Les dernières publications de Politika

Actuality

Colonial and Auto-Colonial Technologies in the Periphery of Europe

Images and Imaginary of the Greek Popular Tradition

Photographs of traditional Greek life have occupied a central place in Greek folklore studies since 1909, with the collection of archives inaugurated by Nikolaos Politis. His work and methods overlap with those of the philhellenic-Hellenist Hubert Pernot. Based on these two trajectories, this article analyzes the mutual production of knowledge of the Other and the colonialism/autocolonialism continuum. It draws on Pernot's recording of images and sounds in Greece, and more broadly on the desire for materiality and visuality, to question notions of indigenous Hellenism and "domestic exoticism". Nostalgia for national authenticity led to the production of numerous documentaries on popular tradition, a permanent feature of Greek public television programming and state propaganda.

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