Modern Greek Studies
The Modern Greek Studies Program promotes study, research, and publications focusing on modern times from the Greek perspective. The Program coordinates course offerings, scholarly visits, graduate fellowships, and a series of publications.
The Program collaborates closely with the Center for European Studies, the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, the Department of History, the Religious Studies Program, the Russian Area Studies Program, the Humanities Program, and the University Libraries.
The field of modern Greek studies developed as part of a graduate studies program in Russian and Near Eastern cultural relations with special emphasis on Greek-Slavic relations in modern times. Efforts to intensify the development of the program began in 1972 with the contribution to the University or the Basil Laourdas personal archive and library and the creation of the Basil Laourdas Fellowship Fund. Several graduate students have received their training and degrees in this field.
The focus of the Program is interdisciplinary, highlighting not only Greek-Slavic relations but also the relationship of Greece to the new Europe and the Mediterranean world. Ongoing activities include:
- Systematic Course Offerings in modern Greek language, history and culture, Modern Greek Studies Program including the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
- The Modern Greek Collection at Wilson Library currently contains over 20,000 items, making it one of the largest such collections in the country. The collection continues to grow through donations and purchases.
- The Celebration of Modern Greek Letters brings in distinguished scholars to address historical, cultural, and literary issues.
- Symposia and Scholarly Visits. The Program sponsors or cosponsors symposia on cultural, political and social interaction of Hellenism and its neighbors.
- The Modern Greek Studies Yearbook is a 600-page annual publication with an international board of editors. The journal is interdisciplinary in scope and its main objective is the dissemination of scholarly information in modern Greek studies. Each volume represents the contribution of scores of scholars and institutions. The first volume was published in 1985.
- Minnesota Mediterranean and East European Monographs is a series of supplements to the Modern Greek Studies Yearbook. The first volumes, published in 1991 and 1992, were Kosovo: The Legacy of a Medieval Battle, by Wayne S. Vucinich and Thomas A. Emmert, and Inside the Cyprus Miracle: The Labours of an Embattled Mini-Economy, by Demetrios Christodoulou.
- NOSTOS Books. In conjunction with the Modern Greek Studies Program, the NOSTOS series on modern Greek history and culture has thus far produced eighteen volumes of commentaries and translations. This is the only series devoted entirely to making modern Greek literature accessible to English readers.
- Inter-University Research Committee on Cyprus The University of Minnesota is currently serving as the Headquarters of the Inter-University Research Committee on Cyprus (IURCC).
- Student Project for Amity among Nations (SPAN) Under the auspices of SPAN, a group of students is sent biennially to Greece for the purpose of study and research. A year of instruction in the language, history and culture is required prior to leaving for Greece.
- Basil Laourdas Fellowship Fund has been developed specifically to encourage interest in this field. Through it, deserving graduate students can obtain grants and fellowships to enable them to complete their graduate program and to encourage publication of papers and monographs in the field.
