Authors, Scholars and the Public in Greek America: Toward a Conversation

In view of a recent conversation about ways to enhance the public presence of Greek/American authors and scholars I share this preliminary outline of cultural trends, prospects and challenges associated with the question of visibility and resonance. This is a tentative mapping of course, that I hope will be expanding via your input.

This conversation will benefit from the insights of all – academics and non-academics, authors, artists, translators, and the public, Greeks and “non-Greeks,” students and non-students – who care about the cultural and political direction of Greek America. It values, it goes without saying, the perspectives of students and the youth.  

A host of questions drive this writing: How to join forces (sharing of ideas, collaborations across disciplinary, intellectual and artistic lines, etc.) to create a vibrant and politically responsible conversation about the present and future of Greek America. How to enhance the visibility of Greek American letters and arts, and its public resonance. To what end?

Please take the time to share a position, an idea, a proposal, a thought; to ask a question or two, offer experiences, register reservations, provide new angles of inquiry. 

• Media

Transnational media are increasingly receptive, and in fact inclined to promote the conversation on Greek America (Chronos, Dialogos Media, Greek News Agenda). They offer options in writing in English, and are open to new and critical ideas. 

Prospects: Explore the possibility with their editors about Special Issues dedicated to Greek America (“Issues in Greek America,” “Literary Voices in Greek America,” “Identities” etc.  

Challenges: A host of media are self-labelled or overdetermined as “leftist” and may not reach widely into Greek America.

Academics learning how to translate ideas for a wider audience.  

Popular media contributes to Greek American memory and circulate knowledge and ideas (The Pappas Post, for instance and its promotion and marketing of the documentary Pallikari). Popular media also publish editorials and position papers by scholars (The National Herald). 

Prospects: Scholars, authors and intellectuals may wish to place key essays in these venues.

Challenges: There is the question of the range of critical ideas that could be accommodated. What is more, these venues do not pay (or pay very little) for intellectual labor. 

National online venues in conversation with the youth (Got Greek), particularly on issues of leadership, shaping identities. A dream essay of mine, Humanities and Leadership in Geek America. 

Challenges: How receptive are these venues to new ideas; we would not know until we try. 

Local media produce and disseminate ideas and knowledge (oral histories for example) of local interest (for an example that uses multimedia see, Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia). 

Prospects: Scholars and authors contributing work to local cultural initiatives (magazines, blogs, oral history projects, etc.). 

Challenges: No material compensation for authors, translators and scholars. How to write for a diverse public, how to present complex, potentially ideologically loaded issues for public consideration. 

Note: Local venues (Chicago-based, The Greek Circle) and national literary initiatives (Voices of Hellenism) have ceased publication. In the academic front, the Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora and Pella publishers have closed. 

Online media: There exist numerous social media venues and blogs. Authors may wish to serve as guests to relatively well-known blogs. 

Prospects: A collaborative blog that features views of Greek/American authors, artists, poets, scholars, etc. 

Challenges: Material compensation for this kind of labor for those who maintain the blog and the contributors.  

• Venues for Greek Studies Scholarship and other Writings

The Journal of Modern Greek Studies and the Journal of Modern Hellenism continue publishing scholarship on Greek America. The AHIF Policy Journal features essays and other items of interest. A new online venue, Ergon Greek/American Transnational Arts and Letters has been announced to promote the arts, scholarship and letters to both academic and non-academic audiences (forthcoming Fall 2017). 

• Scholars and the “Community”

There is a dearth of ethnographic work, and despite some valuable oral history projects and scholarship we have a long way to go before understanding the social experience of Greek Americans across class, gender, age, region, sexuality, etc.

Similarly, there is limited community-based scholarship that addresses issues that Greek Americans face; there is little theoretical work on how we build communication with the communities, how we collaborate or make interventions in a language that is understood by the community, how we enter in conversation to establish a common ground, how we negotiate hegemonic narratives (other than critiquing them).

Greek American studies per se do not present themselves as a valuable career option. Many accomplished scholars in Greek studies display no interest in it. Several scholars who have published magnificent work have moved away from this subject matter (there are numerous examples in Greece and Europe of this “brain drain”). 

All-in-all there are very few Greek Americanists in relation, say, to the number of scholars writing about modern Greece. 

Prospects: 

Scholars with a Greek/American focus continue making the case for the intellectual and critical relevance of Greek American studies to scholars outside the field.

Scholars in modern Greek studies contributing to Greek American studies on a part time basis (essays, position papers, articles, monographs). 

Scholars in established disciplines (history, film studies, cultural studies, sociology, ethnography, etc.) also tapping into transnational Greek/American topics that speak to their wider interest. 

Collaborations among scholars. How viable is this given overloaded work schedules, and with  institutions often privileging the lone author model.  

Initiatives from Greece

Greece-based scholars, journalists, and documentary makers have been exhibiting interest in Greek America. 

Prospects: Exciting cultural production, produce knowledge about “forgotten” or marginalized topics. 

Challenges: These cultural makers often frame their rhetorical angle to speak to a Greek not a Greek American audience. 

Limited Funding: Whenever it may exist, the ideology of the donors may mediate the meaning of the product. They may neglect scholarship or facts that are inconvenient to their agendas. 

Journalists and others who have received funds to document Greek America must produce work that justifies their funding. 

Authors, writers, poets, journalists, and translators

This is a great resource, authors, writers, poets, journalists, and translators who place their work in reputable venues “outside” Greek America. Novels, poetry, and translations building on Greek/American material earn national attention.

Prospects: Incorporate Greek America as a subject of reflection in venues within but also beyond “Greek America” whenever these cultural producers see it fit (intellectually, politically, literally, etc.). 

Have authors and scholars speak with each other, enter into a conversation.   

Challenges: Limited funding (a wider issue, see below).

Overall Challenges Regarding Intellectual Production

Limited Resources, including limited career opportunities for Greek Americanists both within and outside the academy. 

How we position ourselves to have our ideas reach and resonate with a wider audience. There is a vast divide between the dominant way Greek America understands its identity (mostly through the lens of personal struggle and success, a belief that informs the political prism through which Greek American interpret political issues) and scholars who focus on the ways in which history and social structure shape experience and ideology. There is evidence to suggest that a sector of the Greek American public lacks interest in the sociological understanding of the society. How true is this? 

