ANNA KARPATHAKIS

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
 
BOOK REVIEW
The Archaeology of Xenitia: Greek 
Immigration and Material Culture
Ed. by Kostis Kourelis￿
 
 
 
REVIEWED BY 
ANNA  
KARPATHAKIS 
* 
Athens: Gennadius Library, 2008
ISBN 978-960-86960-6-8, 104 pp.￿  
 
This is one of the first works in the emerging field of the material culture of immigra-
tion, and more specifically the archaeology of immigration; to my knowledge, this is 
in fact, the first of its kind on Greek immigrants. The volume is comprised by seven 
chapters all of which are empirically based, and this is its incredible strength, as it 
allows the reader to look at precisely the nuances of material cultures as they are 
created by immigrants in the host and home societies. It is a significant volume for 
both Greek immigrant studies and ethnic studies and the archaeology of immigra-
tion. 
The first chapter, by Susan Buck Sutton is on the “post-antiquity” rural ruins on 
the Cycladic island of Kea, the Argolid region of Peloponnesos and the Nemea Val-
ley just south of Corinth. She examines the ruins left, strewn about in the countryside 
as populations moved in and out of the region, following work and labor flows which 
were structured by global economic forces, even as early as the mid-19th century. 
As Prof. Sutton points out, this dynamic is barely noticed in the dominant narrative 
through which Greek Americans are discussed and their experiences in the host 
society explained. The archaeology of the ruins left behind by migrants and emi-
grants enables us to look at another facet of immigration within the context of capi-
talism going global.   
The second chapter, by Timothy E. Gregory and Lita Tzortzopoulou-Gregory, 
looks at the material cultural exchanges of Kytherian immigrants to Australia, be-
tween the host and the home societies. The researchers discuss the differences in 
housing architectures preferred by earlier (more assimilated and acculturated) and 
more recent Kytherian immigrants to Australia. Furthermore, within the “wog” homes, 
i.e., the more recent immigrants, one sees material objects and decorations brought 
from the home society, while at the same time, housing built in Kythera by these 
same immigrants hold within them cultural artifacts from Australia. It is through these 
otherwise small details and choices that one understands that immigrants are truly of 
two worlds as they bring elements of one into the other.   
Chapter three, by Phillip Duke, is on the Ludlow Massacre of 1914.  Basing his 
chapter on the Colorado Coalfield Wars Archaeological Project, Duke argues that 
although the Colorado coalfield wars are a classic example of class conflict, it is also 
possible to locally contextualize this struggle and examine the ethnic traditions of the 
strikers; specifically he argues that the then current history of Crete’s and Greece’s  
struggles of emancipation from the Ottoman control “provided  Louis Tikas and the 
other Greek miners with an example of how to overcome oppression, this time not 
Turkish in origin, but rather American.”  
                                                 
* Kingsborough C.C., CUNY, USA.   
www.migrationletters.com  208 
The fourth chapter, by Kostis Kourelis, is on the history of the St. George Ortho-
dox Cathedral of Philadelphia. The architecture of Greek Orthodox churches in the 
U.S. and of St. George as well in particular, is evidence to the fact that the religion is 
outside the architectural, (and perhaps by extension other cultural) guidelines of the 
Church in Greece and/or Constantinople. The wide variety of architectural types of 
the Greek Orthodox churches in the U.S. bespeaks to the fact that it is in the midst 
of a religiously pluralistic society, and it is the religion of an immigrant/ethnic group 
with specific, although complex assimilation trajectories. St. George, originally an 
Episcopal church, St. Andrews, was purchased and renovated by the Greek Ortho-
dox. The renovated church maintained its classical face, Ionic columns, something 
out of the norm for churches in Greece. The immigrant and ethnic community, as 
seen here, combine elements of diverse and divergent traditions, secular and reli-
gious, in their institutions.   
The fifth chapter is by Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan, which examines the relationship 
between the American School of Classical Studies (ASCS) at Athens and the Greek 
Omogeneia in the 1940s. The article examines these relationships through the proc-
esses by which the film Triumph over Time, produced by ASCS and in cooperation 
with Archaeologist Oscar Broneer, numismatist Margaret Thompson and the Greek 
American movie mogul Spyros Skouras, was introduced to the omogeneia. This is a 
historical article looking at some of the contributions of ASCS to Greece during WWII 
beyond the realm of academic and university life, contributions and activities which 
are informed by a deep respect and love for the Greece of today.   
Eleni Gage, in the next chapter, writes of her experiences in rebuilding her pater-
nal grandmother’s house in Lia, Epirus. An Ottoman coin minted in 1856, an unex-
ploded hand grenade, a gun, agrarian objects, tin plates and broken coffee cups, the 
lock from the exoporta, all of these and other unearthed objects tell her the history of  
the house and its inhabitants. It had been an international house, as the author says, 
connected to global processes since its construction. It is through the process of 
rebuilding her grandmother’s house that the author also creates her own history and 
relationships in the village.  
The final paper is written by Jack L. Davis, and is a commentary on the field of 
the archaeology of xenitia (immigration) and the diverse chapters in the volume. He 
presents us with a brief history of the role that ASCS, the University of Minnesota 
Messenia Expedition and the Argolid Exploration Project played in the development 
of “post antique” archaeology. This is a relatively recent area of exploration in 
Greece and its roots go back to the decade of the 1970s.  
I have one problem with this volume: I wanted more! I wanted more papers, more 
topics, more of everything. All of the papers are thorough and well written, each giv-
ing us important information about immigrant experiences through the material cul-
ture immigrants construct. Much has been written on the non-material culture of im-
migration, this, the material part, is still a new approach to the area and long over-
due. This volume is a must reading for all interested in issues of Greek immigration 
but also in the more general areas of ethnic studies and immigration.    
 
 
 
 
 
 
excellent resource for migration researchers 
practitioners and students 
 
￿
2010 Special Volume  
on  
RESEARCH METHODS IN ETHNIC AND  
MIGRATION STUDIES￿
￿
Collaborated by HERMES  
 
Edited by Annalisa, Deianira Ganga and Carla De Tona 
 
 
This special issue presents revised and improved versions of a 
fine selection of invited papers presented at the 9
th European 
Sociological Association Conference in Lisbon, September 
2009. 
 
 
 
http://www.migrationletters.com 
￿

The Archaeology of Xenitia: Greek Immigration and Material Culture Ed. by Kostis Kourelis

http://www.migrationletters.com/200902/Fullissue_2009_vol6_no2_review_KARP.pdf

The Archaeology of Xenitia: Greek Immigration and Material Culture Ed. by Kostis Kourelis

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