CONTINUITY, IDENTITY AND FOLK STUDIES IN GREECE

This article will focus on folk studies in Greece and the role they played both in the creation of the Greek national state and in the shaping of Greek identity. The Great Idea, the official ideology of the Greek state from 1843 to 1922, exercised influence both on the formation and the development of folklore studies. This specific idea of expanding the boundaries of Greece by way of liberating other areas inhabited by Greeks, located outside the Greek national borders of the time, outlined the framework for the folklore studies and defined their relationship with the ancient Greeks and their culture. Thus, the key concept in dealing with the Great Idea is the theory of continuity which is common ground in folk studies around the world. The article is an effort to illuminate folklore studies and Greek folklorists' attitude against basic concepts such as national state, identity, continuity

Memory and Identity on the Greek-Bulgarian Border

This paper explores the relation between memory and national identity. It is based on the hypothesis of whetherand to what degreelocal memory, the cultural identity of a region as expressed by collective memory, serves the constitution of national identity or is a threat to the materialization of this objective, because of its cultural polyphony' and different discourse. In order to investigate these questions, research focused on the village of Petrota in northern Evros, Greece, and its relation with the village of Malko Gradishte, on the other side of the Greek-Bulgarian border. The relations and the manner of their representation by the inhabitants, before and after the 1940s, when Bulgaria joined the communist camp, are discussed. The paper underlines the importance of collective memory for understanding official histories and identities

"May the Devil Take Your Head and Brain": The Curses of Karpathos, Greece, Social Counterstructures, and the Management of Social Relations

This article examines the nature of curses and their function by using specific ethnographic examples from the Greek island of Karpathos. In addition, curses are discussed as an interesting means of studying local worldview. Every society's main care is to safeguard its cultural capital, perceptions, and social relations as well as its daily and ritual behaviors, which guarantee its cohesion and facilitate its reproduction

Durum Wheat Breeding in the Mediterranean Region: Current Status and Future Prospects

This brief historical review focuses on durum wheat domestication and breeding in the Mediterranean region. Important milestones in durum wheat breeding programs across the countries of the Mediterranean basin before and after the Green Revolution are discussed. Additionally, the main achievements of the classical breeding methodology are presented using a comparison of old and new cultivars. Furthermore, current breeding goals and challenges are analyzed. An overview of classical breeding methods in combination with current molecular techniques and tools for cultivar development is presented. Important issues of seed quality are outlined, focusing on protein and characteristics that affect human health and are connected with the consumption of wheat end-products

Comparative Evaluation of Tomato Hybrids and Inbred Lines for Fruit Quality Traits

Tomato is one of the most consumed fruit vegetables globally and is a high dietary source of minerals, fiber, carotenoids, and vitamin C. The tomato is also well known for its nutraceutical chemical content which strengthens human immune systems and is protective against infectious and degenerative diseases. For this reason, there has been recent emphasis on breeding new tomato cultivars with nutraceutical value. Most of the modern tomato cultivars are F1 hybrids, and many of the characteristics associated with fruit quality have additive gene action; so, in theory, inbred vigor could reach hybrid vigor. A sum of 20 recombinant lines was released from the commercial single-cross hybrids Iron, Sahara, Formula, and Elpida, through a breeding process. Those recombinant lines were evaluated during spring–summer 2015 under organic farming conditions in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experimental design with three replications. A sum of eleven qualitative characteristics of the fruit was recorded on an individual plant basis. Results from this study indicated that the simultaneous selection of individual tomato plants, both in terms of their high yield and desired fruit quality characteristics, can lead to highly productive recombinant lines with integrated quality characteristics. So, inbred vigor can reach and even surpass hybrid vigor. The response to selection for all characteristics evaluated shows additive gene action of all characteristics measured. These recombinant lines can fulfill this role as alternatives to hybrid cultivars and those that possess high nutritional values to function as functional-protective food

Vampire stories in Greece and the reinforcement of socio-cultural norms

This paper investigates the relationship of humans with the supernatural and the function of the latter as a normalizing factor in social organization. The focus is on traditional Greek stories about vampires and the aim is to study the relationship between vampires and the cultural capital of the local community, on the one hand, and, on the other, beliefs about the progress of the soul after its departure from the body upon death. The Greek vampire (vrikolakas) is examined in relation to both the concept of faith in Orthodox Christianity and traditional death rituals, some of them pagan survivals. © 2013 The Folklore Society

Development of an operational mapping system for the fine aerosol mass concentration and the estimated population exposure in Attica, Greece

Μη διαθέσιμη περίληψηNot available summarizationΠαρουσιάστηκε στο: European Aerosol Conferenc