Anti-intellectualism in American society. 

Greek Americans: Is there interest in reading scholarship, fiction, essays? Many Greek American write to produce popular history, ethnography, and fiction. But what is the overall intellectual engagement of Greek Americans and how is it expressed?  

How do we envision the Greek/American public? How does the public may enter into this conversation so that we avoid speaking amongst ourselves? What is the experience of scholars and authors who have been interfacing with the public?

What can we learn from other cultural and academic networks (Italian Americans, Asian Americans) about interconnections between communities, networks, knowledge, letters, and the arts?  

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Please consider contributing to this discussion. 

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Yiorgos Anagnostou

The National Herald, Donald Trump, Reince Priebus (A necessary conversation)

When Archibishop Iakovos marched along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in support of the Civil Rights movement in Selma, Alabama, in 1965—an example of courageous civic leadership in which Greek America often takes pride—his public statement was “far more progressive than the majority of his flock.” Clergy and staff advised the archbishop against marching, fearing that it would compromise “the quest of marginalized Greeks for full acceptance as America” (8). Were the archbishop’s actions an anomaly? With Greek America deeply ingrained in the American fabric, where does it stand on civil rights now?

http://chronos.fairead.net/election16-anagnostou

Zeese Papanikolas offers his comments on the piece:

"A Greek immigrant who was knocked on the head by a brick thrown through the window of his candy store in the South Omaha, Nebraska, anti-Greek riots of 1909, and who finally awoke last November 12 to read the National Herald’s editorial congratulating Donald Trump on his election, might ask himself, “since when did Greeks in America become white?” But in fact in the 107 years since the South Omaha riots, Greeks in this country have become “white,” as have the Irish before them and there is no reason to expect that, if given half a chance, the Somalis, Syrians and Iraqis fleeing the chaos of their homelands will not become full participants in American life as other immigrant groups have before them. Greeks in this country no longer need to huddle behind the walls of Greek Town for protection, no longer need to bribe a cop to get justice or deliver a bottle of bootleg wine to a straw boss to get a job, or fawn over some ward heeler to get a hearing at City Hall. The editors of the National Herald, whose Greek-language sister has been publishing since 1915 in this country, should know this as well as anyone. Therefore the sudden about face of the National Herald on Donald Trump and its fawning congratulations to him on his election victory are both retrograde and servile."

... See more,

http://chronos.fairead.net/election16-papanikolas-comments

Being Greek Orthodox

What does it mean to be Christian in the new US political landscape? What does it mean to be Greek Orthodox? A perusal in the media and scholarship points to an emergent reflection on this all important question.

In this context, and anticipating further conversation, a story by author Harry Mark Petrakis about an instance of Greek Orthodox anti-racism is all relevant. I share my analysis:

http://www.newdiaspora.com/a-tale-of-color/ 

(in English)

http://www.newdiaspora.com/el/a-tale-of-color/ 

(στα ελληνικά)

Beyond Greek as Descent: What Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tom Hanks Have to Do with It?

I have recently completed a book chapter discussing the manner in which Greek/American documentaries define US Greek identity in the context of the Greek debt crisis (1). During my research I noticed that while many Greek Americans regularly defined Greek identity and belonging in terms of blood (descent/biology), the emphasis of these documentary-narratives on success as a trope to confront negative stereotypes led them to also include “non-Greek” celebrities who are affiliated with Greek culture as members of the Greek transnational (Greece/United States) community. In other words, the drive to connect Greek identity with recognizable star power brings about a dramatic shift in the definition of Greek from biology to culture.

Below I discuss how the idea of the Greeks as a biological community, a tenet of nationalism, was reinforced in the encounter of Greek immigrants with American modernity. I show how US social Darwinism in the early twentieth century forced Greek immigrants to prove their fitness to America by connecting biology and material prosperity.

I subsequently outline how this link–Greeks as a biological group that is capable of achieving socioeconomic success–became entrenched as a core element of contemporary Greek identity. Thus social Darwinism, a racist ideology, determined the conditions which immigrant newcomers and their offspring were accepted as Americans. It will not be far fetched to say that social Darwinism holds Greek America hostage. It incarcerates it by stifling alternative narratives of Greek identity beyond socioeconomic success. 

While the construction of Greek/American identity in the context of the crisis still holds on to the connection between Greek descent and material success, the inclusion of basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo and actor and Hollywood producer Tom Hanks as Greeks marks the emergence of a new conception of Greek identity, one based on culture, not biology.

Below I further develop these ideas in some detail and I provide examples, in a somewhat academic fashion:

In this particular historical moment, when the idea of Greek identity is maligned and in crisis, Greek America deploys, once again, two historically available intertwined topoi: the Greeks as a biological community of achievers whose socioeconomic status warrants its equal, if not privileged, inclusion to the polity. A genealogical reading of US Greek cultural history would illuminate how the contemporary narrative of Greek Americans as a biological community of self-reliant, entrepreneurial individuals who embody the ideal American and global citizenship [I discuss this point in my chapter] bears striking similarities with the construction of the Greek immigrants as citizens-to-be in early twentieth century. The writings of anthropologist Henry Pratt Fairchild in 1911 offer a useful starting point to reflect, albeit briefly, on the power of this enduring connection:

The business of the alien is to go into the mines, the foundries, the sewers, the stifling air of factories and workshops, out on the roads and railroads in the burning sun of summer, or the driving sleet and snow. If he proves himself a man, and rises above his station, and acquires wealth, and cleans himself up–very well, we receive him after a generation or two. But at present he is far beneath us, and the burden of proof rests with him (2). 

