Physical Anthropology, Race and Eugenics in Greece (1880s–1970s) Balkan Studies Library Editor-in-Chief Zoran Milutinović, University College London Editorial Board Gordon N. Bardos, Columbia University Alex Drace-Francis, University of Amsterdam Jasna Dragović-Soso, Goldsmiths, University of London Christian Voss, Humboldt University, Berlin Advisory Board Marie-Janine Calic, University of Munich Lenard J. Cohen, Simon Fraser University Radmila Gorup, Columbia University Robert M. Hayden, University of Pittsburgh Robert Hodel, Hamburg University Anna Krasteva, New Bulgarian University Galin Tihanov, Queen Mary, University of London Maria Todorova, University of Illinois Andrew Wachtel, Northwestern University VOLUME 11 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsl Physical Anthropology, Race and Eugenics in Greece (1880s–1970s) By Sevasti Trubeta LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 Cover Illustration: Design by Alexandra Chaitoglou and Ioanna Varia Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Physical anthropology, race and eugenics in Greece (1880s–1970s) / by Sevasti Trubeta. pages cm — (Balkan studies library ; 11) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-25766-5 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25767-2 (e-book) 1. Physical anthropology—Greece—History. 2. Eugenics—Greece—History. 3. Racism in anthropology— Greece—History. 4. Greece—Race relations. 5. Greece—Social life and customs. I. Title. GN50.45.G8T76 2013 599.909495—dc23 2013026491 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1877-6272 ISBN 978-90-04-25766-5 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25767-2 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. In memory of Georgia Kretsi (1972–2009) CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements ................................................................ xi A Note on Greek References and Transliteration ................................. xiii Abbreviations ................................................................................................... xv Introduction: Framing the Research: A Medical Discipline with Holistic Claims .................................................................................. 1 SECTION I ON THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY IN GREECE 1. Tracing the Intellectual and Epistemic Sources of Greek Anthropology .............................................................................................. 25 1.1 The Dispute over Evolutionism and the Alliance of the Natural Sciences and Medicine ................................................. 26 1.2 Medical Geography Αs an Epistemic Source of Greek Anthropology ................................................................................... 31 2. The Emergence of Anthropological Institutions and Professional Scholarship ......................................................................... 41 2.1 The Adventurous Establishment of the University Chair for Physical Anthropology ........................................................... 44 2.2 The Chair-Holder in the Light of His Own Life Narrative 47 Conclusion to Section I ................................................................................. 51 SECTION II CONCEPTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY, INSTITUTIONAL TRAJECTORIES AND SCIENTIFIC CAPITAL Introduction to Section II: Paths for Passing from the Word to Discourse ................................................................................................ 55 3. Anthropology at the Museum ............................................................... 57 3.1 The Museum Αs a Vehicle for the Mutual Advancement of National and Professional Aims ........................................... 57 viii contents 3.2 The Anthropological Museum Αs National Heterotopia ... 62 3.3 Beyond National Limits: A Public Site to Represent Universal Human Culture ........................................................... 66 3.4 Authorization over Ethnology and a Colonial Dream for Athens ................................................................................................ 70 4. Anthropology at the University Chair ................................................ 79 4.1 The Agenda: Teaching Anthropology in the Broad Sense .................................................................................................. 79 4.2 The Implementation: Teaching the Restricted Scope of Physical Anthropology .................................................................. 83 5. The Greek Anthropological Society .................................................... 89 5.1 Contours of a Trajectory: Promising Outset, Inglorious End ...................................................................................................... 89 5.2 The Internal Debates of the Greek Anthropological Society ............................................................................................... 96 5.3 Quantification of Humans: Criminals, Sound Children and Intelligence Tests ................................................................... 99 5.4 Physical Anomaly and Heredity Αs Nexus to Anthropological Discourse .......................................................... 106 5.5 Anthropology Αs Fetish, Professional Conformity and Opposition ........................................................................................ 110 5.6 Embracing Social Anthropology in the Face of a Noble Anthropologist: Prince Peter ...................................................... 115 6. A ‘Disinterested Science’ in Wartime ................................................. 121 6.1 The Neutrality of Science and the War Narrative ................ 121 6.2 The Need for Rehabilitation and Ex Post Facto Patriotism ......................................................................................... 128 6.3 Civil War: Victims, Patriots and Badly Educated Peoples .. 131 Excursus: Anthropological Conceptions and University Capital ..... 139 SECTION III CONCEPTS OF THE GREEK FILI: COMMUNALITY IN RACIAL AND EUGENIC TERMS Introduction to Section III: Terminological Metamorphoses of Fili—Diverse Concepts of Communality ............................................ 145 contents ix 7. Race and Greek Ancestry ....................................................................... 147 7.1 From Religious Universalism to Hellenism: A Bridge to Pass from Empire to Nation State ............................................ 149 7.2 The Arrival of Race via the National Vehicle ........................ 159 7.3 Dilemmas of Racial Purity: From Assimilatory Hellenism to Racial Hybridization ................................................................ 162 7.4 To Cope with the Ottoman Legacy in the Shadow of the Nordic Racial Myth ........................................................................ 171 7.5 Back to Racial Purity via Mixophobia: In Light of National Socialism ......................................................................... 177 7.6 Perceptions of Racial Theories: Absorbed, Absent and Phantom Minorities ...................................................................... 189 7.7 Aris Poulianos on the Racial Origins of the Greeks ............ 196 8. The Eugenic Concept of Fili .................................................................. 203 8.1 Eugenic Representations of Hellenic Antiquity: A Matter of European Self-Consciousness ................................................ 205 8.2 The Social Question and Overpopulation: Eugenics for Governing Social Stratification .................................................. 207 8.3 Social Disease, the Promiscuity of the Poor and Eugenically Coloured Hygiene ................................................... 223 8.4 Scholars on Eugenic Politics, Sterilization and Prenatal Health Examinations .................................................................... 233 8.5 Eugenic Birth Control by State Institutions ........................... 239 8.6 Greek Racial Hygienists and the Transient Appearance of Stavros Zurukzoglu ................................................................... 246 8.7 Beyond and against Eugenics: Still a Subjective Decision 258 8.8 Under the Banner of Reformist Eugenics: The Greek Society of Eugenics ........................................................................ 263 8.8.1 Post-War Eugenics in Public Debates: Old Issues—New Controversies ........................................... 267 8.8.2 Professional Networking and Political Opportunity: A Biographical Note on Nikolaos Louros ................................................................................... 274 Excursus: Fili, Bio-Power and Authoritative Biologism ......................