19 April 2024: Lecture: A comparative overview of Pontic Greek political leanings and ideologies

Title: A comparative overview of Pontic Greek political leanings and ideologies: the cases of the Caucasian and the western Pontic Greeks.
Speaker: Despoina Pavlidou, PhD Candidate, UVA (Dept. of Modern Greek Studies, research school ARTES)
Date and time: Friday 19 April 2024, 3:30 p.m.
Location: University Library UvA, Singel 425, Amsterdam,  room Belle van Zuylenzaal.
Language: English

Abstract
This lecture will focus upon and examine the political and ideological tendencies and behaviours of the Caucasian and western Pontic Greeks. A considerable proportion of either group, following their transplantation to Greece in the early 1920s, became politically radicalized and polarized in consequent decades. To a great extent, the seeds of this political polarization can be found in the history and political experiences of these two Pontic subgroups in their homelands, prior to their repatriation to Greece. This lecture, therefore, will attempt to outline and explore the history, social traditions, and political experiences of these populations in their lands of origin, and attempt also to isolate and trace cultural or socio-political characteristics which carried over to their consequent political behavior in Greece. By extension, this lecture will also attempt to address and counter some of the anti-refugee stereotypes concerning the Greek Russian and Anatolian refugees which circulated throughout the Greek Interwar period. An examination of the history and socio-political evolution of these two Pontic subgroups provides a unique window and perspective on multiple regions, states and empires, as well as providing an opportunity to explore the scope and variety of Greek political activity in the diaspora.

Bio
Despoina Pavlidou is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam (Dept. of Modern Greek Studies, research school ARTES). She holds an MA in International Relations from Bilgi University in Istanbul. She has worked as a researcher, translator and editor, and English language teacher. Her academic research focuses on the Pontic Greek communities of Anatolia and Russia, and their consequent integration in the Greek nation-state.

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