Aspects of Modern Greek nationalism: the educational policy of the first period of governance of the Liberal Party in Greece (1915–1924) and ‘national integration’

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to describe and interpret the main objectives of the educational policy of the central elites of the Liberals in the region of Greek Macedonia during the period 1915–1924 concerning the process of assimilation and especially the cultural assimilation, the structural integration and the psychological identification of the so-called xenophone or allophone population. We investigate the Glinos Foundation Archive using CDA techniques in combination with the historical interpretative method. Αn assimilation process with mild practices took place, while the achievement of national homogenization through literacy via the demotic Greek language teaching was considered as the main goal.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• identities
• national integration
• discourse analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The “dedilomeni principle’ (αρχή της δϵδηλωμένης) means the “declared confidence of Parliament’, obliging the king to appoint the leader of the party with the majority of parliamentary votes as the Prime Minister.

2 https://plato.stanford/edu/fundraising/Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved October 31, 2020.

3 See also https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust0000020043.pdf. Retrieved October 31, 2020.

4 Law Decree/1923GG Issue 238/25.9.1923.

5 Law Decree/1923 GG Issue 311/30.10.1923. Peri kiroseos tis en Sevres hypografisis Synthikis peri prostasias ton en Helladi meonotiton [Concerning the ratification of the Treaty of Sevres on the protection of minorities in Greece]; Svolopoulos, K. (2014). E Helleniki eksoteriki politiki, 1830–1981 [Greek Foreign Policy, 1830–1981]. Athens: Estia.

6 Proceedings of the Conferences of the Hellenic Parliament, March 24, 1924, p. 673.

7 Proceedings of the Conferences of the Hellenic Parliament, March 25, 1924, p. 686.

8 Proceedings of the Conferences of the Hellenic Parliament, April 19, 1924, p. 1085.

9 Benaki Museum, Eleftherios Venizelos Archive (ΑΕΒ). Files Α/5 /ΧΙΙ/11 «Bulgaria. Practica miktis Hellenovoulgarikis epitropis» [«Bulgaria: Minutes of the common Greek-Bulgarian committee»], Α/5/ΧΙΙ/10 «Fakelos epeisodiou Terliz» [«File of the Terliz incident»]; Barker E. (1950). Macedonia: Its Place in Balkan Power Politics. Stidio, pp. 31–35; Barros, J (1970). The League of Nations and the Great Powers: The Greek-Bulgarian Incident, 1925. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

10 As N. Fairclough (1989) argues: “This raises the problem of how to select samples for detailed analysis. The answer is broadly that samples should be carefully selected on the basis of a preliminary survey of the corpus […] so that they yield as much insight as possible into the contribution of discourse to the social practice under scrutiny’. P. 230. The analysis follows three stages a. analysis of discourse practices at a micro level focusing upon intertextuality and interdiscursivity of discourse samples, b. analysis of texts (micro level) c. analysis of the sociohistorical practices of which the discourse is a part (1989, p. 231.), Fairclough, & Wodak (1997, pp. 258–284). Historical analysis encourages interdisciplinary inquiry and understanding. On top of that, it is intellectually enriching and challenging in historical research to often ask the thought-provoking question “why’ (Monaghan & Hartman, 2000). To answer these “why’ questions, we chose to use CDA.

11 See http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/PartitionedMacedonia/Bucharest.html. Retrieved October 10, 2020.

12 Manolis Triantafillides was a Greek linguist and one of the founders (with Alexandros Delmouzos and Dimitris Glinos) of the Educational Group, official body of educational demoticism with a great contribution to the educational programs of the governments of Eleftherios Venizelos.

13 However, the construction of what we call “greekness’ oscillates between two poles: antiquity and the West/East. The positive representation and the value of ‘greekness’ is marked by the ancient past from which it was ‘inherited naturally’. National historiography and national narrative reproduce, among other things, the composition of the continuity of the national subject through time and the connection of ancient Greece with modern times (Kouzelis, 1997, pp. 121–127; Tsoukalas, 1994, pp. 288–289, 293–294).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sofia Iliadou-Tachou

Sofia Iliadou-Tachou is a professor of Modern Greek History and History of Education, University of Western Macedonia, Greece. Undergraduate studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Postgraduate studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Pedagogy. PhD, Faculty of Pedagogy, Department of Preschool Education Managing Director of the postgraduate program “Education Science: History, Teaching History and Education policy”. Member of the Board of the Hellenic Society of Educator Historians (ELEIE), elected Vice President-Member of the Editorial Board of four scientific journals. Member of the Joint Interdisciplinary Committee of Experts (JICE) between Greece and Northern Macedonia for educational and archaeological issues.

Evmorfia Kipouropoulou

Dr Evmorfia Kipouropoulou is currently a Greek Language Teacher and a Special Scientist at the University of Western Macedonia, Greece. She has studied Philosophy and Education in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a master's degree, a PhD in Education with emphasis in Intercultural Education and immigration and a Post doc in Teachers Education and Identities. Her scientific work has been published in scientific journals and at international conferences and she has published three books. Her research interests are related to Pedagogy, Intercultural Education, national identity, Teachers Education and Critical Discourse Analysis.

Eirini Kouremenou

Dr Eireni Kouremenou is a Headmistress in a Special Education School and she currently works as a Special Scientist at the University of Western Macedonia, Greece. She holds a master's degree in Special Education and Integration and a PhD in Local History. Her scientific work has been published in scientific journals and at international conferences. Her research interests concern History, Local History and Education.