Description
Book SynopsisIn this volume, K.S. Brown and Yannis Hamilakis bring together scholars of history, archaeology, and anthropology to explore the located and contextual nature of historical narratives. The contributors analyze contested historic rituals, building styles, and traditions-looking through the unique lens of twentieth-century Greek identity-paying particular attention to the ways these social phenomena and cultural artifacts manifest tension between ''official'' and ''unofficial'' narratives of the past. Though focused on the changing historical basis of Greek culture and identity, this work further serves as an important theoretical contemplation of how our view of the past is shaped by our relationship with the present.
Trade Review. . . intellectually stimulating, a delight to read and one that will appeal to many humanists and social scientists... * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Examining closely the conflicts between 'official' and 'unofficial' narratives of the past, as well as diverse interpretations of history directly influence by the modern day, The Useable Past is an insightful and scholarly work revealing not only document aspects of Hellenic history, but the flexibility of the human psyche as characteristics of the human condition today as it was in the days of Greek antiquity. * Midwest Book Review *
A stellar collection... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 The Cupboard of Yesterdays? Critical Perspectives on the Usable Past Part 2 Projects: The State in Action Chapter 3 Monumental Visions: the Past in Metaxas' weltanschauung Chapter 4 "Learn History!" Antiquity, National Narrative, and History in Greek Educational Textbooks Chapter 5 The Politics of Currency: Stamps, Coins, Banknotes, and the Circulation of Modern Greek Tradition Part 6 Fractures: Resisting the National Narrative Chapter 7 The Macedonian Question in the 1920s and the Politics of History Chapter 8 Recollecting Difference: Archive-Marxists and Old Calendarists in an Exile Community Chapter 9 The Ethnoarchaeology of a "Passive" Ethnicity. The Arvanites of Central Greece Part 10 Conversations: From Past to Present Chapter 11 Dimitris Pikionis and Sedad Eldem: Parallel Reflections of Vernacular and National Architecture Chapter 12 Spaces in Tense: History, Contingency, and Place in a Cretan City Chapter 13 Poked by the 'Foreign Finger' in Greece: Conspiracy Theory or the Hermeneutics of Suspicion? Chapter 14 Afterword
