Historicizing postmodernism through the prism of cultural transfers : the case of Greece (1974-2010)

Abstract

Historicizing Postmodernism through the prism of cultural transfers: The case of Greece (1974-2010), examines the various transformations of the concept of postmodernism in the Greek intellectual framework, between 1970 and 2010, and situates them in a wider transnational context. It is focused mainly on the academic fields of history, literary criticism/Philology, and social theory and it is deployed around three interrelated questions; two preliminary questions concerning the postmodern debates in the Greek context, and the central research question, which seeks to bring the debates into a transnational context: Firstly, a) what were the Greek perceptions of postmodernism? More particularly, what did the concept of postmodernism mean for the intellectuals who entered the debates around its definition and features, depending on their field of expertise, and on the particular moments they attempted to define it in the period under examination? Secondly, b) how has the debate on postmodernism affected the aforementioned subject areas, in such a way that it radically changed the terms of discussion on their regulatory epistemological foundations; and how have the changes in the social, economic and political context of the past 40 years shaped and reshaped the various different arguments regarding postmodernism in the level of ideas. Finally, c) How did the debate around postmodernism in the Greek intellectual circles relate with intellectuals of other national frameworks?