Imagining a Free Greece: British, Cypriot and Russian Engagements
Taking as a point of departure the famous Ionian Academy established by the great philhellene Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), being the first university established on Greek soil (1824-1827), this event explores the history of cultural and intellectual movements related to the Greek War of Independence, including the contribution of the Greek Orthodox Cypriots. Dr Sakis Gekas (York University, Toronto) delivers the main lecture on Lord Guilford and British cultural politics in the Ionian Islands, followed by a panel discussion with Professor Lucien Frary (Rider University, New Jersey) on Russophilia in the Ionian Islands, and Dr Chrysovalantis Kyriacou (Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation/Royal Holloway) on Cyprus and Greek Christian Cypriots and the Greek War of Independence.
The event is moderated by Dr Paris Papamichos Chronakis and hosted by the Hellenic Institute and Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies, Royal Holloway University of London.
Lecture: Professor Sakis Gekas, ‘Lord Guilford, British cultural politics and colonialism in the Ionian Islands’
The opening of the Ionian Academy in Corfu is often presented as the personal project of Lord Guilford. Within the local and the imperial context of British colonialism, however, the institution represents a shift in the colonial practices and mode of rule, from the military-commercial to the cultural-civilizational, still at an early stage in the empire’s history of cultural politics and education. The talk will place the Ionian Academy within the constellation of Guilford’s ambitions and the context of colonial rule of the Ionian Islands as a protectorate. The contrast with the years of the revolutionary war in Greece could not be starker. Previous educational-cultural activities and institutions in the Ionian Islands allow us to understand the local context and the landscape in which the Ionian Academy emerged and functioned within the British protectorate. Guilford’s personal project and ambition for a centre of higher education predates the period of British rule in the Ionian Islands and reflects the impact of classical education on cultural projects and politics of the time.
Interventions:
Professor Lucien Frary (Rider University, New Jersey), “Russophilia in the Ionian Islands and the Coming of the Greek Revolution”
Dr Chrysovalantis Kyriacou (Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation / Royal Holloway), “The Cypriots and the Greek Revolution of 1821”