香港六合彩中特网

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Research Synopsis and Progress

My research explores political imagination in Greece during the current historical moment, often labeled 鈥渢he Greek crisis鈥� (a term I scrutinize and unpack). It focuses on Greece鈥檚 relationship to the West and the re-charting of geographies of imagination and desire which bind 鈥渢he North鈥� to 鈥渢he South鈥�. The project looks especially at the Greek-German component following tensions in public spheres after the 2010 implementation of a bailout deal and associated austerity measures in Greece. My study considers visual culture and photography as realms of political engagement that may illuminate questions of desire, imagination, economy, asymmetry and memory. Likewise, I explore photographs in terms of possibilities of 鈥渃itizenship鈥� and imagination, in relation to what they may reveal about imagining others and enabling political spheres of co-existing with them.

My research involves fieldwork (over 12 months in 2017 and 2018) in three different sites in rural Greece and incorporates social engagements occurring on digital platforms and art exhibitions, as well as conversations among people in Athens. The research is immersed in an array of social domains: villages in highland Crete; Cretan coastal tourist destinations; mainland Greek towns that suffered massacres in the 1940s by German Nazi troops, and which are currently at the center of political debates given reconfigurations of Greece鈥檚 relationship 鈥渢o Germany鈥�; the exhibition Documenta 14 and subsequent discussions and performances that brought 鈥渃olonialism鈥� and 鈥渘eoliberalism鈥� to the forefront of public debate, and so on. In my ethnography, I participate in various social domains and engage with people in various positions. They include interlocutors and friends I have known since 2006, when I first conducted fieldwork in rural Crete; German anti-fascist activists fighting for Germany to pay compensations to families of victims of the 1940s German Occupation; young Greek urbanites trying to make a living in Athens; curators and visitors of museums and memorials dedicated to the 1940s German Occupation; art groups commenting on Greece鈥檚 position in the global hierarchy of value; German tourists returning to the Cretan hamlets they first visited in the 1960s and gifting their old snapshots to the families of those depicted in the pictures.

The images that I explore include archival material from the 1940s, portraits of people鈥檚 ancestors taken by tourists, digital reuses of old images for the purposes of satire and political commentary, family photographs from people鈥檚 walls and wallets, portraits of deceased kin, photos I took during my first fieldwork over 10 years ago and recently brought back, photos taken by my interlocutors and posted on Instagram and Facebook, etc. These images may be carefully stored, decorated, reproduced, deleted, commented upon or even destroyed. They may fuel anger, tenderness, dialogues, and various forms of recollection.

I have currently finished fieldwork and I am writing up a book as well as preparing individual chapters and papers for collective volumes, journals and other venues. I am also co-designing an upcoming course to be jointly taught by the PhotoDemos team at 香港六合彩中特网 Anthropology in the Spring Term. For a list of talks and other events I have already organized and given see 鈥渄issemination activities鈥�.

Dissemination Activities

1. Photographic Exhibition:

• (organizer and curator): 鈥溾�� exploring how the residents of Sfakia (rural southwestern Crete) photograph the region and their experience of place and relatedness. The took place in 3 venues: Frangokastello (1-13/8), Chora Sfakion (13-29/8), Askyfou (30/8-12/9). Funded by the ERC (Photodemos project) and supported by the Municipality of Sfakia.

Media coverage of exhibition (in Greek):

2. Workshops/Conferences:

• (co-organizer) 鈥淯neasy Photography: The Politics of Images in a Time of Crisis鈥� on visual culture and political crisis, Panteion University, Athens (20/12/2017). Among other talks, the workshop featured a roundtable with professional photojournalists working on the 鈥渕igrant crisis鈥�. Funded by the Photodemos ERC project (香港六合彩中特网, Anthropology) with the support of the Laboratory of Anthropological Research (Panteion University).

