Nationalism, “The East” and “The West” in Greece, 1830-1930

This talk explores the meanings and uses of the terms “the East,” “Europe,” and “the West” in the development of nationalism in modern Greece. It discusses the pursuit of the support of the five European “Great Powers” before the Greek Revolution of 1821. It traces connections to classical antiquity and explores how images of Europe/the West evolved during the Bavarian period (1832-1862). The talk also addresses the narrative of the European “civilizing mission” and its appropriations in Greek national ideology. In addition, the talk examines a complex set of “anti-western” ideas in early 20th-century Greece. The analysis focuses on how debates about the East and the West relate to the formation of national identity and the development of national politics and aspirations in modern Greece.

Efi Gazi is a professor of Theory of Historiography and Modern History in the Department of Social and Educational Policy, University of the Peloponnese (GR). She holds a Ph.D. with a Distinction in history and civilization from the European University Institute (Florence, 1997). She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University (1998) and a Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, London (2007-8) and at the Institut für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie, Freie Universität, Berlin (2015). She has taught at the Universities of Athens, Crete, and Thessaly, and at Hellenic Open University and Brown (USA). She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal Historein and of the Journal of Modern Greek Studies (from 2024). She is also currently a member of the Scientific Board of the International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography (ICHTH). She has published on the history and theory of historiography, Modern Greek history, and intellectual and cultural history. Her latest monograph is Unknown Land. Greece and “the West” in the Beginning of the 20th Century (in Greek, 2020).