Les dernières publications de Politika

Actuality

Colonial and Auto-Colonial Technologies in the Periphery of Europe

Images and Imaginary of the Greek Popular Tradition

Beginning in 1909, with the collection of archives inaugurated by Nikolaos Politis, photographs of traditional Greek life have occupied a central place in Greek folklore studies. Politis’ work and methods overlapped 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 image and sound recordings 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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