The Levantines: Identities and Heritage, The Gennadius Library, The American School of Classical Studies, November 2–4, 2018

In November 2018, the Levantine Heritage Foundation will hold its third international conference, “The Levantines: Identities and Heritage” in Athens.

Building upon the success of our earlier conferences in Istanbul in 2014 and London in 2016, this conference will introduce the Levantines to a Greek and international audience (academics and non- academics) and illustrate their role in the shaping of modern Greece. Emphasis will be given to the  aspects of the Levantine world and its complex socio-economic networks which gave rise to layers of social, cultural, political, and material exchanges with resonances lasting till today.

Topics of consideration for the proposals will include, but not be limited to:

Levantine Identity

• Shifting nationalities and passports
• Consuls, vice-consuls and consular agents / dragomans
• Transnational families; transnational companies
• Trade networks and legal institutions
• Religion and identity; languages; education
• Shipping lines, agencies, and family networks

Levantine Heritage

• Western European national clubs, sports and cafes
• Levantine architecture: influences and styles
• Flows of technology, political movements and ideologies

Levantines & Greeks in the East

• Why and how did people in the Levant switch nationality?
• Comparison of Levantine and Greek expansion patterns in the Mediterranean and beyond: intercommunal relations and boundaries
• Pilgrims and refugees in the Levant
• Levantines and the September 1922 Exodus events (refugees and humanitarian relief recipients)

Levantines in Greece and the world

• The Levantine presence in Greece
• Aspects of cosmopolitanism in late 19th - early 20th century Athens and other cities
• Perception of Levantines and “Levantinism” in Greek literature and historiographical sources
• Foreign / Levantine communities in Greece and beyond – community solidarity versus assimilation
• Movement of people and ideas, establishment of immigrant and diaspora communities

The language of presentations will be English.

The Levantine Heritage Foundation (LHF) is a non-profit association which promotes research, preservation and education in the heritage, arts and culture of the different ethnic and religious communities of the wider Levant region of the Ottoman Empire between the 17th and 20th centuries.