Scenes and Stories
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Featured Narratives from the Catastrophic Earthquake in Athens in 1999: Folkloristic Examination and Traumatic Memories
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katerina Schoina
The aim of this paper is the folkloristic examination of the great earthquake in Athens, on September 7th, 1999. Such a catastrophe can radically change a community, such as the way and quality of life, habits, relationships, natural environment and create fear and collective traumatic memories. Therefore, an earthquake can be part of the folk culture, as it can bring about significant changes in society, which is studied by the Science of Folklore. The 5.9 magnitude earthquake from the unknown rift in Parnitha Mountain, hit the city at 14:56 was the deadliest earthquake of the last 50 years, but also the one with the highest damage cost in Greece. Within 15 seconds, 145 people lost their lives and about 50,000 were left homeless. The earthquake made Athens change in many ways, not only in terms of seismological data, but also the people themselves, which is a collective traumatic experience for those who experienced it then. This paper is based on research methods followed by the science of Folklore, in combination with interdisciplinary approaches and methodological tools of the sciences of Anthropology and Ethnography. The collection of stories is carried out through the qualitative method by conducting interviews in Athens with people who experienced the earthquake of 1999. More specifically, victims of the catastrophe are included - people who lived through the events, volunteers at the Hellenic Red Cross, members of the Fire Service, medical and nursing staff, journalists, reporters and seismologists.
Philhellenic Dance Communities and Greek Dance Tourism: Cultural Identity Perceived by a Member of the Greek Diaspora in Belgium
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chrysanthi Katsarou
Many members of the diaspora and contemporary philhellenes travel every year to Greece and other countries in order to participate in the so-called “Greek dance seminars.” This form of “dance tourism” focusing on the Greek dances could be seen as a subcategory of the cultural tourism, which seems to have started its development on an informal basis since the late 1970s and early 1980s in Greece and abroad. Members of the second or third generation of the Greek diaspora have established cultural synergies with foreigners interested in Greece and both participated in the first “dance seminars” in Greece developing a new form of contemporary philhellenism. Their purpose was to teach the Greek dances and familiarize foreigners with the living dancing practices in the feasts in the Greek villages thus getting a deeper view of the intangible heritage of Greece through an experiential approach. These mobilities have created transnational networks and online dance communities sharing practices, memories and values without geographical limitations. This paper presents a part of my research regarding this phenomenon and focuses on the influence of Greek dance. To illustrate this, I present the case of one of my collocutors focusing on how his relationship with the Greek dance community and the ‘IkariaDance Project’ (a dance tourism project on the island of Ikaria) has contributed to his activity in promoting Greek folk culture in Belgium and furthermore to his identity building and personal growth.
Refugee Families in West Attica: Focused Ethnography during the COVID-19 Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Xanthippi Foulidi
This ethnographic research focusses on foreign parents, immigrants, and refugees, living in West Attica in recent years. The purpose of the research was to generally investigate their culture, the practices they adopt regarding the education of their children and the exercise of the parental role. The findings of this research also highlight the difficulties in achieving parental involvement, due to the reproduction of gender stereotypes in parents with a refugee background. Finally, suitable ways are proposed to achieve intercultural communication, through both live and distant means with modern easy-to-use technological applications. These means contribute to the effective communication of school and family and to the overcoming of existing obstacles in their communication, even during the time of a pandemic.
