“My Aunt Bessie” by Elaine Thomopoulos

I read my newspaper, oblivious to what was happening around me. Suddenly a woman knocking on my car window made me jump. "Excuse me. I have to back up. Can you move your car so I can get out?" 

Had I seen a ghost? The woman looked like my Aunt Bessie, who had passed away many years ago. After I pulled out to make room for this woman to move her car, tears flooded my eyes. I remembered Aunt Bessie and missed her. Yes, this woman looked exactly like her. Her features were chiseled as if she were a Greek goddess. She had soft brown eyes and fine grey hair pulled back in a bun, showing her high and perfectly shaped forehead. The only thing that differed was that she did not have the high cheekbones that my Aunt Bessie had, cheekbones like a model's.

 Aunt Bessie is in the middle, with her two sisters, to the left Emily, to the right, Pauline.

Aunt Bessie was a quiet, dignified woman with a lot of energy and a heart of gold. She spoke in a soft velvet-sounding voice, putting you at ease with her gentle interest and concern. 

A child of immigrants growing up during the depression, married at 17, she faced life with strength and inner resolve. I got to know her best when she worked at my parents’ grocery store. She worked not only to help my mother (her sister) and her brother-in-law, but also to supplement the family income. Admired by her customers, she put her heart and soul into her work. A real treat for us when she stayed overnight at our home so she would not have to make the long commute back to her home. Our whole family loved and admired her so much. 

My thought went to Aunt Bessie's funeral, with family and friends paying tribute to this wonderful woman. The priest at the funeral spoke about her but instead of comforting me his flippant words made my heart ache, and my mouth feel like vinegar. He relegated her to the background by casting her in the traditional subservient Greek woman's role. He loftily related how she assisted her husband and three children in their accomplishments, not mentioning what she herself had accomplished. He did not bring out the qualities that made Aunt Bessie the person she was. I will always remember her for the person she was––a strong, vibrant woman whose memory lives on in my heart.

April 2021

Two examples of the "Growing Up Greek" Genre

I am really disappointed that the "Bridge" (https://bridge.fairead.net/bridge01) project never took off, despite the promising start. Its development was beyond my control. But let us not forget some important contributions featured in the site, including two in the "grow up Greek" genre. See the pieces by Zeese Papanikolas and George Karnezis:

https://bridge.fairead.net/papanikolas-hyphenated

https://bridge.fairead.net/karnezis-parthenon

Great material for teachers, researchers, and the broad public.

Writing for the Local Greek American Community_Manolis Anagnostakis’s «Επιτύμβιον» (Ethos Magazine, Fall 2020)

“I am not a professional poet,” Manolis Anagnostakis (1925-2005) declared in an interview. Poetry for him was a craft he practiced occasionally; one means of expression. Anagnostakis was also a publisher of a journal, an editor of prose and poetry collections, and a public writer and speaker. He published book reviews and translations, using his wide-ranging writing to speak about the social and political issues that confronted post–World War II Greece. 

“Epitaph” (Επιτύμβιον), the poem that I discuss here, belongs to the collection The Target (1969-1970), published during the Greek junta (1967-1974). I chose it as an example of the moral and political concerns that Anagnostakis brought to the forefront of his work, and also because it showcases his irony and prosaic style. 

Epitaph 

You died and you, too, became: the good one. 

The brilliant human being, the family man, the patriot. 

Thirty-six wreaths accompanied you, three homilies by vice presidents, 

Seven resolutions on the wonderful services that you have rendered. 

Ah, Lavrenti, only I knew what scum you were, What counterfeit, your whole life a lie. 

Sleep in peace, I will not disturb your serenity. 

(I, living a whole life of silence will pay a king's ransom for it, not the price of your sorry skin.) 

Sleep in peace. As you always were in life: the good, The brilliant human being, the family man, the patriot. 

                           You won’t be the first or the last. 

The choice of the title, Επιτύμβιον, in purist Greek (katharevousa) is not accidental. This register is connected with the official language used by the state and the elites until 1976, when it was abolished, and a contrast between public and private. 

Indeed, the title introduces us to the formal state event described in the first stanza: the state’s recognition of a deceased citizen. Accordingly, the language reads like a pompous official announcement. “Seven resolutions” affirmed the determination of the state to honor this individual. “Three homilies by vice presidents” extolled his virtues. 

