The Place of Greece
Greece is both a physical location and an imagined space. The gap or continuity between the two has been a pressing question since antiquity, and addressing it an urgent political, theoretical, and aesthetic issue. Over the course of the year, “The Place of Greece” considers the place(s) of Greece, its physical and imaginary landscapes, its generative and confounding potential, the experiences it seems to promise for those who travel there, and the claims it has made and makes on different communities. Why has Greece proven to have such a powerful conceptual geography? How have those who identify as Greek understood their own location in time and space, and how have they in turn been understood by others in relationship to the past and to place? What is the present and future of Hellenism, and where is its place?
The Place of Greece is structured as a reading group with regular visits from authors who will lead discussion of their work. Readings will be pre-circulated. Please come prepared for intensive discussion of the texts.
Photo: Rebecca Belmore, “Biinjiya’iing Onji (From Inside)” (2017) (credit: Minus Plato)
Organized by Joshua Billings, Brooke Holmes, and Dan-el Padilla Peralta, with support at Princeton University from the Department of Art & Archaeology; Department of Classics; Department of Comparative Literature; Department of English; Department of German; Humanities Council; Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in the Humanities; Program in the Ancient World; Program in Archaeology; Program in Medieval Studies; Program in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies; Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund; University Center for Human Values.
