Department of Cultural Studies
Municipal Enterprise for the Cultural Development of Kalamata
Department of Cultural Studies, 1996-1999
The Department of Cultural Studies explores and presents discourse in all the multiple forms through which it is expressed in Greek social life: as official language, whether scientific or literary, as everyday speech, and as a structure that organises everyday experience.
The Department of Literature designs, organises and presents symposia, conferences, exhibitions, educational seminars and publications, with the aim of promoting and showcasing Kalamata and the wider region of Messenia as a regional centre of intellectual activity, where ideas and knowledge are exchanged at both local and international levels.
It promotes the exploration, preservation and presentation of local history and culture. The annual or multi-year programme of events organised by the Department of Literature is characterised by a common theme, through which dialogue is established and connections are forged among multiple disciplines and art forms. This type of programme provides a comprehensive and sustained educational experience in the field of Cultural Studies, at university level and with public participation.
Programme of Events 1996–1998
Excavating Time
The City Remembers Kalamata. Ten Years Later:
The Earthquakes of 1986
A comprehensive representation of the earthquake as a natural, cultural, social, scientific and political event—one that bridges the public and private experience of natural disaster.
A special commemorative event using multiple forms of communication: talks, exhibitions, video and slide screenings, and a dedicated space for children.
The exhibitions include photography, both amateur and professional, archival material, and “objects of memory” contributed by citizens and various institutions. During school visits, students and teachers participate through drawing and discussion.
The Past in the Present (Parts I & II)
A two-part event exploring archaeological knowledge from the perspective of local history and culture. It seeks a poetic and philosophical encounter with hidden, invisible time within the experience of excavation, as well as the sensory pathways that ethnographic research traces into the past—thus opening dialogues between the disciplines that investigate the worlds of the dead and those concerned with the societies of the living.
The Past in the Present. Part I
History and Material Culture in Messinia (S. Peloponnese)
A multimedia event focusing on archaeological excavations and discoveries in Messenia by Greek and foreign archaeologists, the work of physical anthropologists, the activities of the archaeological, speleological and underwater antiquities services, and the contribution of contemporary pottery and weaving in the region.
Lectures and exhibits from archaeological excavations, pottery and weaving, together with exhibitions of photography, books and educational material, collections of old coins and postcards, bring together the material culture and history of the region across its different periods. The parallel screening of videos and documentaries, as well as demonstrations of new technology for archiving the above material, complete this event, which includes guided visits for teachers, schools and local organisations.
The Past in the Present. Part II
Philosophical and Poetic Journeys through Time and Space
Through words and images, this event takes us from Cavafy’s Ithaca to the archaeologist’s experience of excavation, the anthropologist’s ethnographic journey, the recordings of the folklorist and the literary writer, and finally to the visual quest of the photographer and the filmmaker-rhapsode.
It explores the diachronic and cross-cultural experience of “excavation” and examines the field of research itself as a theoretical means of producing knowledge. It proposes the field of “excavation” as flexible and continually evolving, bringing excavator-narrator and audience into an antiphonal dialogue in which each completes the other’s interpretation…
Readings, lectures, film screenings, and exhibitions of photography and books.
Love and Death
Two interrelated concepts and themes in Greek thought and life, ancient and modern, which run through various philosophical, poetic and literary currents. This interweaving of eros and death constitutes a distinctive feature of Greek culture that has also taken root throughout the wider Mediterranean.
Featuring readings from major poets, writers and thinkers of the past, both Greek and foreign, recitations by contemporary Greek women poets and popular lyricists, as well as presentations of literature and oral tradition from the regions, this celebratory event concludes with a musical concert and performances by popular lyricists, film screenings and a book exhibition.
The Greek Contribution to the European Project:
Culture and Democracy
The Greek Revolution of 1821 was a major event in the history of democracy and had a profound impact on Europe.
In contemporary Europe, democratic principles rest both on the recognition of cultural difference and on the advancement of political institutions. Perhaps Greece’s contribution to European democracy today lies in its cultural particularities: a symposium marking the local and national anniversary of 23–25 March.
Olive: A Historical and Cultural Harvest
The olive tree and its products: discourse, imagination and image from the perspectives of archaeology, social history, literature, anthropology, folklore, ecology and technology in Greece and the Mediterranean. A multimedia event, it includes talks, screenings of documentaries and films, as well as exhibitions of artefacts, photography, painting and prints.
The Publishing History of Kalamata:
From the First Printing Press to the Present Day
From the first printing press established in Kalamata after liberation to the present day, the city has developed numerous media outlets and a thriving local press.
What has their course been so far, and what are their future prospects? Publishers, journalists, politicians and analysts respond and present their views.
A multimedia event that includes an exhibition of objects of memory.
Special Events:
Book Tributes
In collaboration with well-known publishing houses, evenings are organised to introduce important books, presented by their authors and commentators. Authors and the public come together.