In this formulaic farewell, the speaker of the poem directly addresses the deceased, allegedly concurring with the homilies. The deceased was brilliant, an esteemed citizen who embodied the virtues of two veneered institutions, the family and the nation. 

But the second stanza brings about a reversal. The speaker abandons the second-person “you” and instead turns to the confessional first person “I.” As the speaker moves away from the scene of public recognition into his own private thoughts and feelings, his language loses its formality and becomes every day, ordinary, and true. 

The speaker’s revelations paint a picture dramatically opposed to both the deceased’s public image and his opening becomes ironic. The deceased, Lavrentis, was not the honorable person the state ceremony wants him to be. In the eyes of the speaker, he was a scum, a counterfeit, unworthy of public honoring. 

Of course, Lavrentis stands as a symbol of the deceitful everyman. He “won’t be the first or the last.” The speaker doesn’t provide evidence to substantiate his indictment. This is not what interests him. Instead, it’s the revision of history. 

The speaker aims to expose ethical and political hypocrisy, to challenge the promotion of “ideal” social norms (patriotism, family values) for personal gain. He criticizes state officials who join in this game of deception, individuals and power structures who blatantly mislead the public. 

The poem’s sharp irony exposes what the speaker sees as hypocrisy, alerting citizens to show vigilance about the truth of official public memories. Let us attend, the poem instructs, to the knowledge that is at odds with official accounts, to the valuable counter-memories to the statements enshrined in an Επιτύμβιον. 

 

Yiorgos Anagnostou, Director, Modern Greek Program, OSU

Note: Translation of poem into English by Neni Panourgia.

Ενδυναμώνοντας τις σπουδές διασποράς ανά τον κόσμο ως γέφυρα αυτογνωσίας και αλληλοκατανόησης

(Ομιλία στην ημερίδα, “Ενδυναμώνοντας τις γέφυρες μεταξύ των Ελληνικών Πανεπιστημίων και της Ελληνικής Διασποράς”, το οποίο διοργανώθηκε από το Υπουργείο παιδειας και Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών [Ιανουάριος 21, 2021]).

Θα ήθελα να ευχαριστήσω την Ελληνική πολιτεία γι αυτήν την σημαντική πρωτοβουλία και πρόσκληση να συμμετάσχω στην σημερινή εκδήλωση σας. Είμαι ο Γιώργος Αναγνώστου και είμαι κάτοχος της νεοσυσταθείσας έδρας «Μιλτιάδης Μαρινάκης» για την Ελληνική γλώσσα και κουλτούρα στο Πολιτειακό Πανεπιστημίου του Οχάιο των ΗΠΑ. 

Θα ήθελα να σταθώ σε έναν σημαντικό όρο στον τίτλο αυτής της συνεδρίας, στην έννοια της «γέφυρας» και της σημασίας της για την σχέση των Ελλήνων επιστημόνων της διασποράς με τα Ελληνικά πανεπιστήμια καθώς και την Ελληνική κοινωνία. 

Η γέφυρα είναι ένα ζωτικό σύμβολο που προσφέρεται για σκέψεις και δράσεις επικοινωνίας, δημιουργίας συνδέσμων, διάβασης, συνάντησης, και αλληλοκατανόησης. 

Ως πανεπιστημιακός σε Πρόγραμμα Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών στην Αμερική αποτελεί ευθύνη μου εξ ορισμού να δημιουργώ γέφυρες σε πολλαπλά επίπεδα. Γέφυρες με τους φοιτητές μας, γέφυρες ως μέρος της διασποράς στις ΗΠΑ με την τοπική κοινότητα, γέφυρες πίσω με την Ελλάδα, γέφυρες με τον πολιτισμό και τις τέχνες, και την εκπαίδευση. 

Στο Πρόγραμμά μας επιτελούμε αυτές τις λειτουργίες μέσω της διδασκαλίας, της έρευνας, και του ρόλου μας ως διανοούμενοι που απευθύνονται στον κόσμο εκτός του πανεπιστημίου. 

Η διδασκαλία λειτουργεί πολυδιάστατα. Συνδέουμε τους Ελληνοαμερικανούς φοιτητές μας με τις ρίζες τους, και συντελούμε στην κατανόηση του νεοελληνικού πολιτισμού από τους Αμερικανούς φοιτητές μας. Καταπολεμούμε στερεότυπα. Μέσω θερινών εκπαιδευτικών προγραμμάτων που γίνονται στην Ελλάδα και συγκεκριμένα το Πρόγραμμα ΘΥΕΣΠΑ του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών συνδέουμε τους φοιτητές μας με τα Ελληνικά πανεπιστήμια και βιωματικά με τη χώρα μας. 

