THE PATRIOTISM OF THE EXPATRIATES

International History Conference

THE PATRIOTISM OF THE EXPATRIATES

Diasporas and national consciousness between Europe, the Mediterranean and beyond in the long 19th century

University of Nicosia, Cyprus & Queen Mary, University of London

With the support of the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research of Cyprus (AHDR)

25 and 26 February 2011, UNESCO Amphitheatre, University of Nicosia

A common feature of several national movements of the nineteenth century was their development outside the territorial space of the state or states they aimed at creating. National consciousness was often elaborated within the circles of diaspora intellectuals and patriots living in exile. Likewise liberalism, socialism, republicanism, conservative doctrines, in short all the post-revolutionary ideologies often developed thanks to the displacement of groups of thinkers, politicians and men of letters who created international networks in constant contact with their countries of origin as well as with other countries and continents.

The aim of the conference is to explore the role that intellectual and revolutionary diasporas played in creating, disseminating and negotiating ideas, and in producing shared values, principles and discursive patterns among patriots of different national origins. It seeks to investigate how ideas are shaped, how they circulate, and the contribution that diasporas themselves gave to the main ideological currents advocating change in the post-revolutionary world. By looking at trans-national exchanges and trans-national civil societies, the conference will aim to de-nationalize the study of national consciousness, encourage comparative analysis and study the connections, relations and exchanges between different intellectual traditions and currents.

In particular, the conferences will help discussing the following questions and problems:

· The role of exiled intellectuals and patriots as cultural mediators between their hosting country and the country of origin.

· The degree to which diasporas retained the culture of their country of origin, endorsed the political culture of the host country, or produced new original ideas.

· The existence of specifically diasporic Enlightenment, Romanticism, republicanism, liberalism, socialism, and how they related to the development of patriotism and national consciousness.

· The importance of distance and nostalgia in the process of nationalization of exiled intellectuals and patriots.

· The contribution of the displaced writers or communities to building bridges between various intellectual traditions and their impact on the internationalization of 19^th century cultural and intellectuals trends. How were French or British political concepts translated by Southern European intellectuals, or scholars and thinkers coming from the Ottoman Empire, to formulate new nationalisms, or to develop new notions of what “liberal” meant?

· The existence of ideological models that challenged not only existing Empires and states, but proposed ideas of statehood and nationality accommodating ethnic pluralism, advocating “regional” integration, or celebrating double or cosmopolitan identities, that do not fit into conventional understandings of the birth of nation states.

It is hoped that the conference will represent an opportunity to discuss, question and revise some of the theoretical frameworks used by historiography to explore and interpret the circulation of ideas between Europe, the Mediterranean and the rest of the world, and that it will provide an opportunity to improve our understanding of the intellectual and cultural dynamics facilitated by the cross-border and cross national encounters.

Organizers:

MAURIZIO ISABELLA (Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen Mary College, London)

KONSTANTINA ZANOU (History researcher, University of Nicosia, Cyprus)

NICOS PERISTIANIS (President of the Council, University of Nicosia)

For more information:
http://www.unic.ac.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=6234

PROGRAMME FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2011
8:30- 9:00	Coffee
9:00-9:30	Welcoming note: NICOS PERISTIANIS Introductory remarks: MAURIZIO ISABELLA, KONSTANTINA ZANOU
9:30-10:10	Keynote Lecture PASCHALIS M. KITROMILIDES, The patriotism of the expatriates: a perspective from the Cypriot diaspora
10:10-10:25	Discussion
10:25-10:40	Coffee break
10:40-11:40	Session One: Multiple loyalties and overlapping identities Chair: MICHALIS ATTALIDES MATHIEU GRENET, Micro-patriotism? Regional identities and national consciousness in the Greek diaspora: the cases of Venice and Livorno, c. 1770-c.1830 KONSTANTINA ZANOU, The last intellectuals-“rings” between Italy and Greece: Andrea Mustoxidi and Niccolò Tommaseo (first half of the 19th century) VANGELIS KECHRIOTIS, A Cappadocian in Athens, an Athenian in Izmir/Smyrna and an Ottoman in Istanbul: the multiple loyalties of Pavlos Carolidis
11:40-11:55	Discussion
12:10-12:50	Session Two: Ideological and cultural transfers Chair: ANTONIS HADJIKYRIACOU CATHERINA BREGIANNI, Autobiographies of Ionian politicians: The perception of national identity, 19th century MICHALIS SOTIROPOULOS, Bridging the Legal Gap: The Professors of Law of the University of Athens between a cosmos (Europe) and a patria (Greece)
12:50-13:05	Discussion
13:05-15:00	Lunch
15:00-16:00	Session Three: Intellectuals as cultural mediators Chair: KONSTANTINA ZANOU OLGA AUGUSTINOS, Gained in Translation: “Metakenosis” as a Modality of Cross-Cultural Encounters NASSIA YAKOVAKI, Ιs there a diaspora dimension in the Greek language question? Insights drawn from a private exchange between Korais and Philippidis on language theory and politics VIVI PERRAKY, Adamantios Korais: "Paris, that I love equally to Greece, my homeland" [Korais' Epitaph, written by himself, Montparnasse cemetery , Paris]
16:00-16:15	Discussion
16:15-16:30	Coffee break
16:30-17:30	Session Four: Intercultural exchange phenomena across the Mediterranean Chair: EMILIOS SOLOMOU ANTHONY SANTILLI, The Egyptian Modernization process through its “cultural mediators”: the case of Joseph Hekekyan Bey (1820s-1860s) IAN COLLER, “Fy ardak”: Egyptian Independence and the Transformation of Exile in France 1801-1831 ANDREW ARSAN, Finding strength in dispersal: reformist thought and action in the Eastern Mediterranean diaspora, 1908-1919
17:30-17:45	Discussion
SATURDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2011
8:30-9:00	Coffee
9:00-9:40	Session Five: Intellectual activity across frontiers Chair: MAURIZIO ISABELLA ADA DIALLA, The Greek Philhellenic Lobby of St’ Petersburg during the Greek War of Independence: Patriotic and Cosmopolitan Aspects of Identity DESSISLAVA LILOVA, Importing Ancestors: The Bulgarian Diaspora and the Production of Historical Canon in 19th Century
9:40-9:55	Discussion
9:55-10:10	Coffee break
10:10-11:10	Session Six: Cypriot diasporas and national consciousness Chair: NIYAZI KIZILYÜREK NICOS PERISTIANIS, Which imagined community? Continuities/Discontinuities of patriotism among Greek Cypriots IRENE POPHAIDES, The Dialectic of Nationalism: From the National Centre to the Periphery, the Case of Cyprus PANAYIOTIS PERSIANIS, The patriotism of the 19th century Greek Cypriot expatriates in Egypt and their politics of education: Two completely opposite conceptions of patriotic duty
11:10-11:25	Discussion
11:25-12:25	Round Table MAURIZIO ISABELLA KONSTANTINA ZANOU PASCHALIS KITROMILIDES
12:25-12:40	Closing remarks: NICOS PERISTIANIS
12:40-14:30	Lunch