sotiris koutmanis

The present study examines the social and gender aspects of the settlement of the Greeks in Venice during the 17th century. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first, entitled "social structures" examines the demographic, social, economic characteristics of the community and family structure. In the second part, entitled "gender and attitudes" which focused on space / 'place' is analyzed the issue of gender, religion and identities. Each part represents a different methodology. The approach of social issues is through the structural analysis and gender through the micro-historical perspective. Following the findings of Italian historiography for the transient and fluid nature of the social relations in 17th century Venice, the study of the social stratification was based on the economic and professional position of the Greeks. As expected, the professional composition of the community and the fluid demographic image affected the family structure. Th...

Giovanni Veludo, direttore della biblioteca Marciana e importante intellettuale della società veneziana dell’Ottocento è stato il primo storico della comunità greca di Venezia . La sua opera, anche se di piccole dimensioni, ha esercitato una grande influenza sulla storiografia greca, visto che ha costituito il modello per lo studio delle comunità dei greci della diaspora, sino agli anni ’60 del Novecento. La resistenza del suo studio storico negli anni, non è dovuta alle informazioni che contiene, ma alla maniera in cui le presenta. Veludo incorpora nella sua opera le idee del positivismo storico e le associa con la teoria estetica dell’Ottocento.

The objective of the study is to analyse popular video games with historical content and their influence on the reception and formation of historical knowledge and understanding. The key features of video games are: their hybrid nature, the significant impact on the young population, and, unlike other audiovisual media, the incitement to action and experiential engagement with history.
Research will be undertaken in two parts. Five popular video games will be analysed; this will then be followed by an examination of commentary, discussions and disputes of players in specialized internet forums. More specifically, the survey results will relate to:
1) Decoding of the game ideology, 2) examination of their influence on the players’ historical knowledge and culture and, 3) examination of significations of historical thinking.

The Greeks of Venice, was a highly mixed social group. The Greek speaking population of Venice included not only merchants and humanists, but also sailors, workers, artisans and women working as maids, midwifes, peddlers and prostitutes. The religious status and identity of Greeks has been thoroughly researched during the last sixty years. The main areas of this research includes the relationship between schismatics and Latin Church, the politics of the Orthodox confraternity (Scuola di San Nicolo dei Greci) and the conversion of Greek elites groups (priests and scholars) to Catholicism. Our paper instead focuses on those Roman Catholic Greeks, men and women, who belong to the lower strata of the Venetian society.

(Presentation: Princeton Athens Center for Research and Hellenic Studies, Workshop: Local Religion and Its Waning in the Eastern Mediterranean: Greeks in Context, 16th-19th c. )