Αυτά τα προγράμματα λειτουργούν καταλυτικά για τους φοιτητές μας καθώς τους εισαγάγουν σε γνώσεις και εμπειρίες του Ελληνικού πέρα από τις προσωπικές και τις οικογενειακές τους εμπειρίες. Πολλοί φοιτητές περιγράφουν αυτό το άνοιγμα των οριζόντων τους ως μια ριζική πολιτιστική μεταμόρφωση στην σχέση τους με την Ελληνική γλώσσα και κουλτούρα. 

Όσον αφορά την έρευνα, σας απευθύνομαι ως ένας πανεπιστημιακός που έχω αφιερώσει σχεδόν τρεις δεκαετίες στην κατανόηση της Ελληνοαμερικανικής κοινωνίας. Θεωρώ ότι η λειτουργία μου απαιτεί δράσεις πέρα από την ερευνητική καταξίωση στον πανεπιστημιακό χώρο της Αμερικής (ο οποίος και είναι εξαιρετικά απαιτητικός). Ως πολίτης της διασποράς κρίνω απαραίτητη την επικοινωνία της έρευνας μου τόσο με το ευρύτερο Αμερικανικό, Ελληνοαμερικανικό και Ελληνικό κοινό. 

Σε αυτό το εγχείρημα έχω βρει θετική ανταπόκριση από εφημερίδες και περιοδικά στην Ελλάδα όπως το ΒΗΜΑ, τα ΝΕΑ, ο Πολίτης, The Books’ Journal, Marginalia, τα Σύγχρονα Θέματα και άλλα. Επενδύω σε αυτόν τον τομέα ώστε η έρευνα μου να συμβάλλει σαν γέφυρα κατανόησης μεταξύ του Ελληνικού κοινού και των Ελληνοαμερικανών.

Όσον αφορά την σχέση μου με τον χώρο του Ελληνικού Πανεπιστημίου έχω βρει πρόσφορο έδαφος στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο, κυρίως στο τμήμα Μουσειολογίας μέσω του Προγράμματος υποτροφιών της Ελληνικής διασποράς του ιδρύματος Νιάρχου. Ο στόχος ήταν και παραμένει η ανταλλαγή δεξιοτήτων για την δημιουργία ενός μουσείου Ελληνικής διασποράς και μετανάστευσης στην Θεσσαλονίκη. Επίσης τα τελευταία δύο χρόνια συνεργάζομαι με δύο συναδέλφους, επίσης από το Αριστοτέλειο, με σκοπό την επιμέλεια ενός βιβλίου που συγκρίνει την Ελληνοαμερικανική με την Ιταλοαμερικανική εμπειρία. 

Σε αυτό το φόρουμ, σε αυτήν εδώ την γέφυρα επικοινωνίας πού δημιουργήσατε, θα ήθελα να μεταφέρω τα εξής. Πρώτον είναι απαραίτητη η ενδυνάμωση υπαρχόντων και η δημιουργία νέων κέντρων έρευνας της Ελληνικής διασποράς. Εννοώ τις νέες, υπάρχουσες καθώς και υπό διαμόρφωση διασπορές· όχι τις χαμένες πατρίδες. 

Συχνά αναφερόμαστε και εκφράζουμε υπερηφάνεια για τον παγκόσμιο Ελληνισμό αλλά οφείλουμε να αναρωτηθούμε κατά πόσο τον γνωρίζουμε. Υπάρχουν τεράστια κενά στην κατανόησή της έννοιας που αποκαλούμε «παγκόσμιος Ελληνισμός», που αποτελεί μια πολυδιάστατη και πολύπλοκη κοινωνική πραγματικότητα την οποία οφείλουμε να κατανοήσουμε υπεύθυνα μέσω συστηματικής έρευνας και ανταλλαγή καινοτόμων ιδεών. 

Θα ήθελα να τονίσω την αναγκαιότητα των καινοτόμων ιδεών ώστε επιτέλους τα προχωρήσουμε πέρα από κοινοτοπίες και ιδεολογικές απλουστεύσεις. 

