Ours once more

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preface

Greece today, presents many contrasts.

The central theme of this book is an examination of the ways in which a sense of national identity

was constructed in the young greek nation-state and, more particularly, of the influence of

competiting ideology on the selection of relevant ethnological materials.

Chapter I

Past Glories, Present Polities

Cultural identity and ideology

In 1821, the Greeks rose in revolt against the rule of Turkey and declared themselves an indipendent

nation. Greek potray themeselves as descendants of the ancien Hellenes, but after ottoman empire,

no cultural emains totally unalterated with the passage of time. When cultural continuity, is a

political issue, the observe's personal politics is crucia in determinig whether such continuity is

admitid to exist.

This book is an attempt to show how greek scholars constructed cultural continuity in defens of

theri national identity. They also created a national disciplin of folklore studies providing

intellectual reinforcement for the political process of nation building.

In the middle age the Europe intellectual starts to recognise the classical greek valors, this change

bring us at a common things:

–the idea of Hellas as the cultural exemplar of Europo;

–“Europe” like “hellas” become a generalized idea, a symbol of cultural superiority.

Folklore and History

European's belief of Hellas like anchestral (culture) brought great powers og Europe to support the

indipendens of greek state. To underline is the important of the folklore studies that solve the gap

between the concept of hellas and the real greek state throught the continuity between past and

present of ancient greece.

An External Directed Ideology

Foreigners as well as greeks, politicians as well as scholars helped launch greek folklore research on

the path along which it was to travel for decades to come. This rise of academic folklore was

genereted in the interplay between local and foreign interest in the legitimation of the new state.

The development of folklore in Greece can be understood only against this background of an

external directed ideology, ever responsive to foreign comment and criticism,

Toward a National Anthropology

The greek folklorists want to explein a national culture which they considere to be corruptid by

foreign influences and internal chaos.

The premise of Cultural Continuity

The premise of cultural coninuity was based on archeology, in order to justified their special

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preface Greece today, presents many contrasts. The central theme of this book is an examination of the ways in which a sense of national identity was constructed in the young greek nation-state and, more particularly, of the influence of competiting ideology on the selection of relevant ethnological materials. Chapter I Past Glories, Present Polities Cultural identity and ideology In 1821, the Greeks rose in revolt against the rule of Turkey and declared themselves an indipendent nation. Greek potray themeselves as descendants of the ancien Hellenes, but after ottoman empire, no cultural emains totally unalterated with the passage of time. When cultural continuity, is a political issue, the observe's personal politics is crucia in determinig whether such continuity is admitid to exist. This book is an attempt to show how greek scholars constructed cultural continuity in defens of theri national identity. They also created a national disciplin of folklore studies providing intellectual reinforcement for the political process of nation building. In the middle age the Europe intellectual starts to recognise the classical greek valors, this change bring us at a common things:

the idea of Hellas as the cultural exemplar of Europo;
“Europe” like “hellas” become a generalized idea, a symbol of cultural superiority. Folklore and History European's belief of Hellas like anchestral (culture) brought great powers og Europe to support the indipendens of greek state. To underline is the important of the folklore studies that solve the gap between the concept of hellas and the real greek state throught the continuity between past and present of ancient greece. An External Directed Ideology Foreigners as well as greeks, politicians as well as scholars helped launch greek folklore research on the path along which it was to travel for decades to come. This rise of academic folklore was genereted in the interplay between local and foreign interest in the legitimation of the new state. The development of folklore in Greece can be understood only against this background of an external directed ideology, ever responsive to foreign comment and criticism, Toward a National Anthropology The greek folklorists want to explein a national culture which they considere to be corruptid by foreign influences and internal chaos. The premise of Cultural Continuity The premise of cultural coninuity was based on archeology, in order to justified their special

anchestral status, the greeks naturally reliede upon the archeological model. Youngest State, Oldest Nation Althought Greece was conceptually the very source of Europe, it was politically one of the continent's youngest member state. The foreign contribution to the early stages of folksong research and pubication was substantial. Quintessential Europeans The expansion of Russian power in Mediterranean during this period excited the immagination and ambition of local Greek leaders who saw Russian, Orthodox Christians like hemselves, as natural allies against the infidel Turks. In 1770 Russia engouraged ribellion in Crete and Peloponnese. France and Britain were slower than Russia to take an active role in Greek politics. While the Europeans Power played no small part in the eventual consolidation of the greek nation state, their intention was to form an entity made in their own image and upon their own terms. The Greeks of 1821 had a sense of common religion, language and custom. Some historians take a position in which the concept of nation is a recent phenomenon, that started in the middle age when feudalism fall down and the bourgeoisie came into ascendant. To notice is the role of Koraes, a Greek humanist of the enlightenment that bring the neo-classical form of modern Greek language know as Katharevousa. One people, Two Histories There is a difference between hellenic and Romii(romeika,once, the spoken language of greek). When a Greek want to make an affectionate comment on some aspect of the national culture, something familiar, the object is described as romeiko. The Hellenic immage is conceptually opposed to this. Is a response to the European image of Classic Greece, The hellenic image is antiquarian in sharp contrast to the familiarity of the Romeic. The Hellenist academic attempts to burnish the image of the modern Hellene were expressions of “national pride”, of a desire to conceal whatever a foreign educated audience might consider unseemly. Local Claims, National Interests A decisive event in shaping Greek recent accesion to statehood is the date of national revolution, a symbol of collective identity: 25 March 1821, which is also the feast of Annuntiation. Revolution as Resurrection / CAPITOLO 2 Extroversion and introspection FOLKLORISTS TO THE CAUSE: BEGINNGINGS The greek revolution united only three-quarters of a million people under the new authority. The process of unification of the country was difficult and traumatic. An important role in this course was taken by the Ionian Islands. These islands were the closest contact with the West, they were the home of a flourishing literary tradition fundamental for the spring of the idea of Hellenic culture. The Italian connection never really lapsed and during the beginning of nineteenth century many intellectuals, italians and heptanesians, shared the same ideals about the “Hellenism” and continuity

