Migrant Activists. Dynamic Resistance in Toronto
History and Archives of the Greek Diaspora
TRANSPARENT WINDOWS WORKSHOP
An online seminar/workshop with the title 'Migrant activists. Dynamic resistance and the anti-dictatorship struggle in Toronto, 1967-1974' will take place on Friday November 10th, 2023, with the participation of Dr. Sakis Gekas (York University, Toronto, Canada). The online workshop will be held between 18:30-20:15 via the ZOOM platform.
The particular event is organized as part of the York U, Toronto-AUTh bilateral MOU agreement.
Language of the workshop: English.
**A certificate of attendance will be provided**
In order to ensure your online participation in the event, please fill in the form available here.
The ZOOM LINK to be used for the event will be sent to everyone registered. A certain number of ZOOM seats are available.
This event is organized by the Creative Workshop Series 'Transparent Windows' (School of English, AUTh).
Event Coordinator: Dr. Tatiani Rapatzikou (trapatz@enl.auth.gr)
For any further inquiries, do send your emails to: trapatz@enl.auth.gr (Dr. Tatiani Rapatzikou) and/or svergopo@enl.auth.gr (Stavroula Vergopoulou, PhD candidate)
ΕVENT ABSTRACT
The presentation will view activism and the broader anti-dictatorship struggle through the concept of dynamic resistance in the Greek diaspora and more specifically in Toronto, which became a hub of anti-dictatorship struggle. Drawing on various audio and visual historical material the presentation will feature the collections in the Hellenic Heritage Foundation (HHF) Greek Canadian Archives at York University to highlight the contemporary relevance of a Greek diaspora collection. The struggle against authoritarianism, and the mobilization and activism to publicize a just cause in the struggle against dictatorship are objectives that are as much pertinent now as they were in the 1967-74 period. Newspapers, photographs and posters form a canvas on which the story of the small but vocal and even activist group of politically mobilized Greeks can be depicted, as they organized against the dictatorship, reshaping diaspora and homeland politics for the first time in such a transnational way.
BIO INFORMATION
Sakis Gekas is Associate Professor and the Hellenic Heritage Foundation (HHF) Chair in Modern Greek History at York University. He has published on economic and social history, British colonialism, migration and diaspora, in modern Greek and Mediterranean history. His monograph, Xenocracy: State, Class and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864 (Berghan, 2016; 2023), offers a much-needed account of the Ionian State under British protection. More recently, he has published on the history of the Greek Revolution veterans (Απόμαχοι. Οι αγωνιστές της Επανάστασης του 1821 στο Οθωνικό Κράτος (“Veterans. The fighters of the 1821 Revolution during the period of King Otto’s State”). EIE, Athens 2021), and on the history of Greeks in Canada (HHF Greek Canadian Archives).