Επίσης το θεωρώ χρέος, όπως ανέφερα, να επικοινωνήσουμε αυτήν την γνώση εύληπτα στο ευρύτερο κοινό. Η υπεύθυνη γνώση μας της Διασποράς αποτελεί δημόσιο αγαθό, πηγή αυτογνωσίας και σχεδιασμού πολιτιστικής πολιτικής. 

Δεύτερον, όπως γνωρίζουμε, οι γέφυρες απαιτούν σημαντικούς πόρους, δεξιότητες και σκληρή εργασία όχι μόνο για την δημιουργία τους αλλά και την συντήρησή τους. 

Ως Έλληνες και πανεπιστημιακοί της διασποράς γνωρίζουμε από πρώτο χέρι την τεράστια ενέργεια που απαιτεί η διατήρηση και ανάπτυξη επικοινωνίας και με το Ελληνικό κοινό και με τα Ελληνικά πανεπιστήμια. Υπάρχει ένα όραμα στις γέφυρες που δημιουργούμε και επιθυμούμε περαιτέρω να αναπτύξουμε. Ο τρόπος με τον οποίο η διεθνική κοινότητα των επιστημόνων με την υποστήριξη των θεσμών θα μπορούσαν να συμβάλλουν σε αυτό το πρότζεκτ χρήζει διαλόγου και αξίζει ως πολιτιστική επένδυση. 

Σας ευχαριστώ. 

Γιώργος Αναγνώστου

Our Responsibility in Representing Greek American History _ And Why it Matters

At least two iconic images capture legendary moments of solidarity between Greek Americans and African Americans. One, of course, is that of the late Archbishop Iakovos marching next to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in support for Civil Rights. The other one is a photograph taken at a Greek immigrant diner in Pittsburgh’s Hill District circa 1930s, where the owners are seen serving African American patrons.

This is an important part of the history of Greek American–African American encounters that needs to be told, discussed, amplified, and developed.

But to have these photographs alone posted in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing does disservice to the anti-racist movement. It hides other instances when Greek Americans vocally opposed Iakovos's advocacy of Civil Rights. It silences other instances where Greek Americans opposed Greek immigrant/African American solidarities. And much more...

The publication of these iconic photographs without the acknowledgment of the multiple facets of the Greek American/African American story is absolutely misplaced, disrespectful, and dangerous in today's context. It produces ethnic amnesia and encourages ethnic celebrationism. In doing so it contributes to missing a historical opportunity for genuine self-reflection.

Ethnic self-patting on the back is disingenuous and hypocritical. What we urgently need in this heartbreaking moment is to find the courage for an open discussion about the ways in which sectors of European Americans, including Greek Americans, have contributed (and are contributing in direct and indirect ways) to the making of racial hierarchies in the United States. To transform the ways we understand ourselves in our aim to make our country a better Union.

Jewish Americans are leading the way. We cannot afford to be passive observers or merely issue general statements of support. We must indeed decide on which side we are on and identify concrete ways to act to better our country.

June 3, 2020

Bibliography (in Progress) about Greek American–African American Encounters

The urgency of these days provides the context to learn about Greek Americans in connection to African Americans

Sources: Documentaries, novels, short stories, autobiography, biography, commentaries, book reviews, scholarship

• Mini-documentary, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DziGTSRMQic&t=193s

• Dan Georgakas, "Black Metropolis," chapter in his book, My Detroit: Growing Up Greek and American in Motor City
Review by Nicholas Alexiou, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/475991/pdf

• George Pelecanos, The Turnaround
For a review see, http://immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/2013/12/greek-americans-and-african-americans.html

• Harry Mark Petrakis, A Tale of Color
For commentary see, http://www.newdiaspora.com/a-tale-of-color/

• Apollo Papafrangou, https://www.apollopapafrangou.net/category/african-american/

• Yiorgos Anagnostou, "Do the Right Thing: Identities as Citizenship in U.S. Orthodox Christianity and Greek America."
https://ergon.scienzine.com/article/articles/do-the-right-thing

• George Lipsitz, Midnight at the Barrelhouse
The Johnny Otis Story
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/midnight-at-the-barrelhouse

• Athanasios Grammenos, https://www.thenationalherald.com/archive_church/arthro/the_late_archbishop_iakovos_u_s_greece_relations-19342/

and

• “The African American Civil Rights Movement and Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America,” Journal of Religion and Society 18 (2016): 1–19.

May 30, 2020

Diaspora Literacy_The New Frontier

• Diaspora books translated into Greek.

• Novels about diaspora in Greek win European literary prizes.

