek Studies, 2013. https://www.lsa.umich.edu/modgreek/windowtogreekculture/cpcavafyforum/greekdiasporaintellectualsreflectoncavafy_ci

History

a) Community and Regional Histories

Cassis, Irene and Constantina Michalos. Greeks in Houston. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2013.

Includes 200 black and white images. 

Fiorentinos, Panos. Ecclesia: Greek Orthodox Churches of the Chicago Metropolis. Chicago, IL: Kantyli Inc., 2004.

This coffee-table book includes more than 400 richly colored photographs and concisely written histories of the 59 churches of the Chicago Metropolis. Fiorentinos' photographic journey encompassed six states—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin and included dozens of interviews with priests and parishioners. Essays by scholars on the Greek Orthodox Church’s architecture, fundamental beliefs and history, and the meaning of its icons and symbols further enhance the book.

Frangos, Steve. Greeks in Michigan. East Lansing Michigan State University Press, 2004.

---. “Long Forgotten Greek Alaskan.” The National Herald. 15 Mar. 2005.

Odzak, Larry. Demetrios is Now Jimmy: Greek Immigrants in the Southern United States, 1895-1965. Durham. N.C.: Monograph Publishers, 2006.

Rozeas, Christina. Greeks in Queens. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2012.

Includes 200 black and white images.

Skedros, Constantine J. 100 Years of Faith and Fervor: A History of the Greek Orthodox Church Community of Greater Salt Lake City, Utah 1905-2005. Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake, 2005.

This volume gives a comprehensive history of the community and its two churches. It includes many vintage photographs.

b) History in Popular Media

Chrissochoidis, Ilias. Spyros P. Skouras, Memoirs (1893-1953). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013.

Spyros P. Skouras (1893-1971) was the most influential Greek immigrant in American history and one of America's preeminent citizens during the Cold War period. In an astonishing sixty-year career, he shaped two industries (film and shipping), turned Twentieth Century-Fox into a global film leader, saved Hollywood by introducing CinemaScope, masterminded Century City in Los Angeles, and, not least, helped save millions of Greeks from starvation and disease during World War II. For the first time his story is being told in his own words and in full detail. Coinciding with Skouras' 120th birth anniversary, this book is a timely contribution to American, Greek Diaspora, and film historiography that will inspire younger generations to pursue the intertwined ideals of business excellence and public service.

c) History and Historiography Scholarship

Hatzidimitriou, Constantine G. “Maria Economidy: A Pioneering Reformer.” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora, 39.1-2 (2013): 29-94

Lalaki, Despina. “On the Social Construction of Hellenism. Cold War Narratives of Modernity, Development and Democracy for Greece.” The Journal of Historical Sociology 25.4 (2012).

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

---. 2013. “Soldiers of Science – Agents of Culture. American Archaeologists in the Office of Strategic Services – OSS.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82.1. 2013.

“Scientificity” and appeals to political independence are invaluable tools when institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens attempt to maintain professional autonomy. Nonetheless, the cooperation of scientists and scholars with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), among them archaeologists affiliated with the American School, suggests a constitutive affinity between political and cultural leadership. This relationship is here mapped in historical terms, while, at the same time, sociological categorizations of knowledge and its employment are used in order to situate archaeologists in their broader social and political context and to evaluate their work not merely as agents of disciplinary knowledge but also as agents of culture and cultural change.

Identity and Immigration 

Cardon, Lauren S. “The WASP.” The "White Other" in American Intermarriage Stories, 1945-2008. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Hantzopoulos, Maria. “Going to Greek School: the Politics of Religion, Identity, and Culture in Community-Based Greek Language Schools.” Bilingual Community Education and Multilingualism : Beyond Heritage Languages in a Global City. Eds. Ofelia Garcia, Zeena Zakharia and Bahar Otcu. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters, 2012. 

Issari, Philia. “Greek American Ethnic Identity, Cultural Experience and the ‘Embodied Language’ of Dance: Implications for Counseling.” International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 33.4 (2011): 252-265.

Karpathakis, Anna. “Greeks and Greek Americans, 1870-1940.” Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration. Ed. Elliott Robert Barkan. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013.

Kitroeff. Alexander. "Greek Americans." Immigrant Struggles, Immigrant Gifts. Eds. Diane Portnoy, Barry Portnoy and Charlie Riggs. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2013.

The latest book from the Immigrant Learning Center addresses some of the most prominent immigrant groups and the most striking episodes of nativism in American history. The introduction covers American immigration history and law as they have developed since the late eighteenth century. The essays that follow--authored by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists--examine the experiences of a large variety of populations to discover patterns in both immigration and anti-immigrant sentiment.

Literature and Poetry

a) Literature

Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.

Kokonis, Nicholas. Out of Arcadia: the American Odyssey of Angelo Vlahos. Deerfield, IL: St. Basil’s Publishers, 2011.

This novel features a young man from a poor farm village who immigrates to the United States to reunite with his childhood sweetheart, to get a college education, and to help support his family in Greece. Although the book is fiction, some of the author’s own life experiences help inform the story of Angelo and the challenges he faces as an immigrant.

Krantz, Robert. Falling in Love with Sophia. Irving, CA: Elinas Multimedia, 2009.

This is a love story between Michael, a Greek American and Sophia, a non-Greek from Tennessee. Michael, despite challenges such as his parents’ divorce, succeeds in holding on to his “culture, family and God.”

Lazaridis Power, Henriette. The Clover House. New York: Random House, 2013.

A compelling fictional portrait that illuminates and contrasts the Greece of today with the country during the troubled era of the early 1940s, under Italian occupation and burgeoning fascism. […] [An] insightful examination of memory and the stories that hold us together — or perhaps tear us apart. […] The Clover House eloquently questions the wisdom of relying too much on memories of the past as a guide for understanding the present.”
– Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe.

Τσαλίκογλου, Φωτεινή. [Tsalikoglou, Fotini]. 8 ώρες και 35 λεπτά: Μια ιστορία. [8 Hours and 35 Minutes: A Story]. Εκδόσεις Καστανιώτη, 2013.

b) Poetry

Kalogeris, George. Dialogos: Paired Poems in Translation. Champaign, IL: Antilever, 2013.


CANADA

Autobiographies – Memoirs – Biography

Souvaliotis, Andreas. Misfit: Changemaker with an Edge. Toronto: Andreas Souvaliotis, 2013.

AUSTRALIA

Film

Verhoeven, Deb “Twice Born: Dionysos Films and the Establishment of a Greek Film Circuit in Australia.” FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies 1 (September 2013). http://filmiconjournal.com/journal/article/2013/1/3