The passage succinctly captures the expectations the United States sets for immigrants for national inclusion. First, the immigrant subject who is addressed here is male. Also, the historical context of this statement is key to understand that the nation that Fairchild refers to is racialized; national inclusion means inclusion to whiteness, which in turn confers citizenship rights. Fairchild articulates the nation’s social contact extended to newcomers: the not-quite-white immigrant male is promised inclusion to the privileges of whiteness—the political right to vote, and integration via access to white neighborhoods, intermarriage and participation in social networks of power­—in exchange of his contributions to the nation. The nation underwrites this unofficial contract for newcomers who aspire to achieve citizenship, gaining it through the performance of self-propelled success, which also applies across generations, becoming a matter of “ethnic succession” (3). This explains the endurance of the narrative of self-motivated material improvement among the immigrant offspring.

This contract intertwines biology, that is racial location, with socioeconomic status. Educated readers of Fairchild at the time would have readily recognized the underpinnings of social Darwinism in his position that immigrants as “racial groups” must possess the biological fitness to endure the demands of American industrialism, their ensuing social status in the struggle mirroring their place in the racial ordering of the polity. As Aihwa Ong notes, “the intertwining of race and economic performance has shaped the ways in which immigrant groups have attained status and dignity, within a national ideology that projects worthy citizens as inherently white” (4).

The idea of biology intersecting with self-propelled mobility offers the template for constructing the ideal American citizen-subject as self-reliant achiever. This paradigm constitutes the core of Greek America’s claim to deserving Americanness. The children and grandchildren of the immigrants whose acceptance was predicated on consenting to this idealization—and in the process displacing alternative ways of accessing citizenship—hold on to it consistently. They assert it repeatedly in public because of the privileges it confers. The gains have been historically specific. The narrative of the Greeks as biological heirs of classical Greece and embodiment of middle-class American values granted early twentieth century admittance to the polity. The so-called bootstraps idea, zealously embraced, has placed Greek Americans as a model ethnic group and in turn as exemplary representatives of American liberal multiculturalism in the 1980s and beyond (5). As my work “We Are All Diasporas Now” shows, the notion of a descent-based community of a professional Greek American class positions its members as ideal national, transnational and global citizens.

Yet this narrative of success, in its insatiable appropriation of star power, introduces a certain rupture in nationalist narratives of identity as it disrupts the coupling of biology and culture. In this capacity it rewrites the meaning of Greek identity. 

When for instance the trailer I Am One Greece (6) claims basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks and is the son of Nigerian immigrants in Greece, and one who was exceptionally granted Greek citizenship on the virtue of contributing to the Greek national team—it cancels biology as a criterion for Greek belonging. Similarly, Tom Hanks, the Hollywood actor, delivers this same function in another context when he asserts a Greek, in fact a hyper Greek, identity: “I feel a 110% Greek. … I am more Greek than a Greek is.” This reconfiguration is emerging and coexists awkwardly with biological notions of belonging. Without a blink of irony, for example, Antetokounmpo is featured in the same clip casting Greeks as a “family [with] the same blood running in [its] veins.” 

But the rupture opens the space for reimagining the “global nation” in cultural terms neutralizing biology as an explanatory force or criterion of belonging in the making of Greek identity. It simultaneously opens the space for new legislation in Greece regarding the naturalization of immigrants and their offspring, and for new policies regarding eligibility for Greek American scholarships based on Greek learning, not descent (7).

Works Cited

1 Yiorgos Anagnostou, “We Are All Diasporas Now: Greek America as Diaspora, Citizenship and Entrepreneurialism at a time of Crisis,” In Greece in Crisis: The Cultural Politics of Austerity, edited by Dimitris Tziovas (Tairus Publishers). Forthcoming

2 Henry Pratt Fairchild, Greek Immigration to the United States (New Haven, 1911), p. 237.

3 Aihwa Ong, Buddha Is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America, p. 3.

4 Ibid., p. 11.

5 See Yiorgos Anagnostou, ‘Model Americans, Quintessential Greeks: Ethnic Success and Assimilation in Diaspora,” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 12:3 (2003), pp. 279–327 and “White Ethnicity: A Reappraisal,” Italian American Review 3:2 (2013), pp. 99–128.

6 I Am One Greece (http://onegreece.org/watch/, 2013)

7 Greek Americans have embraced Giannis Antetokounmpo as their own “fellow Greek” (National Hellenic Museum email). Communities organize Greek heritage nights in his honor when the Milwaukee Bucks play in town (“Greek community turns South Philly Blue and White for Giannis Antetokounmpo,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZJzpAZEtmE, 2015).

Τα Σύνορα της Ξενιτιάς (1997)

Η ξενιτιά, σαν ένας κεντρικός λόγος στην ελληνική κοινωνία, προσφέρεται για μια σειρά σκέψεων για τις συνιστάμενες της ζωής έξω από τα σύνορα. Ιδιαίτερα, μας προσκαλεί να συλλογιστούμε με ποιους όρους καταλαβαίνουμε την ξενιτιά και με ποιον τρόπο φανταζόμαστε τη σχέση ταυτότητας και τόπου.

Είμαστε εξοικειωμένοι, φυσικά, με την παραδοσιακή ερμηνεία της ξενιτιάς σαν ένα οδυνηρό ξερίζωμα. Αυτός ο καημός της ξενιτιάς έχει ανεξίτηλα αποτυπωθεί στη συλλογική λαϊκή συνείδηση με πρωταρχικούς φορείς τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και τη λαογραφία μας. Σε αυτόν τον λόγο καημού και θρήνου, κάποιος θα ήθελε να αναφερθεί και στην ταξική διάσταση που διαφοροποιεί τη βίωση της ξενιτιάς. Γιατί η ξενιτιά, σαν εμπειρία μιας καθημερινής ανάλωσης στον αγώνα για επιβίωση συσχετίζεται με την εργατική και μικρομεσαία τάξη. Η ξενιτιά βιώνεται διαφορετικά από τα άτομα της εύπορης τάξης, τα οποία βέβαια, συχνά, δεν μεταναστεύουν αλλά ταξιδεύουν. Ή από τους επαγγελματίες αστούς και τους κοσμοπολίτες μορφωμένους οι οποίοι ζουν έξω από την Ελλάδα με τελείως διαφορετικούς οικονομικούς όρους. Και αν αναφερθώ στους φοιτητές του εξωτερικού, οι οποίοι δεν αυτοσυντηρούνται αλλά στηρίζονται στα πλούτη των οικογενειών τους, η ξενιτιά αποδεικνύεται ένα προνόμιο, μια επένδυση που οδηγεί σε μια μάλλον αναπόφευκτη κοινωνική και οικονομική άνοδο.