• Diaspora poetry featured in Greek literary journals.

• Diaspora documentaries competing in film festivals in Britain and Greece.

• Diaspora films shown in Europe.

• Diaspora music performed everywhere.

There can be no meaningful conversation (and processes of evaluation) in all of the above without knowledge of the histories and cultures of the diaspora.

Hence the necessity for a diaspora cultural literacy across the diasporas and Greece.

In other words, it is necessary for Greek and diaspora institutions––schools, modern Greek programs everywhere, journalism, museums, literary and cultural criticism––to embrace a diasporic framework to discuss Greek cultural production.

Περί Διασπορικής Ετερογένειας: ΄Ενα Ελληνοαμερικανικό Παράδειγμα

(Το παράδειγμα αυτό προσφέρεται ως παράθεμα στα πλαίσια ενός ευρύτερου άρθρου μου για το θέμα της διασποράς, υπό δημοσίευση.)

Εμπειρικές μελέτες καταδεικνύουν ότι η διασπορά αποτελεί ένα ετερογενές κοινωνικό πεδίο. Αναγνωρίζεται σαν ένα πεδίο δράσης όπου οι ταυτότητες δημιουργούνται σε συνάρτηση με διάφορες (ταξικές, έμφυλες, πολιτιστικές) συνιστώσες. Στην μεθόριο των απεργιακών κινητοποιήσεων στην Αμερικανική Δύση στις αρχές του εικοστού αιώνα για παράδειγμα, βιομηχανικοί μετανάστες-εργάτες από την νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη βιώνουν την καπιταλιστική εκμετάλλευση στο μεδούλι τους και μυούνται στην ιδεολογία του ταξικού αγώνα, επιτελώντας την μετάβαση από τον αγροτικό γενέθλιο χώρο στην Αμερικανική βιομηχανική νεοτερικότητα. Γίνονται Αμερικανοί με ένα συγκριμένο τρόπο: συναντούν και υιοθετούν τις αρχές και πρακτικές του Αμερικανικού εργατικού κινήματος. Μαθαίνουν να αγαπούν το μπέιζμπολ. Αλλάζουν κάποιες προγονικές συνήθειες ενώ διατηρούν άλλες. Έλληνες μετανάστες εργάτες αναγνωρίζουν αυτές τις μεταβάσεις, και διαμορφώνονται ως Ελληνοαμερικανοί, το οποίο και δηλώνουν (1).

Ταυτόχρονα, Έλληνες μετανάστες επιχειρηματίες της ίδιας περιόδου παίρνουν αποστάσεις από την εργατικά προσδιορισμένη Ελληνοαμερικανική ταυτότητα, και την στιγματίζουν δημόσια. Ακολουθούν ένα εναλλακτικό μοντέλο Αμερικανοποίησης, αυτό της μεσαίας τάξης, που έρχεται σε άμεση σύγκρουση με τα συμφέροντα των εργατών. Σε μία περίοδο όταν οι συνδυαστικές ταυτότητες που ευθέως ανακαλούν την χώρα καταγωγής των μεταναστών (Greek American) θεωρούνται ένδειξη αντιαμερικανισμού, ένα τμήμα της μεσοαστικής τάξης δημιουργεί μια νέα ταυτότητα (American Hellenic) που θέτει σαν κυρίαρχο σημείο διασπορικής ταύτισης την αρχαία Ελλάδα, η οποία αποτελεί και Αμερικανικό ιδεώδες. Τονίζουν έτσι την συμβατότητα του Ελληνικού και του Αμερικανικού σύμφωνα με τις επιταγές του κυρίαρχου αφηγήματος της αφομοίωσης και τα μετασχηματιστικά πλέγματα εξουσίας που θέτει σε κίνηση.

Το παραπάνω παράδειγμα απεικονίζει εμπειρικά δύο συσχετιζόμενες διαδικασίες:

(1) Η διασπορά συνδέεται με την δημιουργία νέων ταυτοτήτων σε διαπραγμάτευση με ιστορικά προσδιορισμένες ζώνες επαφής.

