Open Seminar: Making Greek Australia: Rethinking history, ethnicity, and belonging

Location: The Delphi Bank Mezzanine, The Greek Centre, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Date: THURSDAY 23/5/2019 @ 7:00pm
Presenters: Dr Andonis Piperoglou

Language of Presentation: English | R.M.L.G.*: 0 - No knowledge of Greek required.
Entry: FREE

Synopsis

This presentation will provide an innovative opportunity to rethink the role that Greek people, and ideas about Greece, have played in Australian history. It aims to reflect on Greek-Australian community discourses about Greek contribution to the commonplace Australian national story, by providing a more multifaceted and dynamic historical approach. In challenging dominant narratives about Greek people’s experiences of struggle and adversity to successful integration and upward social mobility, the presentation aims to address some key questions that matter in today’s interdependent and interconnected global culture.
For example, can Greek-Australian history move beyond rhetoric of sacrifice, ethnic pride and individual triumphalism? How could Greek-Australian history better speak to younger generations of Australians with Greek background and to other hyphenated Australian ethnicities?
Are we ready and willing to acknowledge the varied and contrasting experiences, identities, values and memories that make-up the plurality of Greek-Australia?
Can we re-centre Greek-Australian history around the essential role played by women, by the working class, and by those minorities who have often been silenced within ‘official’ Greek-Australian communities?
In addressing such questions, this presentation hopes to generate a fresh and ongoing dialogue about the multilayered dynamism of Greek-Australia’s pasts, presents, and futures.

Bio

Dr Andonis Piperoglou lectures in History and Politics at the Australian Catholic University (Sydney) and is a Research Associate in the School of History and International Relations at Flinders University, where he is a Primary Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, titled: ‘Managing migrants and border control in Britain and Australia, 1901-1981’.
His historical work is at the intersection of migration, race, and ethnic-identity formation, with a particular expertise on the dynamics of Greek settlement in White Australia. Exploring topics of mobility and respectability, race and labour, and civilisational heritage and whiteness, Andonis has published in numerous refereed journals and is currently writing a new history of Greek-Australia, provisionally titled, ‘Making Greek Australia: race, identity, and belonging’. Andonis is co-founder of a new scholarly initiative called the Australian Migration History Network and is an executive member of the International Australian Studies Association

Sponsors

We thank the following donor for making this seminar possible: In memory of Maria and Haralambos Asproftas from Trypimeni, Famagusta, Cyprus | Kastellorizian Association of Victoria.

During the course of the year considerable expenses are incurred in staging the seminars. In order to mitigate these costs individuals or organisations are invited to donate against a lecture of their choice.

You too can donate for one or more seminars and (optionally) let your name or brand be known as a patron of culture to our members, visitors and followers, as well as the broader artistic and cultural community of Melbourne. Please email: info@greekcommunity.com.au or call 03 9662 2722.

We also thank the following corporate sponsors: