International Conference
“Έλλην”, “Ρωμηός”, “Γραικός”: Collective Identifications and Identities
Athens, 19-21 January 2017
Assessment and Final Report
The international conference “Έλλην”, “Ρωμηός”, “Γραικός”: Collective Identifications and Identities, which was organized by the Department of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), was concluded successfully on Saturday 21 January 2017. The conference was part of the festivities for the celebration of the 180 years since the establishment of the NKUA. The organizing committee included the following members of the academic staff of the Department of History and Archaeology: Olga-Katsiardi-Hering (chair), Anastasia Papadia-Lala, Irene Chrestou, Maria Efthymiou, Katerina Nikolaou, Sophia Aneziri, Katerina Konstantinidou, Vasso Seirinidou, Vangelis Karamanolakis, and Spyridon G. Ploumidis. The participants were members of the NKUA as well as other universities and research institutes of Greece and other European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Romania) and the USA. Overall, 43 papers were presented at the conference, divided into three main circles: a. Identifications and identities in the ancient world; b. The empires; c. The long nineteenth century. Drawing on primary sources and theoretical reflections, the papers shed broad light on the complex process of the construction of collective identifications, such as “Έλλην”, “Ρωμηός”, “Γραικός”, which by and large refer to the identity of the Greek as well. The speakers highlighted particularly the overlapping and the intermittent changes in the meaning of these identifications in the stretch of time and the longue durée: from ancient Greece to the Hellenistic and the Byzantine world, and then to the Latin/Venetian and the Ottoman period as well as the first century of the Greek nation-state. And in the stretch of a space that exceeds the limits of metropolitan Greece, and includes the Diaspora and the Balkans. The discussion that followed the presentations of each panel of speakers contributed also substantially to the approach and the better understanding of the multiple identifications in the Greek world. Taking into account the strong scholarly interest in issues of ethnic identity and the great turnout at the conference, the organizing committee is intending to move forward with the publication of the proceedings in the near future.
For further information, please visit: http://hellen-greek-romaios.internationalconference.arch.uoa.gr.
