Introduction: Decolonizing Antiquity, Heritage Politics, and Performing the Past (original) (raw)
D. Tziovas (ed.), Re-imagining the Past: Greek Antiquity and Modern Greek Culture (Oxford University Press 2014).
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This paper investigates the re-imagining of Greece's ancient past within contemporary contexts, challenging traditional views and engaging with the historical and cultural tensions that have shaped Greek identity. By analyzing the relationship between antiquity and modern Greece through postcolonial frameworks, it calls for a critical examination of how the past has been utilized in various aspects of life, including politics, literature, and tourism. Ultimately, the work emphasizes the importance of liberating Greek history from Eurocentric narratives and exploring its diverse interpretations and meanings.
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Journal of Modern Greek Studies 25:1 (May 2005): 204-208. This multidisciplinary volume draws from a conference entitled "Greece and the Balkans: Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment," held at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom, on June 28–30, 2001. It explored cultural relationships between Greece and other Balkan countries in the areas of language, literature, history, dress, religion, translation, and music (but notably not film). Issues prioritized related to identity and perception among Balkan peoples since the Enlightenment at a time when the historical legacies of nationalism and Cold War communism have seen to it that these peoples look to Europe for a common future and (self)recognition and less so to each other. If, today, Greece sees itself (again) as a guide for its neighbors' European progress and modernization, such posturing seems imperious to recipients of such assistance. While for many Greeks, the desire to relate to the Balkans is seen as taking a step backwards to a prior stage in Greek development. Consequently, the Greek financial, cultural, and political demarche to the Balkans since the 1990s hardly captivates the Greek popular imagination. In a succinct introduction, the editor, Dimitris Tziovas, lays out the cultural, social, and political significance of the Balkans and the scholarly parameters for pursuing its analysis.
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The article explores the impact of Byzantines on Istrian Humanism and Renaissance. In the introduction author describes the alienation of the territories which used to be Eastern and Western part of the Roman Empire and, congruently, the fate of the classical (particularly Greek) heritage in the Dark and Middle Ages in those territories. This is followed by a description of the historical events that led to rapprochement of the East and West, with particular emphasis on the Byzantine exodus to Italy. The author then provides a methodological framework by analyzing the main aspects of „rediscovering” Greek cultural heritage and the influence of the Byzantine immigrants on them. The author than turns to Istria, providing, first, a short summary of Istrian contacts with the Greek cultural heritage throughout history and then the settlement of the Byzantines in Istria. The main part of the article follows, containing a detailed analysis of the described elements of „rediscovering” Greek...
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