Η κυρίαρχη λοιπόν προσέγγιση της ξενιτιάς ως βάσανου και καημού ραγίζει μόλις λάβουμε ύποψη μας τις ταξικές της αποχρώσεις. Αλλο πράγμα η ξενιτιά για αυτούς οι οποίοι έχουν τη δυνατότητα να πηγαινοέρχονται στην Ελλάδα όποτε τους καπνίσει, και άλλη υπόθεση για αυτούς οι οποίοι αδυνατούν να ταξιδεύουν λόγω βιοποριστικών αναγκών. Με το να εντοπίζω την ταξική διάσταση της ξενιτιάς δεν σημαίνει όμως ότι προτείνω έναν απλουστευτικό δυϊσμό που διαμοιράζει στέρηση και κακουχίες ανάλογα με το πάχος των τραπεζικών καταθέσεων του κάθε ξενιτεμένου. Αντίθετα, θα ήθελα να επαναπροσδιορίσω την ξενιτιά σαν ένα πολύπλοκο φαινόμενο το οποίο, ταυτόχρονα με τις δυσκολίες που συνεπάγεται, κυοφορεί και έναν δημιουργικό αγώνα για το κτίσιμο μιας ζωής κάπου αλλού, έξω από την Ελλάδα.

Υλικές και ψυχικές επενδύσεις σε σημαντικές σχέσεις, σε ένα επάγγελμα, σε μια επιστήμη, επανακαθορίζουν τη σχέση του μετανάστη τόσο με τον κοινωνικό του περίγυρο όσο και με την Ελλάδα. Οι άμεσοι κοινωνικοί χώροι του μετανάστη επενδύονται με νόημα ή γίνονται πεδία δράσης και δημιουργίας. Αυτά τα πεδία είναι ποικίλα και πολλές φορές ενσωματώνουν στρώματα της φιλοξενούσας κοινωνίας. Αυτού του είδους η εγγραφή του «ξένου» χώρου ως οικείου και ως κέντρου βαρύτητας καθημερινών δραστηριοτήτων ανατρέπει την αντίληψη της γενέθλιας γης ως κέντρου και τελεολογικού σταθμού επιστροφής. Αυτό άλλωστε μας επισημαίνει πειστικά και η Δήμητρα Σιδέρη στο μυθιστόρημά της Πατρίδες που καταγράφει την υιοθέτηση του «ξένου» μεταναστευτικού χώρου ως μόνιμου τόπου διαμονής. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο η έννοια της πατρίδας πολλαπλασιάζεται και ο μύθος που ενσωματώνει την επιστροφή σαν ένα αναπόσπαστο μέρος της διασπορικής εμπειρίας καταρρίπτεται.

Το να αυτοχαρακτηρίζεται κανείς Ελληνας (πρώτης, δεύτερης, τρίτης γενιάς) και να έχει μια πολλαπλή συνείδηση πατρίδων ανατρέπει την παραδοσιακή αντίληψη η οποία αντιμετωπίζει τη σχέση ταυτότητας και χώρου σαν μια φυσική και, θα έλεγε κανείς, ιερή οντότητα. Ανατρέπει επίσης και μια ορισμένη ανθρωπολογική οπτική της οποίας οι καταβολές θα μπορούσαν να εντοπισθούν στην πράξη του τεμαχισμού του γεωγραφικού άτλαντα σε ευδιάκριτες περιοχές οι οποίες σηματοδοτούν αντίστοιχες ομοιογενείς μονάδες κουλτούρας. Σύμφωνα με αυτή τη λογική, μια πολιτιστική ταυτότητα περιχαράζεται σε ένα γεωγραφικό (και στην περίπτωση του έθνους - κράτους σε ένα πολιτικογεωγραφικό) χώρο και είναι αυθεντική μόνο σε οργανική σχέση με τη συγκεκριμένη αυτόχθονη εδαφική πραγματικότητα. Δεν μας ξαφνιάζει λοιπόν το γεγονός ότι η μεταφορά της ρίζας και του δένδρου έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί πλουσιοπάροχα για να αποδώσουν αυτήν τη σχέση. Ή ότι ο θάνατος στα ξένα δεν μπορούσε παραδοσιακά να νοηθεί ανεξάρτητα από το εθνικό χώμα. Οπως εύστοχα εντοπίζει η Liisa Η. Malkki: «Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in death, too, native soils are important».

Είναι σημαντικό να τονίσω ότι ο λόγος που αποδίδει αυθεντικότητα στη γηγενή ταυτότητα είναι ριζικά ιεραρχικός. Παραθέτει μια δυαδική ασυμμετρική αντίληψη μεταξύ του αυτόχθονου και του ετερόχθονου. Το πρώτο αντιμετωπίζεται σαν γνήσιο και αληθινό, ενώ το δεύτερο υποβαθμίζεται σαν μπασταρδεμένο και ατελές. Είναι μέσα σε αυτό το πλαίσιο στο οποίο πρέπει να τοποθετήσουμε τα παράπονα πολλών Ελληνοαμερικανών ότι στον ελλαδικό χώρο ο αυτοχαρακτηρισμός τους ως Ελλήνων αντιμετωπίζεται με συγκατανευτικό, συχνά χλευαστικό ή ακόμη και απορριπτικό τρόπο.

http://www.tovima.gr/opinions/article/?aid=92463

From the archive – Greek Independence Day Celebration in Detroit Greektown – March 25, 1929

From the archive, of interest to historians of urban Greek America and U.S. Greek towns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNtgGnmA77k

I thank Artemis Leontis for bringing this rare footage to my attention

Thoughts on Greek American Studies, Greek America, and Diaspora

Rethinking Greece: 
Yiorgos Anagnostou on Greek America, Greek American studies and the diasporic perspective as syncretism and hybridity

http://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/index.php/rethinking-greece/6104-rethiniking-greece-yiorgos-anagnostou-on-greek-america,-greek-american-studies-and-the-diasporic-prspctive-as-syncretism-and-hybridity

The Greek American Studies Resource Portal – Spring 2016 Update

Collected by the MGSA Transnational Studies Committee

Compiled and formatted by Kostis Kourelis

Please note the new categories "Museum" and "Oral History"

AUTOBIOGRAPHY-MEMOIR-BIOGRAPHY

a) Autobiographies, Memoirs, Biographies

Kourvetaris, George. 2013. Sharing My Life’s Journey: A Memoir. Saline, MI: McNaughton & Gunn, 2013.

