Sacred History, Sacred Time: a Comparative Cultural Study of the Commemoration of Independence Wars in Modern Greece and the USA
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology 5-8-2020 Sacred History, Sacred Time: A comparative cultural study of the commemoration of Independence Wars in Modern Greece and the USA Emmanouil Androulakis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Recommended Citation Androulakis, Emmanouil, "Sacred History, Sacred Time: A comparative cultural study of the commemoration of Independence Wars in Modern Greece and the USA." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2020. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/154 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SACRED HISTORY, SACRED TIME: A COMPARATIVE CULTURAL STUDY OF THE COMMEMORATION OF INDEPENDENCE WARS IN MODERN GREECE AND THE USA by EMMANOUIL ANDROULAKIS Under the Direction of Louis A. Ruprecht, PhD ABSTRACT In view of the Bicentenary of the Greek Revolution in 2021, I explore aspects of similarity and difference between Greece and the USA, by looking at how their Wars of Independence or Revolutions (1776-1781 and 1821-1830), respectively have been remembered and commemorated as well as mythologized as origin stories, in the context of national identity- formation, and as events in the framework of modern World History. Such concentration on national myths and commemorations will enable me to develop closer attention to the civil religion and nationalism in both contexts. I focus, in particular, on the Cosmogony of the two nations (Founders and Foundations), Manifest Destiny and the Megali Idea (Notions of Exceptional Chosenness and Expansionist Mission), as well as on National Days, Centennials and Bicentennials (Calendar and Ritual). INDEX WORDS: Modern Greece, USA, Revolutions, Nationalism, Myth, Civil religion, National Origins, Commemorations SACRED HISTORY, SACRED TIME: A COMPARATIVE CULTURAL STUDY OF THE COMMEMORATION OF INDEPENDENCE WARS IN MODERN GREECE AND THE USA by EMMANOUIL ANDROULAKIS A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2020 Copyright by Emmanouil Androulakis 2020 SACRED HISTORY, SACRED TIME: A COMPARATIVE CULTURAL STUDY OF THE COMMEMORATION OF INDEPENDENCE WARS IN MODERN GREECE AND THE USA by EMMANOUIL ANDROULAKIS Committee Chair: Louis A. Ruprecht Committee: Nicola Sharratt Faidra Papavasiliou Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Services College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2020 iv DEDICATION To Aselina, for her endless love and support. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am immensely grateful to Mrs. Alexandra Papachristou for her invaluable assistance during my studies at GSU. Also, I should like to thank Dr Nicola Sharratt and Dr Faidra Papavasiliou for their contributions towards this thesis. Last, but definitely not least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Louis A. Ruprecht for making my stay in Atlanta the most exciting intellectual adventure. This thesis would not be possible without his constant encouragement and guidance. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. V LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... VIII 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Preliminaries. ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose of the Study. ........................................................................................................ 8 1.3 Methodology. .................................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Structure of the thesis. .................................................................................................... 16 2 THEORETICAL APPROACH ......................................................................................... 17 2.1 “An accident of time and geography” .......................................................................... 17 2.2 Nationalism and Religion: An Overview. .................................................................... 22 2.3 Nationalism as Religion. ................................................................................................. 26 2.4 Interlude: Civil Religion................................................................................................. 31 2.5 On myths and national myths. ...................................................................................... 34 3 NATIONAL COSMOGONIES.......................................................................................... 41 3.1 Introduction. .................................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Revolutionary Deliberations. ......................................................................................... 42 3.3 A Nation is Born, a Nation is Reborn........................................................................... 52 3.4 New Capitals, Old Architectures. ................................................................................. 57 3.5 Heroes................................................................................................................................ 61 vii 4 NOTIONS OF EXCEPTIONAL CHOSENESS AND MISSION. ............................... 68 4.1 Introduction. .................................................................................................................... 68 4.2 The Nation Makes Its Destiny Manifest. ..................................................................... 69 4.3 The “Great Idea” (of Hellenism). ................................................................................. 75 4.4 Destinies, Ideas, and the Others. ................................................................................... 82 5 CALENDAR AND RITUAL. ............................................................................................. 90 5.1 Introduction. .................................................................................................................... 90 5.2 Jubilees in the USA. ........................................................................................................ 94 5.3 Jubilees in Modern Greece. ......................................................................................... 101 5.4 Coda: Greece at 200. ..................................................................................................... 105 6 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS. ........................................................................................ 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 116 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 The Age of Revolutions ...................................................................................................... 10 Figure 2 John Trumbull's The Declaration of Independence. .......................................................... 67 Figure 3 Theodoros Vrizakis' Bishop Germanos of Old Patras Blesses the flag of Revolution. .. 67 Figure 4 American Territorial Expansion. ........................................................................................ 88 Figure 5‘Civilization’ goes West: American Progress, or Manifest Destiny. ................................ 88 Figure 6 Greek Territorial Expansion................................................................................................ 89 Figure 7 The Mother(land) and her bound daughters: Anti-Ottoman propaganda. ........................ 89 1 1 INTRODUCTION There is no history without dates. (Claude Levi- Strauss, The Savage Mind, p.258) 1.1 Preliminaries. The endeavor to comprehend how World History progresses, if we believe that it progresses, and whether we believe that it is developing toward some ultimate end or goal, involves us in a fascinating yet extremely complex set of questions. In his Lectures on the Philosophy of History (offered biennially between 1821 and 1830), G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) argued that by examining the logic of historical progression we can perceive how later stages offer us better concepts and ideas. The Idealist philosopher’s conception of World History was characterized by a narrative of stages constituted by specific crises that led the world toward a more expansive conception of freedom, which Hegel took to be the ultimate end of history. If freedom was the end, then abolition of slavery was the political goal, together with the constitution of free subjects who understand that freedom is constrained by responsibility, thereby consciously making choices in agreement with universal principles, situated moral laws, and a clear understanding of collective responsibility. In his analysis, Hegel perceives World History to develop dialectically, whereby any given social and historical arrangement confronts problems and/or contradictions that it lacks the resources to resolve. Confronted with a dilemma,