Language Lecturer Anna Venetsanos

Open to undergraduate students with no previous training in Greek and to others by permission of the instructor. An introduction to modern Greek. Provides students with the fundamentals of grammar, syntax, oral expression, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Students develop the skills and vocabulary necessary to read simple texts and hold basic conversations. Students are introduced to modern Greek culture, history, and society, since the ultimate goal of the course is to enrich our understanding of multiple, living Greek realities through the language. Teaching materials include current newspaper articles, graded literary passages, songs, and various linguistic games.

Elementary Modern Greek I offered in the fall semester; Elementary Modern Greek II offered in the spring semester.

4 points per term. 

Language Lecturer Anna Venetsanos

Designed for undergraduate students already familiar with modern Greek. Students are expected to be acquainted with the most significant structures of grammar and syntax, and to have acquired the foundations for basic conversation in Greek. Introduces students to more complex linguistic and grammatical analysis, advanced composition, and graded reading. It also provides further practice in speaking and works to enrich the student's vocabulary. Readings and discussions of selected works of prose, poetry, and theatre serve as an introduction to aspects of modern Greek civilization and as an occasion for comprehensive discussions of contemporary Greek society.

PREREQUISITE: HEL-UA 104 OR PLACEMENT TEST

Intermediate Modern Greek I offered in the fall semester; Intermediate II offered in the spring semester.

4 points per term. 

Language Lecturer Anna Venetsanos

Focus is on advanced composition and oral practices, with the aim of refining an understanding and general facility with written and spoken Greek. Course work is designed to help students develop a comprehensive vocabulary, improve pronunciation, and increase their effectiveness, accuracy, and fluency in writing and speaking the language. Enhances and perfects reading, speaking, conversational, and writing skills through the close study of selected modern Greek literary texts, current newspaper articles and essays, films, advertisements, and comprehensive discussions of contemporary Greek society. Explores major facets and phenomena of Greek culture: current social and political issues, events, and controversies in Greece; Greece's position "in the margins of Europe" and at the crossroads of East and West; gender politics; the educational system; the political landscape; discourses on the question of Greek identity; and topics in popular culture. Through individual projects, oral reports, class presentation, and written assignments, students are expected to pursue an in-depth "reading" of present-day Greece.

PREREQUISITE: HEL-UA 106 OR PLACEMENT TEST.

Advanced Modern Greek I offered in the fall semester; Advanced Modern Greek II offered in the spring semester.

4 points per term. 

Professor Eleftheria Astrinaki

In a moment in which the world is beset with crises of all kinds, fourteen films and one book will guide our effort to think about fascism, perhaps the vaguest of all political terms, but one that is presently increasing in circulation around the globe. Using Robert Paxton’ s The Anatomy of Fascism as a kind of lens through which to begin analyzing cinematic responses to fascism in different countries, we will evaluate the way in which these films either follow or exceed his framework for understanding the rise of fascism. We will consider fascism beyond its classic manifestations in Italian fascism and German Nazism and look at the forms it has taken from Latin America to the Middle and Far East. We will also look at primary sources on filmmaking in order to study how formal techniques support the particular political perspective of each film considered. The course will also seek to think about the relation between the way in which fascism—its origins, its power, and its appeal—is depicted in these several films and its more contemporary versions today. By looking at these different instances of fascism, we will ask about what makes fascism fascism.

Professor Eleftheria Astrinaki

The beginnings of hip hop music can be traced back to the streets of New York in the 1970s. Hip hop has been rooted in black culture and social commentary. At its origin, hip hop artists created music that combined traditional African-American forms of music, played in jam sessions and used to speak out on social maladies. Hip hop music has evolved over the years, to become not only a multi-billion-dollar industry, but also an attractive form for cultural appropriation around the globe. In Greece, hip hop arrives two decades later. Public Enemy and their sold-out concert in 1992 in Athens is a milestone event in the “birth” of Greek hip hop. FF.C (Fortified Concept), Terror X Crew and Active Member release their first album Protest at the end of 1992. However, it is only after 2010 and the European debt crisis that Greek hip hop is on the rise, engaging a wider audience. This course is designed to introduce students to the key moments in the history of hip hop music and its appropriation (from Kool Herc to Eminem and from Tupac and Kendrick Lamar to hip hop Latino Americano and K-rap), before delving into the Greek scene in an attempt to study Greekness through hip hop. An analysis of Greek hip hop songs will reveal how inextricably linked they are to the historical, cultural and social context in which they are produced and consumed.