George Kourvetaris’s memoir covers the years from 1933 to 2010. It includes his formative years in Greece prior to his coming to Chicago in 1958 to continue his education. He received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and became a professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Included in the 203-page book are photographs of himself and his family, a vita of his years at Northern Illinois University (1969-2006), and an article that was written about him by Elaine Thomopoulos for The National Herald.

FILM

c) Film Scholarship

Anagnostou, Yiorgos. 2015. “Within the Nation and Beyond: Diaspora Belonging in My Life in Ruins.” Filmicon: Journal of Greek Film Studies, Issue 3, October. Available online, http://filmiconjournal.com/journal/article/pdf/2015/3/1

This essay undertakes a transnational analysis of gendered diaspora belonging in the Hollywood film My Life in Ruins (Petrie, 2009). The departure point for analysis is a cultural crisis, namely the dissonance experienced by the film’s heroine, and more broadly among Greek Americans ‘returning’ to Greece, between the yearning to belong and the actual experience frustrating this longing. I argue that the film resolves this crisis when it posits diaspora as an object of nationalist discourse, a position that enables the heroine to identify with the nation. I show that the film represents an example of unofficial nationalism that reproduces key ideological tenets of the Greek official national narrative of belonging. The film performs additional cultural work beyond representing diaspora as an object of nationalism to also portray it as a historical subject acting upon and beyond the nation. First, it registers diaspora agency to mediate Greece and the United States and reconfigure social realities within the former. Second, it moves beyond the nationalist polarity of us/them to accommodate diaspora’s transnational affinities and multiple identifications. The film invites us therefore to think of diaspora’s belonging simultaneously within and outside nationalism, alerting our conversations with multicultural publics yearning for deep belonging with Greece.

Keywords: diaspora nationalism, en/gendering diaspora, Greece in Hollywood, Greek Americans, diaspora–homeland encounters, transnational Modern Greek studies

GENDER

Patrona, Theodora D. 2015. “Forgotten Female Voices of the Greek Diaspora in the Unites States.” The Journal of Modern Hellenism 31, pp. 87-100.

http://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/23

GLOBALIZATION, TRANSNATIONALISM, DIASPORA

Christou, Anastasia and King Russell. 2014. Counter-Diaspora: The Greek Second Generation Returns 'Home.' Harvard University Press.

b) Reviews

Patrona, Theodora. 2015. “Evangelia Kindinger, Homebound: Diaspora Spaces and Selves in Greek American Return Narratives.” European Journal of American Studies, Reviews 2015-3, document 8.
http:// ejas.revues.org/10851

HISTORY

a) Community and Regional Histories

Rassogianis, Alexander, 2015. “The Entrepreneurial Spirit of the Greek Immigrant in Chicago, Illinois: 1900-1930.” Published by iUniverse, Bloomington, IN. 2015.

The book focuses on the price to opening a business by immigrants, which involved hardship, long hours of hard work, self-sacrifice and perseverance. The Greek immigrants, being individualistic, were willing to take the risks in order to avoid working for others and ensure the independence of their livelihood. The author shares how they were able to achieve this feat amidst the difficulties.

Diacou, Stacy. 2013. My Generation of Achievers: Their Social History, Bloomington, Ind: iUniverse.

Greeks in America during the latter half of the twentieth century had a mission to establish themselves as valuable contributors to society. Hundreds of them achieved success, building businesses, communities, and relationships that still stand today. Journalist Stacy Diacou documented their achievements in her social columns for Chicago's Greek Press newspaper, and My Generation of Achievers is a compilation of her writings. Beginning in 1969, Diacou showed how these brave souls left their homeland and jumped over the hurdles of language barriers, joblessness, and empty pockets to create a better world for their children in the United States of America. Diacou profiles specific, treasured individuals in Chicago and reveals how they moved through society with grace and perseverance. Her columns document the fashion of the time, social gatherings, and the inner workings of Chicago's Greek American community up until 1996. From luncheons and history lectures to celebrity sightings and church youth groups, Diacou captures a snapshot in time of one of America's most successful immigrant groups. Fun, insightful, and entertaining, My Generation of Achievers opens the door to a fascinating aspect of Greek-American history

c) History and Historiography Scholarship

Anagnostou, Yiorgos. 2015. “Re/collecting Greek America: Reflections on Ethnic Struggles, Success, and Survival,” The Journal of Modern Hellenism 31, pp. 148-175.

http://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/26/28

IDENTITY AND IMMIGRATION

Kitroeff, Alexander. 1993. “Greek-American Ethnicity, 1919-1939,” in To Hellenikon: Studies in Honor of Speros Vryonis, Jr., ed. Jelisaveta Stanojevich Allen, Christos P. Ioannides, John S. Langdon, Stephen W. Reinert, Milton V. Anastos, and Andreas Kyprianides, vol. 2, pp. 353-371, New Rochelle: Aristide D. Caratzas.

