Space and landscape in Greek and Turkish nationalist imaginaries

When?

Monday 23 February 2009, 17:00 to 18:30

Where?

Room 04AD00 (AD building) University of Surrey

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Speaker:

Dr Spyros Sofos

Dr Spyros Sofos, Kingston University

Nationalism is almost invariably haunted by a fixation on territory. This involves the reconstruction of social space as national territory, often with a force and intensity that obliterate alternatives and graft the nation onto the physical environment and everyday social practices. The Greek and Turkish nationalist projects are no exception to this; indispensable in theattempts to visualize the two nations and the relationship between them have been questions revolving around the demarcation of a homeland, which would manifestly be inviolable and uncontestable. This paper will trace, compare and analyse the processes of the territorial imagination of the two nations over the past two centuries.