Cultural Agents Between Greece, France and Other European Countries (1830-1974)

Sub-Project Supervisor: Polycandrioti Ourania, Research Director IHR/NHRF

Research Associate (adjunct): Sofia Matthaiou, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF, Sfoini Alexna, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF, Filippa Chorozi, PHD candidate UOA

Description: Professors, scholars, translators, publishers, are the key contributors to the in depth study of cultural transfers over a long period from the founding of the Greek state (1830) to the fall of the dictatorship (1974) in Greece. The project’s approach is primarily biographical, in order to study not only the contributors, but also the various types of cultural mediation and transfer as well as the institutions these key contributors are associated with. The goal of the research is to explore the intercultural networks of scholars and professors, the networks of translations, translators and journals, the policies of publishing and translation, the history of academic chairs and institutions, etc. The goal was to create a dynamic website with free access to the public, which would contain a database of historical data, studies, digitized archives, texts and images, so as to create the bio-ergographic presentation, study and documentation of the action of all the scholars, teachers – well-known or less known in the literature – and institutions (schools, chairs, press, etc.) that functioned as cultural mediators for the formation, cultural development and modernization of the Greek state during the period 1830-1974. The website contains (a) the ergo-biographical presentation of the key contributors, (b) the critical record of their activity, (c) studies related to the key contributors and their era in general, (d) the relevant bibliography (digital and printed), and (e) digitized and illustrations. A Memorandum of Cooperation has also been signed between the NHRF and the University of Patras. The program collaborates with colleagues from the following Universities and research organizations: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University of Patras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Ioannina, Ionian University, University of Peloponnese, Panteion University, Hellenic Open University, Université de Tours, INALCO-CREE, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). Many pictorial items of the Database will be linked to the “Modern Greek Visual Prosopography” of “Pandektis” (Digital Thesaurus of Primary Sources for Greek History and Culture), in order to leverage the existing research infrastructure of IHR. The research project works closely with the French School of Athens and has been included in the 5-year scientific planning of the School (2017-2021), which finances the translation of texts into French and individual scientific meetings.

Polykandrioti