Red and purple? Feminism and young Greek Eurocommunists in the 1970s

This article analyses the impact of Feminism on one of the most popular left-wing youth groups in Greece, the Eurocommunist Rigas Feraios (RF), in the mid-to-late 1970s. It indicates that, rather than a shift to (depoliticised) individualisation, which scholars claim that emerged elsewhere in Western Europe during the 1970s, post-dictatorship Greece witnessed intense politicisation and experimentations in mass-mobilisation models, a facet of which was the reconfiguration of the relationship between Eurocommunist organisations and Feminism. It demonstrates that the spread of Feminist ideas in RF led to the sexualisation of feminine representations in its language. Still, it argues that Feminist activity within RF had broader repercussions: it stirred reflection on masculinities and contributed to the reshaping of the collective memory of left-wing activity in Greece endorsed by this organisation. Finally, the article shows that the Feminist members of RF formed women's committees, which functioned as a test-bed for novel conceptualisations of collective action that RF tried to develop in the mid-to-late 1970s.PostprintPeer reviewe

Gender in modern Greek historiography

This article analyses the emergence and development of the study of gender in modern Greek historiography in the broader sense, exploring works that incorporate, even to a minor extent, the gender factor. It shows that despite the manifold barriers that gender historians have faced, there has been a slow but steady process of diffusion of gender in modern Greek historiography in general. The article also shows that historical research on gender relations in Greece initially focused on the study of women, historicising, however, their relations with men. Thus, in line with what Kantsa and Papataxiarchis argue about the relevant scholarship at the international level, no linear transition from the study of women to the examination of gender relations occurred. What has transpired in the last two decades, however, is that the relevant historiography has gradually broadened to encompass a more systematic analysis of the (re)making of masculinities. It has also been enriched by the study of the intersection of gender and age as well as of transnational flows and their impact on gender, tendencies that have been slightly neglected in other reviews of the study of gender in Greek historiography.

‘Keeping with contemporary times’: social tourism and West German youth hostel organizations, 1950s-1980s

The research on which this article is based was generously financed by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.This article examines the organizations that ran youth hostels in West Germany from the 1950s to 1989. It analyses whether they reconfigured their aims and practices against the backdrop of the cultural, social and political transformations that West Germany underwent throughout its existence, especially concerning the establishment of strong ties with ‘Western’ countries and the spread of mass consumption. It argues that while the maintenance of discipline among guests by youth hostel personnel remained important in the operation of West German youth hostels throughout the period in question, the norms around which discipline revolved and the ways in which it was enforced increasingly became negotiated between the officials of these associations and the guests at youth hostels. This process does not fall into the category of the ‘cultural revolution’ that occurred in the ‘Long Sixties’, according to Arthur Marwick, but amounted to a protracted and cautious experimentation that lasted several decades. While the historiography of tourism has hitherto analysed either the explosion of commercial tourism or the spread of anti-commercial travel from the 1960s onwards, shifting youth hostel policies help illuminate a popular type of tourism, which growingly developed synergies with both those travel patterns, but yet remained distinct from them.PostprintPeer reviewe

Gender in modern Greek historiography

This article analyses the emergence and development of the study of gender in modern Greek historiography in the broader sense, exploring works that incorporate, even to an extent, the factor of gender. It shows that despite the manifold barriers that gender historians have faced, there is a slow but steady process of diffusion of gender in modern Greek historiography in general. The article also shows that historical research on gender relations in Greece initially focused on the study of women, historicising, however, their relations with men. Thus, in line with what Kantsa and Papataxiarchis argue about relevant scholarship at the international level, no linear transition from the study of women to the examination of gender relations occurred in modern Greek historiography. What has transpired, however, in the last two decades is that relevant historiography has gradually broadened to encompass a more systematic analysis of the (re)making of masculinities. It has also been enriched by the study of the intersection of gender and age as well as of transnational flows and their impact on gender, tendencies somewhat neglected in other reviews of the study of gender in Greek historiography.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

From Coherence to Fragments: '1968' and the Making of Youth Politicisation in Greece in the 1970s

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An uneven internationalism? : West German youth and organised travel to Israel, c. 1958–c. 1967

Funding: This article is based on research generously funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.This article shows that organised youth mobility programmes from West Germany to Israel in the late 1950s and 1960s were a testing ground for the internationalist visions of federal state institutions, diverse organisers and various young visitors. Such programmes largely helped reproduce an uneven internationalism, which prioritised contact between West Germans and Israeli Jews, while sidelining Arabs living in Israel and stereotyping them through an Orientalist lens. However, the way in which West German subjects framed such programmes was far from fixed. Shifting Cold War dynamics led Christian Democratic youth organisations in particular to develop contacts with Arabs in the Middle East even before the Six-Day War of 1967. Moreover, some participants began to think, albeit in a fragmented manner, about the context in which the Holocaust had emerged or about individual guilt. The article adds to the emerging literature on internationalism, which explores both its benevolent aspects and its blind spots. Moreover, in studying a broad array of youth subjects – including the secular left, Protestant youth and young Christian Democrats – the article helps enrich the study of internationalism and youth in West Germany both in relation to and beyond the New Left.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Greek trans women selling sex, spaces and mobilities, 1960s-1980s

This article shows how sex work, gender identity and spatial mobilities were entangled for Greek trans women selling sex. Selling sex, particularly as trans women, exposed them to severe threats due to restrictive legislation and bias against them. Nevertheless, sex work could also be an empowering experience, facilitating their gender transitioning and helping them develop professional self-esteem. Greek trans women selling sex experienced such barriers and empowerment between the 1960s and early 1980s. Thus, contrary to the powerful argument in the history of sexuality, the late 1970s witnessed no ‘turn inwards’ for them. Selling sex as a pathway to gender transitioning was a process situated in specific spaces and facilitated by mobilities. Gender transitioning through sex work transpired in niches that trans women selling sex carved out in Athens and Salonica from the 1960s on. Simultaneously, movement across space had a complex and, sometimes, cumulative effect on sex work as a road to gender transitioning. Individuals engaging in the latter process relocated within the urban centres or from villages and provincial towns to the large cities of Greece, populating the abovementioned niches. In these niches, they exchanged information on locations outside of Greece. Subsequently, some trans women travelled to Casablanca to undergo gender-affirming surgery and/or migrated to West Berlin to sell sex. Such cross-border mobility had an ambiguous impact on the link between sex work and gender transitioning for Greek trans women, sometimes consolidating it and sometimes helping weaken it. In exploring the experience of Greek trans women in West Berlin, the article also contributes to the conjoined study of sex work, on the one hand, and migration from Greece to West Germany, on the other, which historians have hitherto primarily analysed separately from one another.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe