Where the Byzantinesque Meets the Urbanesque: Architectural and Hagiographic Elements of Greek Orthodox Urban

Autor/innen

  • Georgios Trantas
  • Eleni Tseligka

Schlagworte:

Religioscapes, Orthodoxy, Greeks, Germany, migration, reterritorialization, hybridity

Abstract

The religioscapes that have been formed by the Greek migrant communities of Germany within a broader postmodern configuration have been brought about by reterritorialization, thus rendering the city the habitat of religious revival. In postsecular times spirituality did not subside, but it rather instigated a new form of expression that was infused by urbanity, among others, and generated an equivalent narrative, with the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany at the epicenter of the phenomenon under study. The emergent pattern of hybridization between byzantinesque and urbanesque is attested by the aesthetics and symbolisms that function as a statement of hybridity and integration, while the appropriation of the city on the other hand, as legitimation of the spatial parameter of belonging.

Autor/innen-Biografien

Georgios Trantas

Ausbildung

2011 – 2012, Graduiertenkolleg 1412 Qualification Scholarship:

Research preparation and preliminaries.

 

2009 – 2010, MA International Policy and Diplomacy:

Merit, Staffordshire University.

• Awarded a ‘Distinction’ for the thesis entitled: “The Rise of Islamism in Turkey and the Neo-Ottoman Doctrine of International Policy”.

1998 – 2001, BSc (Hons.) Computing Science:

2.1 (Merit), Staffordshire University.

 

 

Berufserfahrung         

2007 – 2009, Public Relations - IT Tutor:

-Customers’, advertisers’, and media spokesperson;

-Full-time tutor of adults (ECDL and ACTA Core and Advanced Modules).

 

2004 – 2007, Full Time IT Tutor:

- Full-time tutor of adults (ECDL and ACTA Core and Advanced Modules);

-Exam Invigilator.

 

2002 – 2003, Compulsory Military Service:

Rank: Infantry Sergeant.

 

 

Wissenschaftliche

Interessen       

Politics of Religion and Culture (Eastern Orthodox Christianity);

European Identity, European Integration;

International Relations (English School, Balance of Power).

 

 

Sprachkenntnisse       

Greek, English, German.

 

 

Promotionsthema:

Being and Belonging: A Comparative Examination of the Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches’ Attitudes towards “Europeanization” in the 1st Decade of the 21st Century.

 

Betreuer:

Prof. Dr. Vasilios N. Makrides

           

 

Beschreibung des Promotionsvorhabens       

I am currently conducting a comparative research concerning the contemporary standpoints of Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches respectively to Europeanization as a political-cultural convergence process, given their traditional and historically confirmed Eastern Orthodox scepticism towards the West in general and Europe in particular. Both churches have on many historical instances proven to fulfil the role of socio-political actors more than adequately and, most importantly, they continue to do so, mainly by being vocal with their views and particularly on issues of culture, identity, even governance and national sovereignty; thus ultimately influencing decision-making procedures, either directly or via the laypeople. I will especially focus my research on the period between the year 2000 up until 2010; an era of monumental political changes regarding Greece, Cyprus and their European Union status and prospects, intense clerical political interventionism and archbishops’ enthronements in both states. Common characteristics aside, the two cases are rendered comparable due to their differences as well as similarities which emanate from their diverse historical, cultural and political backgrounds alike.

 

Main Research Question and Sub-questions:

• How do the two churches compare in terms of conduct and rhetoric in relation to Europeanization and Westernization?

 

• How is the culture-based European equivalent of state personification – as bloc actor – perceived by the Orthodox Churches of Greece and Cyprus?

 

• How do the Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches self-articulate culturally, and how is ‘Europeanness’ and ‘Otherness’ perceived?

Eleni Tseligka

Eleni D Tseligka (Staffordshire University) is a part-time lecturer in Politics of the Faculty of Arts & Creative Technologies and a member of Staffordshire University’s Institute for Applied Creative Thinking (I-ACT). Her research examines diasporic communities, migration and European integration.

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Veröffentlicht

2017-01-29

Zitationsvorschlag

Trantas, G., & Tseligka, E. (2017). Where the Byzantinesque Meets the Urbanesque: Architectural and Hagiographic Elements of Greek Orthodox Urban. Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, 52(2). Abgerufen von https://www.zeitschrift-fuer-balkanologie.de/index.php/zfb/article/view/453

Ausgabe

Bd. 52 Nr. 2 (2016)

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