Welcome Note
WELCOME to our first international hybrid nomadic symposium – Decolonizing Hellas: Imperial Pasts, Contested Presents, Emancipated Futures, 1821-2021.
About a year ago, the then-upcoming bicentennial of the Greek Revolution inspired us to reflect on the history of the Greek nation-state, its foundational ideals and its relations to European colonialism, colonial practices, and ideas.
We initially considered the organization of a small workshop. We soon realized that the subject needed deeper and more systematic engagement. So, we established dëcoloиıze hellάş, an initiative that is attempting to work along and beyond the borders of academic research, artistic practice and social movement, and to contribute to the global decolonize movement. Our first international symposium will take place from November 4 until November 7, online and in situ, at String Theory / K39 (Koritsas 39, Votanikos, Athens), and it is by now only one of the many events we have already organized or planned for the near future.
Decolonizing Hellas: Imperial Pasts, Contested Presents, Emancipated Futures 1821-2021 brings together researchers, artists, activists, journalists, and scholars to reflect on topics such as: colonial museum practices, the relations between race, colonialism and revolution, migration, diaspora and settler colonialism, political identity-building processes, peacemaking as colonial technology, the decolonization of Cyprus, sea cosmopolitanism and labor relations, epistemicide and cosmopolitics, decolonial feminist methodologies, among many others.
Through various means – panels, dialogues and interviews, workshops, assemblies, walking anti-tours, artistic events – we aspire to engage with a broad audience and reflect on our largely silenced imperial pasts, our troubled times marked by capitalist exploitation, racial and gender violence, xenophobia and white supremacy nostalgia and to open pathways toward more inhabitable and inclusive futures.
The dëcoloиıze hellάş collective,
- Nikolas Kosmatopoulos
- Despina Lalaki
- Penelope Papailias
- Sissie Theodosiou
- Fotini Tsibiridou
Note: The symposium will be held online and with a limited presence of audience in String Theory / K39 (Koritsas 39, Votanikos, Athens). All safety procedures against COVID-19 will be observed.
