New research programmes for the 1821 Revolution

Title

Date

1–2 December 2021

Abstract

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) is preparing its contribution to the celebrations in order to highlight the importance of the 1821 Revolution of 1821. Through conferences, events, exhibitions, artistic events, the oldest university in the country wants to honour the 1821 Revolution and at the same time contribute in the reflection and expansion of the dialogue on the course of the Greek state from the beginning of the 19th century to those of the 21st century.

Just before the bicentennial from the 1821 Revolution, our knowledge of this major event is still limited in many ways; the need to study it based on new methodological tools and historiographical perspectives as well as the processing and publication of unknown archival and printed material is particularly intense. At the same time, it is important to establish a new scientific potential, which will turn to the Revolution by studying it as a Greek and international event. The NKUA, as the most competent body for education, production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, decided to strengthen the studies for 1821 by creating a Centre for the Study of the Revolution of 1821, in order to contribute to the festivities, but also to lead to a systematic and in-depth study of revolutionary decade 1820-1830 in its various manifestations. For this purpose and within the centre, the NKUA plans the implementation of eleven research programmes, of annual duration, which will be supervised pro bono by specialised professors of the institution, with topics around the 1821 Revolution. In each of these programs postgraduate students and doctoral candidates will work. The research programs are implemented with the support of the Michael N. Stassinopoulos–Viohalco Public Benefit Foundation in the framework of the 1821-2021 Initiative.

The objectives of the research programmes are:
• Filling important gaps in historiography around the 1821 Revolution
• Collection and processing of relevant unknown archival material
• Production of original research papers
• Creation and strengthening of a new scientific and research potential for the study of the Greek Revolution
Research topics:
1. Preparing for the Revolution: The Ionian Islands during the last decades of Venetian rule (1770-1797)
2. The preparation for the Revolution: The unpublished History of physics and morality of man (1810) by Epifanios-Stefanos Dimitriadis (1760-1826)
3. Philiki Etaireia: Documentation issues
4. 1821 in Istanbul: The Greeks of the city according to Ottoman records
5. War and welfare during the Greek Revolution
6. Cities of the Greek revolution: Historical evidence
7. The political-ideological content of the civil rupture at the end of the Greek Revolution (1831-1832): The reflections in the public sphere
8. The newspapers of the Greek Revolution, 1821-1832
9. Performing arts and the 1821 Revolution
10. Architecture and the arts in the years of the revolution: intersections and continuations
11. The 1821 Revolution and its study: The example of the University of Athens

Scientific directors:
• Nassia Yakovaki, Assistant Professor, NKUA
• Maria Efthymiou, Associate Professor, NKUA
• Anna Karakatsouli, Associate Professor, NKUA
• Vangelis Karamanolakis, Associate Professor, NKUA
• Paraskevas Konortas, Associate Professor, NKUA
• Katerina Kostantinidou, Assistant Professor, NKUA
• Giannis Xourias, Assistant Professor, NKUA
• Georgios Pallis, Assistant Professor, NKUA
• Spyridon Ploumidis, Associate Professor, NKUA
• Vasso Seirinidou, Assistant Professor, NKUA
• Aristides Hatzis, Professor, NKUA

A two-day conference for the presentation of the research programmes of the NKUA for 1821 will take place on 1 and 2 December 2021.

(Edited and translated description from organiser’s website)