As the year 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence, the question of “What Greece...?” emerged almost automatically – What is Greece after two centuries? What has become of Greece in this timespan? What kind of Greece do we all have in mind? What does Greece mean to each of us?

In order to explore these questions, the cultural analysis network Greek Studies Now, invited a number of cultural producers related to the country to think about the word ‘Greece’ and to submit a short video reflecting their ideas. The different contributions will be screened in a special webinar at 17.00 pm (UK time) on 21 April 2021. They mix the national and the personal, the rational and the absurd, the familiar, the controversial and the weird, the playful and the austere. Contributors will then have the chance to discuss their work and debate with the audience about the manifold representations of Greece and the incredibly varied (often opposite) meanings the idea of ‘Greece’ can bear. The event will be broadcast on youtube and is free to all.

Greek Studies Now is a network born out of the partnership between the Sub-faculty of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at Oxford and the Department of Modern Greek at the University of Amsterdam, with the key support of the Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities (TORCH). It runs its own platform for debate, the website https://greekstudiesnow.org and has already attracted widespread praise in the Greek and international media for its innovative approach and content; see, for instance, a recent article on the activities of the network here.

You can subscribe to receive the network’s future news and events here.