LITERATURE AND POETRY

a) Fiction

Liontas, Annie. 2015. Let Me Explain You, New York: Scribner

b) Fiction Reviews

Bakopoulos, Natalie. 2015. “Let Me Explain You by Annie Liontas,” San Francisco Gate (August 1, 2015)

http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Let-Me-Explain-You-by-Annie-Liontas-6417805.php

c) Poetry

Economou, George. 2015. Unfinished and Uncollected: Finishing and Unfinished Poems of C.P. Cavafy and Uncollected Poems and Translations. Shearsman Books.

e) Literature and Poetry Scholarship

Gerasimus Katsan. 2015. “Greek America: Literary Representation and Immigrant Narratives in Papazoglou-Maragaris and Petrakis,” The Journal of Modern Hellenism 31, pp. 101-119.

http://journals.sfu.ca/jmh/index.php/jmh/article/view/24/26

MUSEUM [NEW CATEGORY]

Greek-American Historical Museum of Washington State

Website: www.greeksinwashington.org
Contact: John Nicon, President
email: greeksinwa@gmail.com

The museum was established in 2009 with the mission of establishing an organized means of collecting, preserving and making available the history and culture of the Greek-American community in Washington State. The Museum, also known as Greeks in Washington, presently operates as a “museum without walls” with online exhibits in the categories of Making a Living, Making a Home, and Keeping Community. The primary activity of the Museum is to conduct video interviews which become online exhibits with text, photos and video segments. By the end of 2014, there were over 130 video interviews conducted and 95 exhibits posted on the site. The Museum has established an archive to house donated or loaned items which include textiles, film, video, DVDs, costumes, clothing, bound volumes, printed materials, photos, slides, newspapers, documents, art work, audio recordings and other artifacts. These materials are available for inspection and research purposes. The original videos are on file but not made public.
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Greek Museum of Berrien County, Michigan

Annunciation and St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church

18000 Behner Rd., New Buffalo, MI, Tel.: 630 569 2078

http://www.greekmuseumofberriencounty.com/

Available for viewing after church on Sunday or contact: Elaine Thomopoulos at Thomop@msn.com or 630 569-2078 for individual or group tours.

Through compelling vintage photos, as well as colorful artifacts, costumes and textiles, the "Greeks of Berrien County Exhibit" brings to life the history of the Greeks in Berrien County -- from the early 1900s to the present.
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Hellenic American Cultural Center and Museum of Oregon and SW Washington

Fr. Elias Stephanopoulos Center, 2nd Floor

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral
3131 NE Glisan St.
Portland, OR 97232
http://www.hellenicamericancc.org/

Open Tuesday 11 am -3pm, Saturdays 2 pm-5pm, Sundays noon-1pm. Call 503-858-8567 to arrange a tour.

The museum was established in 2006 to gather, preserve, and share knowledge of the Hellenic (Greek) American experience in Oregon and SW Washington, to celebrate the rich cultural traditions brought to this region by Hellenes, and to honor the activities and accomplishments of Hellenic Americans.
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Hellenic Cultural Museum of Salt Lake City

279 S 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, Tel: 801-359-4163

The museum emphasizes the personal aspect of the immigrants, whose presence in Utah dates back as far as 1870. Their and their descendants' struggles, achievements, social life and tragedies are reflected through displays of clothing, costumes, artifacts, photographs, and personal histories.
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Hellenic Museum of Michigan

67 E. Kirby, Detroit, MI 48202, Tel: 313 871-4100, Email: HellenicMI@gmail.com

Limited hours during renovation. Call to schedule an appointment.

The museum, founded in 2009, chronicles the struggles, triumphs and contribution of a vibrant Greek immigrant community’s journey to Michigan. Their legacy is recorded and preserved through artifacts, oral histories, documents and photographs.
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National Hellenic Museum

333 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 6066, Tel. 312 655-1234
https://www.nationalhellenicmuseum.org
Open every day except Monday

The National Hellenic Museum, founded in 1983, is dedicated to displaying and celebrating the cultural contributions of Greeks and Greek-Americans. The museum maintains a collection or artifacts and ephemera and has an extensive collection of oral histories. Their library has books in Greek and English and provides access to the oral history collection.
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St. Fotios Greek Orthodox National Shrine

41 St. George Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084, Tel.: 904-829-8205, Fax: 904-829-8707

Hours of Operation: Monday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Sunday 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine, an institution of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, is dedicated to the first colony of Greek people who came to America in 1768. The Shrine consists of exhibits depicting the life of early Greeks in America and the development of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, and the St. Photios Chapel.

ORAL HISTORY [NEW CATEGORY]

Queens College Hellenic-American Oral History Project: Greek http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/DSS/Sociology/GreekOralHistory/Pages/Interviews.aspx On the Internet.

“Features recorded oral history interviews of immigrants and American-born Greeks. The library contains personal narratives about ethnic and racial identities, as well as profiles of Greek American administrators, artists, businessmen and -women, politicians, professionals, students, and workers. Additional interviews will be added as they become available.”
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National Hellenic Museum

http://www.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/

Has over 300 histories covering Chicago, Tarpon Springs, Colorado, NY, Virginia/D.C., Berrien County, Michigan and others.

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Berrien County Historical Association in Berrien Springs, Michigan

http://www.berrienhistory.org/arch.html

Fifty interviews of Greeks who made their home in Berrien County, Michigan or who vacationed there. (These oral histories are also available at the National Hellenic Museum).

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Grand Rapids Public Library. Grand Rapids, Michigan

Collection 277 contains material gathered for an exhibit in the 1980s at the public museum.