To support his thesis he gave the example of the tragedy: the essence of this art form had been maintained by the common people in their traghoundhia, their poetry and songs. Actually in the Greek villagers traghoundhia were joyful songs or verses and with this comparison Zambelios showed his ignorance of his rural compatriots terminological usages. ZAMBELIOS IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT Zambelios probably assorbed elements of foreign philosophy but he provided its own argument for sure. One of the most particular contact was the one with Vico. The exact relationship between these two is opaque but the resemblance is striking when we examine their approaches to etymological reconstruction. ECUMENICAL ETHNOCENTRISM Greek folklore remained, for the most part, a strictly national discipline. It is not necessary to invert Zambelios’ view of the cause-and-effect relationship between European cultures in order to perceive how radically the Hellenist ideology inverted the international perspective of ethnology and, thereby, prevented the greek scholars from making a more ecumenical contribution to methodology. By the way the more extreme Hellenists’ claim to an ecumenical vision grew naturally from the transplantation of philhellenism to the intellectual soil of Greece itself. Chapter 3 National Character, National Consciusness “...the virile habits of the Europeans...” National Character in a European Context National consciusness has been defined by a Greek folklorist as “the conscius kowledge of every individual that he is part of a nation, partaking to the strong groupal aspirations that bind him to the other individuals around him, creating thus the common will of all to belong to this and not to any other nation. The mystical possibilities of the Volkgeist concept (spirito del popolo), it emerges in this admirably specific definition as a form of collective self-identification. When this term “consciusness” appears in village usage, it tends to be conflated with the term “custum”. If Greece had been the fons and origo (source and origin) of all Europe, then Greek folklore would enshrine the quintessence of European spirit. D'istria and the Premise of European Character Althought Dora D'istria (1828-1888) was not of Greek origin, it was she who launched this methodological perspective on Greek folklore into wider, European perspective. Zambelios and other Greek writers had already developed it in their own research, but d'Istria expounded it into a more international audience. despite of this choose to live in Italy, she had an enthusiasm in balkam nationalism, and asked to the Prime Minister Dimitrios Voulgaris (Boulgares) to solicit support for her plans to conduct research in Greece. She played a work of ethnografy in which she potrayed individual as capable of behaving only in accordance with the social values, the character, of the cultures to which they belonged. The Fall of Costantinople was an object of their especial interest and veneration. In Istria's scheme, the Serbs are more European than the Turks, but Greeks are the most European of all. Pagan Heroism

The premise of national character enabled the early nationalist writers to extract a measure of continuity from what could otherwise be presented as an exceptionally radical break in the cultural history of Greece. This was the religious change from the worship of local deities and the Olympian pantheon in Classical times to the centralized unity and doctrinal monotheism of the Greek Orthodox church. Dora d'Istria had only contempt for the influence of the church and its leadership. But this was not a happy formulation for those resident in Greece itself who had to achieve a balance between their religious affiliations and their pagan ancestry. The relationship between Classical paganism and Orthodox Christianity was a Dangerous subject. D'Istria concentrated her analysis on aspect of Greek Volksgeist over which the hellenistics could confortably agree with her. Heroes or Brigands? / Kleftism and Constitution of history [Kleftico: from Klepth, a Greek indipendence fighter, especially one who fought the Turks in the 15 th^ century or during the war of indipendence (1821-8); a Greek brigand or bandit.] The kleftic category had become a vital part of the classification of greek folklore. The duration of the kleftic period, is given as the century immediatly preceding the Revolution. Folksongs give us name of Kleft. Names, to the more literalistic among the folklrists, meant dates. Folksongs are not responsible only of personality. Places, dates, even the course of particular events are all traceable. Greek baptismal names are usually in commemoration of the parents' own parents or othe close kin. After 1821 the situation change, it was introduced the finite category (“the klafts”) and a generic description(“people of the type described as “klefts””). The presumtion of a Greek national Character, exemplified by the behevior of “the Klefts” and described in “their” songs, survives such ephemeral trasformations. The Denial of Banditry (negazione del banditismo) The ideal image of the Greek kleft was supported by the contenent of the published “kleftle songs”. The kleft had sometimes been descriminated brigands who raided Moslem and Christian alike. The more neutal Classical term kleptis has been relegated to the meaning of “petty thief”, while the form kleftis is generally used for the patriot-brigand of the national redemption. N.B: We are in the 18th^ centuries. The differents were that the one were heroic in folksongs and the other real. They were thief and give this to popol, like Robin Hood. They are the only one that were able to used guns. The folksongs spoke about how many values the Kleft have. Bandits to Nationalists: The Process of tansformation The progressive canonization of the klefts is manifest in the treatment of songs which mention their activities. Kind, a writer, in 1861, rapresented the Kleft as an unanbiguously positive category , in explixit opposition to a named, national enemy.

Ours once more, Summaries of Human Resource Management

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