(2) Η παραπάνω επιτέλεση δεν πραγματοποιείται με τον ίδιο τρόπο για το σύνολο της διασποράς. Οι νέες ταυτότητες διαμεσολαβούνται από την ταξική θέση των εμπλεκομένων καθώς και τα όρια ταύτισης που επιτρέπουν κυρίαρχα αφηγήματα στην χώρα υποδοχής. Το Αμερικανικό εργατικό κίνημα και η πίεση για ολική αφομοίωση προσδιορίζουν αντίστοιχα την δημιουργία δύο τουλάχιστον αναδυομένων και αντιμαχόμενων ελληνικών ταυτοτήτων κατά την ιστορική περίοδο που αναφέρθηκα και μέσω των πλεγμάτων εξουσίας που την διαπερνούν. Η εσωτερική διαφοροποίηση είναι το σαφές αποτέλεσμα.

Να θέσω αυτές τις διαδικασίες σε ευρύτερο πλαίσιο: η ταξική, έμφυλη, σεξουαλική και άλλες πολιτικές θέσεις διασπορικών υποκειμένων οδηγούν σε διαφορετικές συνδυαστικές ταυτότητες συμβάλλοντας σε περαιτέρω εσωτερική διαφοροποίηση και ιδεολογικά ρήγματα μέσα στους κόλπους της διασποράς. Η μεθοριακή κατάσταση καθιστά την διασπορά όχι με όρους ομογένειας αλλά όρους ετερογένειας.

Γιώργος Αναγνώστου

Note

1. Anagnostou, Yiorgos. 2019. “Poetry Traversing History: Narrating Louis Tikas in David Mason’s Ludlow.” In Retelling the Past in Contemporarty Greek Literature, Film and Popular Culture. Gerasimus Katsan and Trine Willert eds., 49–66. Lexington Press.

About "Ergon: A Journal about Greek/American Culture"

“Years in the village. My father in America. Not sharing the mornings, the mountains, / the rose bush, the air. Moving past the yellow hills, the blue, the almond blossoms, / separately, in separate countries.” Written by Tryfon Tolides, an award-winning poet, the narrative verses above evoke the fragmentation of a family that immigration may bring about. The father is no longer present in the everyday routines of the family. Not being a part of village life and the surrounding landscape either, his absence looms large. His separation creates a void. He is nowhere to be seen in the midst of rose bush, the yellow hills, and in the background of the blue. His departure creates a drab emptiness, which the poet contrasts dramatically with a landscape filled with colors.

Immigration deeply affects individuals and families, those who leave and those who stay behind. It is an experience of new beginnings, difficult adjustments, filled with longing and anticipation. It is about growing roots as well as building institutions. For the American-born sons and daughters of immigrants, life also presents various challenges. Navigating two worlds, two languages, and two cultures is a common experience for the second generation. Immigration and ethnicity entail complex, often life-defining experiences. Not surprisingly, individuals, like Tolides, often resort to poetry, literature, film, photography, and scholarship to tell their stories, to make sense of the experience, to share it with others, to document it.

In order to convey this literary and cultural experience of immigration and diaspora, I launched almost a year ago, in October 2017, Ergon: Greek/American Arts and Letters, an online, free access journal. I wanted to share with readers news about and analysis of the latest documentaries, films, museum exhibits, or books about Greek America. I invited authors, photographers, and scholars to tell their stories. I encouraged scholars to write about the political and cultural relations between the United States and Greece. I wrote about available archives and shared information about resources where readers can learn about Greek American history and culture.

Ergon is a forum that brings together poetry, literature, interviews, film, photography, book reviews and scholarly analysis written in a manner that is accessible to non-academic audiences. Because this kind of venue was absent, I felt it was my responsibility as an educator to create one so that I could make this knowledge available to the public.

The narratives we tell about Greek America have been proliferating. New documentaries, novels, and films are produced, both in the United States and Greek, sometimes earning prestigious international awards. The novel Dendrites (2015), for instance, a story written in Greek about two generations of a Greek American family in Camden, NJ, received the 2017 European Union Prize of Literature. The film Brides (2004), a compelling visual narration of the phenomenon of early twentieth century arranged marriages between Greece and the United States, won the first prize in the Greek State Film Awards. Ergon informs the public about the availability of these narratives and offers perspectives for understanding their significance.

Ergon is a labor of love. It has received grants by OSU’s Humanities and the Arts Discovery Theme, and the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA). Several individual donors have also contributed financially. These valuable gifts cover the cost associated with editing, copy editing, and website maintenance, making the operation of the journal possible. For this I am grateful.

Please visit us at http://ergon.scienzine.com/.

Yiorgos Anagnostou 

Reprinted from the Modern Greek Program Newsletter, Spring 2009. p. 6.

What Makes a U.S. Greek Orthodox Community?