"Greek-American Family: Continuity through Change” It includes oral histories of the following: Boxes 10-15. Masters. Boxes 16-21 Usage copies (UT.GH#), Box 10 and 16, UT-GH.1 Mrs. Christopoulos [could be Sophia, Maria, Wilma - 1981 city directory]. UT-GH.2 George Karaganis (2 tapes). UT-GH.3 Marion Orphan. UT-GH.4 George and Bess Orphan. UT-GH.5 Vestpers Holy Trinity G. O. choir/ UT-GH.6 Maloley (2). UT-GH.7 Marianne and James Sampanis. UT-GH.8 Bicentennial Biennial Clergy: Laity Congress; Young Adult Symposium Tues. July 6, 1976, Philadelophia PA Archbishop Iakovos, H. M. Petrakis speakers. UT-GH.9 1976Switchboard Thalia Cheronis Selz: A Sallas, N Macroidis, Patrakis, Songs of Independenc and Freedom: Denis Mimitreas; Piano: Vasilios Gaitanos, Poem: Dance of the Zalongon, Alex Karanikas, Shepherds of Freedom: The years of war, Petrakis, Songs, Sonnets. UT-GH.10 Six tapes of meetings about the exhibit. UT-GH.11 Clark Afendoulis (2). Box 11 and 17. UT-GH.12 Chris Afendoulos. UT-GH.13 George Afendoulos (2). UT-GH.14 Sam Afendoulos (2). UT-GH.15 Tina Afendoulos (2). UT-GH.16 Steve and Sally Andrinidhes (2). James Zarafonetis. Delia Zarafonetis (2). Cleopatra Sedaris. Steve Frangos. UT-GH.17 Bessie Arrigo. UT-GH.18 Steve Bacalis (2). UT-GH.19Joan and James Bogdan. UT-GH.20 Mary and Paul Bogdan (2). UT-GH.21 Sophia Cachicalis (2). Box 12 and 18. UT-GH.22 Paul and Connie Chardoul. UT-GH.23 Constantine Dallis (2). UT-GH.24 Alex Demar and Delia Zervonitis (2) [zarafonetis?]. UT-GH.25 Alex Demar (3). UT-GH.26.1 Elaine Mitchell, Delia Demar. UT-GH.26.2 and .3 Mrs. Demar. UT-GH.27 Angelo Dimitriou (2). UT-GH.28 Emma Dukis and Eleni Limber. UT-GH.29 Andreas Fortias (2). UT-GH.30 Gounos Sourmelou (2). Box 13 and 19. UT-GH.31 Dean Georgacakes (2). UT-GH.32, 33, 34 Vivian Hampers (7). UT-GH.35 Helen Johnson. UT-GH.36 Athena Jaffas (3). UT-GH.37 Angeline Kachoutis. UT-GH.38 Gus Koukias (2). UT-GH.39 Sam and Jeannette Koukios. Box 14 and 20. UT-GH.40 Tom Kouchoukos (2). UT-GH.41 Andy Limber. UT-GH.4 2Alex Mitchell. UT-GH.43 Elaine Mitchell. UT-GH.44 Terry Monoyios. UT-GH.45 James Nicholas (2). UT-GH.46 Chrysoula Panopoulos (2). UT-GH.47 Christo and Joan Panopoulos. UT-GH.48 Jane Patsakos (2). UT-GH.49 Peter Patsakos (2). UT-GH.50 Ted Sampanes. UT-GH.51 Ted and Linda Sampanis (2). Box 15 and 21. UT-GH.52 Mary Skouras. UT-GH.53 Bill Savara. UT-GH.54 E. Stavrou. UT-GH.55 Irene Stavrou. UT-GH.56Johnny Theodore (2). UT-GH.57 Jim Triant (2). UT-GH.58 Spiro Vlahos. UT-GH.59 Bill Zarafonetis. UT-GH.60 George Zarafonetis. UT-GH.61 James H. Zarafonetis. UT-GH.62 Sharon Zarafonetis. UT-GH.63 Mrs. M. Zazoupoulos. UT-GH.65 Nicoletta and Alexander N. Paranos (2). Boxes 22 (masters) and 23 (usage). UT-GH.64 Mike Zervos (2). 13 more tapes of music, lectures

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Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia

http://gahsp.org/project/interview-series/
Video Interview Series

Harry Papadakes, George Gatsoulas, Despina “Bessie” Zantopoulos, Nicholas L. Gianopulos, Bertha “Panagiotsa” Rorres, Nick Tsirakoglou, Demetrios Constantelos, Pan-Macedonian Past Presidents Dialogue, Gust Kraras, Eleni Zarbalas-Pantaridis, Jerry Karapalides, Peter C. Bandy, Gary MOssaides, Mary Parras, Gus Andy, Vasilis Karasavas, Steven J. Vlahos, Nick Pappas, Klio Kokolis, Michael Nicolaou, Jarry Kahrilas, Evangelos Frudakis, Anastasia Bandy, Augie Pantellas, Thomas Gotzis, John Sporidis, Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos, Andreas Boukidis, Vasilos Voutsakis, Christina Vraim, John Onassis, Harry Seiss, John Manios,

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University of Missouri-St. Louis UMSL Project

http://umslgreekstudies.wordpress.com/community-resources/the-oral-history-project/

The Greek Professorship at UMSL is investigating the history of the St. Louis Greek-American Community. Students will be interviewing members of the community and research materials will be deposited in the Mary E. Critzas Archives of the Greek Culture Center on the campus of UM-St. Louis.

For information contact Dr. Michael Cosmopoulos, Hellenic Government-Karakas Foundation Professor of Greek Studies, University of Missouri-St. Louis, tel. (314) 516-6241, e-mailcosmopoulos@umsl.edu

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The Youngstown State University Oral History Collection,

http://www.maag.ysu.edu/oralhistory/oral_hist.html

http://jupiter.ysu.edu/search/dGreek+Americans+--+Ohio/dgreek+americans+ohio/1,4,18,B/limit?L=&B=&M=t&NAME=A&VALUE=&W=&Ya=&Yb=

The collection began in 1974. It preserves first-person narratives of northeastern Ohioans who have participated in, or closely observed events which have significantly affected both the state and nation.
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Stockton University Oral History Project

Stockton University Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies. Oral History Project supervised by Tom Papademetriou. Collecting and transcribing oral histories. Nothing available online yet (as of 2016)

http://intraweb.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=69&pageID=179
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Tsakopoulos Collection

University Library California State Univ. Sacramento

http://library.csus.edu/tsakopoulos/oralhistory.asp

List of interviewees and the year each was recorded:

1. Bill Rotas, 2006. 2. Speros Sarlis, 2006. 3. Irene Compoginis, 2006. 4. George Tzikas, 2006. 5. George Mackis and Elaine Mackis, 2006. 6. Vaso Mayer, 2006. 7. Dr. Stratis Zampathas, 1984. 8. Marie Brauou, 1985. 9. Presbytera Eleutheria Dogias, 1985. 10. Father Demetrius Dogias, 1985. 11. Eugene Fotos, 1984 & 2005. 12. Tony Stathos, 2006. 13. Mary Stathos, 2006. 14. Helen Caparis, 2005. 15. Mary Lydon, 2006. 16. Bess Anton Feil, 2006. 17. Stella Demas and George Ballis, Louis Demas, and Marilyn Demas, 2005. 18. Julie Mamalis, 2006. 19. Nicholas Kerhoulas, 2005. 20. Gus Petrakas, 2005. 21. Koula Poulos, 2006. 22. Vasilis Verrios, 2006. 23. JoAnne Alexia Demas Horrell, 2006. 24. Jim Vallas, 2006. 25. Louis Demas, 2005. 26. Zita Vlavianos Hosmer, 2013
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State Historical Society of Missouri

S0644 Greek American World War II Oral History Project, 2000

http://shs.umsystem.edu/stlouis/manuscripts/s0644.pdf

“This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact usatshsresearch@umsystem.edu.