3. Papers given upon invitation

• (forthcoming, tba), lecture at the symposium: The Greek听chorio:听Then and Now: Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the Study of Hellenic Culture, 香港六合彩中特网A, LA (23/2/2019).
• 鈥淛okes, Photographs & The Transgressive Native: Thinking Though (Crypto)Colonialism and Political Imagination in Greece鈥�, Conference 鈥淐rypto-colonialism and the Global South鈥� [in honor of Michael Herzfeld], Brown University, Providence, RI, (19-20/10/2017).
• 听鈥淲arriors and invaders? Nativism, Photography and Greek-German Encounters in the Greek crisis鈥�, Research Seminar in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford (13/10/2017).
• 听鈥淪ex, Guns and Europe: Joking and the Transgressive Native鈥�, in the panel 鈥淗umor, Lying, Ambiguity鈥� in 鈥淟earning from Documenta Closing Event鈥� (4-8/10/2017), panel convened by C. Wright, E. Yalouri, Athens School of Fine Arts/Polytechnic School, Athens (6/10/2017).
• 听鈥淢odernity as Cure and Poison: Visual Culture and Ambiguous Stillness in Therasia鈥�, Workshop 鈥淓thnographies of the Future鈥�, Departments of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Thessaly (in Greek), Volos, (29/5/2017).
• 鈥淲arriors and Tourists: Nativism, Visual Culture and Greek-German Encounters in the 鈥楪reek Crisis鈥欌��, Departmental Seminar, Department of Anthropology, 香港六合彩中特网, London (5/3/2017).
• 听Presentation exploring questions of Orientalism, desire and power in the relationship between Greece and Germany during the 鈥淕reek crisis鈥� in the roundtable 鈥淧olitics of Culture: Greece and Germany鈥� in 鈥淟earning from Documenta鈥�, Laboratory of Anthropological Research, Panteion University, convened by E. Yalouri, A. Lambropoulos, (in Greek), Athens (22/12/2016).
• 听鈥淐retan Warriors and German Invaders? Tourism and Visual Imaginaries in the 鈥楪reek Crisis鈥欌��, Department Seminar, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bern (15/11/2016).

4. Talks/papers in conferences and workshops (following call for papers or as organizer)

• 听(upcoming) 鈥淭he Sfakian Screen: Imagination, Technomaterialism and 鈥淔acebook the Snitch鈥� in a Local Photo Exhibition鈥�, 2-day Conference, part of the Thessaloniki 2018 PhotoBiennale Capitalist Realism (23-24/11/2018).
• 听鈥淧olitics and Political imagination at the Photo Exhibition 鈥楾he Sfakian Screen: Looking and Living in the White Mountains of Crete鈥欌��, ASA 2018 conference: Sociality, matter, and the imagination: re-creating Anthropology, Lab: Citizens of photography: the camera and the political imagination, Oxford (19/9/2018).
• 听鈥淔acebook, Cameras and Other Traitors: Politics of Affection and Disdain in Sfakia, Crete鈥�, Workshop Uneasy Photography: The Politics of Images in a Time of Crisis, Panteion University, Athens (20/12/2017) [workshop co-organizer].

5. Reading groups/lectures and seminars:

• (upcoming) 10/1/2019 to 30/3/2019. (Co-lecturer) 鈥淧hotography and Anthropology鈥�, Spring Term course, 香港六合彩中特网 Anthropology, taught together with 6 members of the research group Photodemos (C. Pinney, N. Binaisa, I. Selejan, S. Young, V. Buthpitiya).
• 听(Seminar) 鈥淰isual Culture, Power and Representation鈥�, Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Postgraduate Seminar (invited by 螘. Yalouri), Athens, (4/4/2017).
• (Co-organizer and co-convener) Reading group: 鈥淚mage Wars: Photography and Politics鈥�, Winter and Spring Term 2016/7, Department of Anthropology, 香港六合彩中特网.
• 1/9/2016-20/12/2016. (Adjunct lecturer) 鈥淕reece and the European 鈥楧ebt Crisis鈥�: Explorations of Power and Nationhood in a Critical Conjuncture鈥�, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern (Universitaet Bern).
• 鈥淧ower and the Visual: Seminar on Postcolonial Art, Photography and 鈥楢esthetics鈥欌��, Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, Postgraduate Seminar, Volos, (20/12/2016).
• 鈥淧hotography and Anthropology鈥�, Course at the Summer school 鈥淰isual Ethnography of Cityscapes鈥� (with changes/updates each year), Netherlands Institute at Athens, (16/7/2015, 12/7/2016, 7/7/2017, 16/7/2018).

6. Articles:

• Picturing the Imaginable: Fantasy, Photography, and Displacement in the Highland Cretan "Village" , by Konstantinos Kalantzis, Journal of Modern Greek Studies,听,听pp. 59-83,听DOI:

7. Awards:

• "Athens and the Indigenous Sublime: Rethinking Orientalism and Desire from Documenta 14 to the Cretan Highlands"- recipient of the 2019 J.B. Donne Essay Prize on the Anthropology of Art

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