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SYMPOSIUM 2015

October 15-18, 2015 · Georgia State University · Atlanta, GA

2015 John O. Iatrides Best Dissertation Prize Announcement

The committee evaluating the 2015 John O. Iatrides Best Dissertation Prize, consisting of Yiorgos Anagnostou (Associate Professor of Modern Greek, Ohio State University), chair, Vassilis Lambropoulos (Professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Greek, University of Michigan), Christine Philliou (Associate Professor of History, University of California Berkeley), and Marinos Pourgouris (Assistant Professor of Modern Greek Literature and Culture, University of Cyprus), has read this year’s entries and arrived at its decision. 

The Prize goes to Vasilis Molos (History, New York University, Abu Dhabi) for his dissertation “Nationness in the Absence of a Nation: Narrating the Prehistory of the Greek National Movement,” PhD diss. NYU, 2014.

• The committee found this to be a much-needed addition, particularly in the English bibliography, on the emergence of the Greek nation state. It underlines the importance of studying the historical and social developments prior to the 1821 revolution which placed Greeks on the path of forming a nation state, and significantly offers a revisionist perspective. The dissertation’s incorporation of original sources in Greek and English is exhaustive and the addition of sources in French and Italian offers a multifaceted perspective on the European view of the Orlof revolt. The comparative historical perspective through which the author approaches this particular moment in Greek history is one of the major strengths of this work. The Orlof revolt is presented here as a dynamic event that defined the Greek and European perspectives on Greek identity (rather than a singular event that simply preceded the revolution).

Congratulations to the winner! He will be formally congratulated at the MGSA 2015 Symposium on Thursday, October 15, 2015, as Georgia State University in Atlanta. The winner will be present in the recognition ceremony,  

The committee also wishes to thank the scholars who submitted work and to recognize its excellence. The dissertations submitted represent the best in current scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. 

The Prize honors John O. Iatrides, who taught courses on contemporary Greek politics at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, New York universities and the University of the Aegean and is Connecticut State University Professor Emeritus in Political Science. The Prize recognizes his more than two decades of outstanding service as MGSA's Executive Director and his acclaimed contributions to the scholarship on Greece and the Balkans for the period beginning with World War II.

Sincerely,

Yiorgos Anagnostou

Associate Professor
Department of Classics
Ohio State University