Taped interviews with Greek-American men of St. Louis who fought in World War II, conducted in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Greece's entry into the war.”

Box 1. Series 1 - Master Tapes. T644.1 Spiro Abadgis T644.2 Trefont Abadgis T644.3 Spiro Boudoris, 8/10/00 T644.4 Emmanuel Cassimantis T644.5 Thomas A. Ginos, 5/5/00 T644.6 Bill Glastris, 7/8/00 T644.7 Leon Golfin, 3/24/00 T644.8 Tasso Karides T644.9 George Liringis, 4/20/00 T644.10 George Nicozisan, 8/2/00 T644.11 Bill Papageorge, 6/28/00 T644.12 Babe Pappas, 7/16/00 T644.13 George Pappas, 6/21/00 T644.14 Nicholas Stamulis, 7/12/00 T644.15 Elias B. Vlanton, 3/12/00. Box 2. Series 2 - Copies. T644.1 Spiro Abadgis T644.3 Spiro Boudouris, 8/10/00 T644.4 Emmanuel Cassimatis T644.5 Thomas A. Ginos, 5/5/00 T644.6 Bill Glastris, 7/8/00 T644.7 Leon Golfin, 3/24/00 T644.8 Tasso Karides T644.9 George Liringis, 4/20/00 T644.10 George Nicozisan, 8/2/00 T644.11 Bill PapaGeorge, 3/12/00 T644.13 George Pappas, 6/21/00 T644.15 Elias B. Vlanton, 3/12/00
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Utah Division of State History, Utah Department of Heritage and Arts. http://www.heritage.utah.gov/apps/history/findaids/B01644/B1644.xml

The Helen Z. Papanikolas Oral Histories Collection, 1969-1974 A Register of the Collection

Persons interviewed : Angelos, Georgia. Cononelos, Louis. Cozakas, Efrosini. Demiris, Olympia. Demiris, Peter. Jerefos, Katherine. Kisamitakis, Athena. Klekas, Wilma Mageras. McMichael, Millie Mageras. Papanikolas, Helen. Parchinski, Michelle. Paulos, Theodore. Stephanopoulos, George. Ypsilantis, Eugenia. Zamboukos, Virginia Latsis
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Greeks in Washington

http://www.greeksinwashington.org/collections/memories.html

Oral histories from the Greek-American community in Washington State.
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IHRC Univ. of Minneapolis Includes over 100 oral histories from Daughters of Penelope http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/support/greek.php
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Got Greek –The Next Generation Initiative’s National Student Survey

“The Got Greek” National Student Survey is the first national online survey of American university students of Greek ancestry”

http://gotgreek.hellenext.org/about-the-got-greek-student-survey/about/

http://gotgreek.hellenext.org/category/interviews/ On line interviews
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University of Kentucky Libraries: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History

http://kentuckyoralhistory.org/collections/ethnicity-lexington-multi-culturality-oral-history-project

Includes Greeks.
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Smithsonian Archives of Art.

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews

Includes transcribed interviews with several Greek-American artists.
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Library of Congress American Folk Live Center

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0506-8/voices.html

Arete: The Memories of Greek-American Women: An Oral History Collection Project. This collection contains oral history interviews with people of Greek descent living in the United States, collected during 1987-88.
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Library of Congress American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

http://www.loc.gov/collection/federal-writers-project/?q=greek

Life histories compiled and transcribed by staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Works Project Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. There are several Greeks among them. Transcripts are on line.
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Library of Congress Veterans History Project www.loc.gov/vets/‎

Library of Congress. American Folklife Center Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cmnshtml/

Includes a few oral histories of Greeks of Whitesville or about Greeks of Whitesville
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USC Shoah Foundation

http://sfi.usc.edu

Audio-visual interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. Includes Greek Jews.
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Wayne State University, The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs

Folklore archive that includes correspondence and many oral histories from the Greek-American Family Project. See the finding aid at https://www.reuther.wayne.edu/files/UR001731.pdf. The

Reuther Library also has miscellaneous other Greek materials which can be searched on that library’s home page athttps://www.reuther.wayne.edu/.

Notably, the archive includes interviews with historian Dan Georgakas
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Search Engines

ArchiveGrid: https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/

OCLC: https://www.oclc.org/home.en.html

WorldCat: http://www.worldcat.org/

BLOGS AND RESOURCE PORTALS

a) Blogs

Apollo Papafrangou, Fiction in a Greek-American Voice,

https://apollopapafrangou.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/room-for-one-more-community-friendship-greekamerican-culture-mondayblogs/?fb_action_ids=10207542124814808&fb_action_types=news.publishes

CANADA

Greek Canadian History Project
http://archives.library.yorku.ca/gchp/

The Greek Canadian History Project (GCHP) is an initiative designed and committed to identifying, acquiring, digitizing, preserving, and providing access to primary source materials that reflect the experiences of Canada’s Greek immigrants and their descendants. The collected sources, currently in the hands of private individuals and organizations in the Greek-Canadian community, will be placed in the care of the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections of York University Libraries. Recently, we had a large donation of materials from a politically and culturally active member of Toronto's Greek community. Also, the GCHP was invited to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Canadian Institute in Greece (Athens) for presentations on the project's goals and progress. Additionally, for a full week in May 2014, the GCHP had a large display of historical materials related to the Greek immigrant experience set up in the main foyer of Toronto City Hall.