What makes a community? What are the informal practices, building of institutions, rituals, history, memories, commemorations, words, gatherings, gestures that bring about the sense of sharing and belonging that the notion of community entails?

In this writing I reflect on the idea and a reality of the U.S. Greek Orthodox community. What makes a Greek Orthodox community beyond the obvious connecting thread of faith?  My point of departure is the following tribute to a person recently lost to a local parish in Columbus, Ohio:

“Mike moved his family to Columbus from Youngstown (Campbell) ... . He had a prolific career and was well respected by his peers. And for me, Mike embodied the Youngstown mentality I have known my entire life of a strong work ethic, always giving back to our local community and our church, a passion for maintaining a strong Greek culture, and most importantly the love of family and so many friends.

But it is his work with the Columbus Greek Orthodox church and Greek Olympic Society, where we learned how passionate he was about sustaining a Hellenic community in central Ohio.

Mike truly provided powerful leadership in shaping the direction of our small Greek community from the 1980’s to become the largest church community in our diocese. He spent countless hours with me and our Greek Olympic board members guiding us to choose wisely with our donations for causes locally and internationally and even donating to individuals in an effort to make a difference in their lives.

Mike’s honesty, integrity, humor, witty comebacks, laughter, kindness, compassion for others, work ethic and his drive to do the ‘right thing’ even in times of adversity will forever remain in my heart.” (from the Greek Olympic Society Facebook site) 

These words of praise speak to a particular Greek American ethos: the propensity to work tirelessly for building a community and advancing its interests. The venue of commitment to the community in an educational and cultural organization, namely The Greek Olympic Society, which is attached to the parish and its organizational structure (http://www.greekolympicsociety.org/). The aforementioned ethos is recognized as pervasive feature and fixture to a particular locality. But it extends its operation elsewhere, the midwestern city of Columbus, Ohio, pointing to a wider regional resonance. 

In the Midwest where I live I have been witnessing for many years the many practices that materialize this Greek American world: the volunteering of professional work (architecture, art, cooking expertise) among parishioners toward building–literally and metaphorically–community life; writing for the community's magazine and funding its publication (see, https://immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/2016/02/writing-about-community-publication.html); grass-roots volunteering in festivals, language schools, religious and heritage organizations; acts of charity and cultural philanthropy such as supporting University Modern Greek Studies Programs. 

Notably, this is work regularly performed as a labor of love, mostly undertaken without fanfare, with no expectation of formal recognition. It speaks to a wider historical trajectory: the commitment to an institution, the parish, that historically has functioned not merely as a place of worship, but as a place enabling all sorts of social relations, including, significantly, that of mutual support. It speaks to a deep consciousness that this community matters, a consciousness translated into real involvement.

The power of this ethos is that it is enacted concretely and materially, in countless everyday micro-practices, which also include professional and social support to young people. It is through these social practices that many parishioners and their children experience ethnicity in the United States, in all its cultural expressivity (food, dance, social intimacy) as well as social and economic benefits. Beyond its obvious religious implications, the meaning of being Greek Orthodox in Greek America is shaped through participation in numerous family, social, and professional networks, which often overlap and reinforce each other. 

I am not idealizing community here. Authors and scholars have documented the community’s fault lines, points of rupture, disagreement, exclusion, even outright conflict and fragmentation. 

But I feel it is necessary to point out the operation of an ethos that we cannot afford to ignore if we wish to understand “community” making, and ethnoreligious reproduction in Greek America. 

The commemorative tribute above contributes an answer toward a broader question. How is community produced? And what kind of community is constructed and lived? 

Community in this sense entails the collective recognition of a person’s habitual commitment to an array of virtues–hard work, “giving back” to the community, heritage preservation, faith, family and enduring friendships. These are the normative values offered as a template to be emulated. They are the symbolic boundaries around which the parish constructs itself. 

Offering a definitive answer to the question of community, the tribute raises several others. What is the “right thing” to do as a Greek Orthodox?  How is this negotiated and decided within community politics? How is it practiced?
(see, https://ergon.scienzine.com/article/articles/do-the-right-thing) 

Ethnographers and sociologists are best positioned to explore this terrain. But authors and filmmakers also engage with these questions. I will pursue this subject in future postings, discussing the insights they offer and the vision of a community that they project.    

Yiorgos Anagnostou
June 2–15, 2019

Related publications:
https://immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/2016/12/narrating-community-history.html