Learn about the newest project of the Modern Greek Studies Association, which brings the latest research on Modern Greek and Greece to your fingertips.
Modern Greek Studies Association
Founded in 1968, the Modern Greek Studies Association, (MGSA) is a registered non-profit academic organization, dedicated to promoting Modern Greek and Greek American Studies in the U.S. and Canada. Its mission is an interdisciplinary approach to scholarly research and the dissemination of information on modern Greece, Cyprus, and the Greek Diaspora. Research explores the evolution of Modern Greek culture and language, through the ages, from the Classical period to post-independence. MGSA is an information and communication center open to all persons vested in studying modern Greece and Cyprus. The organization’s extensive collection of resources is available through its website and its listserv, MGSA-L.
The impetus is to examine and discover what role economics, history, the arts, language, literature, and social structures played in creating a multifaceted modern Greece. The organization is actively committed to matters involving the Greek Diaspora and Greek-Americans.
Presently, the organization has more than 300 members, comprised of institutions and individuals, many with an educational or academic affiliation. Membership is also available to non-academics who are involved with Greek history and culture.
Governance of MGSA
MGSA is governed by a 12-member executive board, elected on a triennial basis by its members. The executive board appoints the association’s officers: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Candidates for the executive board are experts in one of the association’s principal academic fields and represent different geographic regions of the U.S.
The current president of MGSA is Neovi Karakatsanis, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University in South Bend, IN. Georgios (Yiorgos) Anagnostou, the current vice president is Professor of Modern Greek and diaspora studies at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.
Presently, the organization has more than 300 members, comprised of institutions and individuals, many with an educational or academic affiliation. Membership is also available to non-academics who are interested in Greek history and culture.
Modern Greek Studies Association publications
Since its inception, MGSA has become a prominent scholarly organization with an international reputation, through its innovative initiatives: the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, (JMGS), MGSA Greek Language Pedagogy Workshop, and The Greek-American Resource Portal.
Acknowledged as “a magnificent scholarly journal,” by Choice magazine, JMGS is the only academic periodical dedicated exclusively to modern Greece. This peer-reviewed biannual journal, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, features “critical analyses of Greek social, cultural, and political affairs, from the late Byzantine Empire to the present.” Subscription to the journal is complimentary to all members.
Other publications include volumes on Greek history and literature, and the “Bulletin,” which is distributed electronically to all members. The “In Focus” page offers supplemental resources, such as podcasts, photographs, music, videos, and poetry readings. Find interviews, position papers, and reports on collaborative projects covering current issues in Greece and Cyprus on the “Occasional Papers” page.
The Executive Board of the Modern Greek Studies Association, at a meeting at Stockton University in 2016. IMAGE: MGSA
Pedagogy Weekend
The Pedagogy Workshop is a biennial professional-development weekend focused on university-level Greek language instruction. These interactive workshops can be topic-specific or explore various approaches to language pedagogy. Topics and presenters are arranged by the MGSA’s Undergraduate Studies Committee.
The Pedagogy Worship is open to anyone engaged in language education, as an instructor or researcher, who is committed to teaching Modern Greek language, literature, or culture at the college level. Individuals involved in developing undergraduate curriculums of Modern Greek Studies or those who direct a Modern Greek or Study Abroad program are also eligible to participate in these workshops.
Previous workshops have covered the instrumental aspects of language, standardizing Greek instruction with national and European methods, and skills building.
Greek American Studies Resource Portal
The Greek American Studies Resource Portal is the organization’s newest initiative. This depository asset focuses on Greek America. Updated annually, the portal is available to the general public. Managed by the co-chairs of the Transnational Studies Committee, Yiorgos Anagnostou along with Kostis Kourelis of Franklin and Marshall College, this resource was created to address the increased demand from scholars, journalists, film makers, and other cultural producers, for information and knowledge about the broadly-defined field of Greek American Studies.
The co-chairs invite scholars, writers, artists and other cultural producers whose work explores the Greek world in the U.S. and/or the connections between Greece and the U.S. (repatriated Greek-Americans, Greek films on Greek America, Greek writings about Greek Americans, etc.) to submit the full citation of their work in MLA format, including a two-to-three sentence description of their work. All selections will be archived here. The Portal includes the following categories:
- Academic publications on Greek America, including book reviews.
- Non-academic publications on Greek America, including autobiographies, community histories, fiction, poetry, photography, painting, etc.
- Essays, articles, and book reviews published in the media
- Films and documentaries
- Research queries on Greek-American topics
50th anniversary of Modern Greek Studies Association
Modern Greek Studies Association will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a symposium on November 2-5, 2017, at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ. The Symposium keynote address, “Globalization and the return to the national: Perspectives on Greece’s ongoing crisis,” will be presented by Anna Triandafyllidou, Professor of the Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute.
The keynote presentation will address the forces of globalization and cultural interconnections, the counter forces of nationalism and self-rule, a nation’s economic and social systems in relation to global trade and immigration. This lecture will discuss these contrasted tendencies and social forces, paying special attention to both the undermining and creative forces of Greek nationalism.
The organization has extended an invitation to WindyCity Greek readers interested in Modern Greek culture and literature to attend the anniversary symposium. For membership information and symposium registration specifics, click here.
Note: The author thanks Professors Karakatsanis and Anagnostou for their assistance.
Related:
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Meet the 2017 PanHellenic Scholarship Recipients
WindyCity Greek Magazine Archives 
