Modern Greece in the World

This course introduces the culture, history, and politics of modern Greece. No prerequisites; all texts in English. Putting aside exceptionalist claims rooted in antiquity, the course focuses on critical moments when Greece figures in the frontline of Balkan, European, and global events in the modern period: when, as historian Mark Mazower claims, “democracy’s cradle [is] rocking the world.” Literary, filmic, and artistic representations of such moments from within and outside Greece will illuminate issues of nationalism, modernization, sovereignty, and postcoloniality. Faculty at Brown from diverse disciplines working on Greece will be invited to address such questions through their own research.