RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
01:510:382
HIST OF MOD GREECE
Syllabus
From the Ottoman Empire to the European Crisis:
An Introduction to Modern Greek History
(14th-21th centuries)
Fall 2013
Tues-Thurs, Period 8 (7:40-9:00 PM)
Scott Hall 115 (43 College Avenue, New Brunswick)
Instructor: Elektra Kostopoulou
Office: 003 Van Dyck Hall
Office Hours: Tues-Thurs, 6:00-7:30
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Outline: Most students of the Humanities are familiar with ancient and/or medieval (Byzantine)
Greek history. Yet what happened to the Greeks in modern times? In an attempt to answer the
above question this course explores topics of modern Greek history all the way from the
Ottoman Empire (14th century) to the current crisis (2009-today). Students are introduced to
broader discussions regarding empire, nationalism, reform and crisis, religion and locality,
centers and peripheries. Weekly readings are selected to open a dialogue between Greek history
and broader methodological questions, addressing the complex relationship between European
and Middle Eastern studies.
Course Requirements: Attendance and informed participation are required. Students should be
prepared to answer pop-quiz questions on the weekly readings. The reading material consists of
secondary literature and a few primary sources (in English translation) that will be analyzed and
discussed in class. Response papers are not required, but will be considered a plus. The final
exam will be an open-book essay.
Grading: Your final grade will be determined by the following schedule:
Class Participation: 20%
Pop-Quiz: 30%
Final Exam: 50%
Response papers: + 10%
2 | P a g e Background Readings
Jonh S. Koliopoulos and Thanos M. Veremis, Modern Greece: a History Since 1821 (Malden:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2005).
Week 1 (Tue 9/3, Thurs 9/5)
Between Two Worlds
Çiğdem Kafescioğlu, Constantinopolis/Istanbul: Cultural Encounter, Imperial Vision, and the
Construction of the Ottoman Capital (Pensylvania: Penn State Press, 2009), 1-15.
Week 2 (Tue 9/10, Thurs 9/12)
The Ottoman Conquest of Constantinople
Halil Inalcik, “Istanbul: An Islamic City,” Journal of Islamic Studies 1, no. 1 (January 1, 1990):
1-23.
Source: Doukas, Historia Byzantina.
Week 3 (Tue 9/17, Thu 9/19)
“Byzantium after Byzantium”: the Legacy of the Greek Church
G. Georgiades Arnakis, “The Greek Church of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire,” The
Journal of Modern History 24, no. 3 (1952): 235-250.
Source: Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Kanunnames for the Greek Lands (circa 1500-1600).
Week 4 (Tue 9/24, Thu 9/26)
Crossing Mediterranean Borders
Molly Greene, Catholic Pirates and Greek Merchants: a Maritime History of the Mediterranean
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010), 1-15.
Source: John Brown, Barbarossa: a tragedy.
3 | P a g e Week 5 (Tue 10/1, Thu 10/3)
Modernity, Nationalism, Independence
Constantine Tsoukalas, “European Modernity and Greek National Identity,” Journal of Southern
Europe and the Balkans, 1 (1999): 7–14.
Source: Clark, Turkey.
Week 6 (Tue 10/8, Thu 10/10)
The Power of the Millet
Benjamin Braude, “Foundation Myths of the Millet System,” in Christians and Jews in the
Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society, eds. Benjamin Braude and Bernard Lewis
(Teaneck: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982), 69-88.
Source: Ottoman Empire, The Reform Edict.
Week 7 (Tue 10/15, Thu 10/17)
The Difficult Kingdom
John S. Koliopoulos, “Brigandage and Irredentism in Nineteenth-Century Greece,” European
History Quarterly 19, no. 2 (April 1, 1989): 193–228.
Source: Great Britain, Further Correspondence.
Week 8 (Tue 10/22, Thu 10/24)
Regional Revolutions and World Wars
Vangelis Kechriotis, “Greek-Orthodox, Ottoman Greeks or Just Greeks? Theories of Coexistence
in the Aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution,” Etudes Balkaniques no. 1 (2005): 51-67.
Source: William Mitchel Ramsey, Revolution in Constantinople.
Week 9 (Tue 10/29, Thu 10/31: HOLIDAY [Halloween]
Exchanged Identities (part 1)
Renée Hirschon, Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe: The Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in
Piraeus, New York: Berghahn Books, 1998.
4 | P a g e Week 10 (Tue 11/5: HOLIDAY [Election Day], Thu 11/7)
Exchanged Identities (part 2)
Rebetiko Song.
Week 11 (Tue 11/12, Thu 11/14)
The Greek Civil War
Martin Conway, “The Greek Civil War: Greek Exceptionalism or Mirror of a European Civil
War?” in The Greek Civil War: Essays on a Conflict of Exceptionalism and Silences, eds.
Thanasis D. Sfikas and Philip Carabott (Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, 2004), 17-40.
Source: National Liberation Front (E.A.M), White Book.
Week 12 (Tue 11/19, Thu 11/21)
European Integration
P.C. Ioakimidis, “EU Cohesion Policy in Greece: The Tension Between Bureaucratic Centralism
and Regionalism,” in Cohesion Policy and European Integration: Building Multi-Level
Governance, eds. Liesbet Hooghe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 342-360.
Source: European Union, Treaty of Lisbon.
Week 13 (Tue 11/26, Thu 11/28: HOLIDAY [Thanksgiving])
Europe on the Brink: The Greek Crisis (part 1)
Daniel Martyn Knight, “Turn of the Screw: Narratives of History and Economy in the Greek
Crisis,” Journal of Mediterranean Studies 21, no. 1 (2012): 53–76.
Week 14 (Tue 12/3, Thu 12/5)
Europe on the Brink: The Greek Crisis (part 2)
Source: Greek press
Week 15 (Tue 12/10)
Conclusion
Mon 12/16-Mon 12/23: Fall Exams
Καλή Επιτυχία!