Contours of White Ethnicity. Yiorgos Anagnostou
CONTOURS OF WHITE ETHNICITY
YIORGOS ANAGNOSTOU
Ohio University Press
Athens
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anagnostou, Yiorgos.
Contours of white ethnicity : popular ethnography and the making of usable pasts in Greek America / Yiorgos Anagnostou.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8214-1820-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-1821-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Greek Americans—Ethnic identity. 2. Whites—Race identity—United States. I. Title.
E184.G7A53 2009
305.809—dc22
2009038443
In memoriam
Eleni Anagnostou
(1930–2007)
What more appropriate image for the art of criticism: the tightly closed fist, the open and relaxed hand? The one concerned with defining boundaries, passing judgment, inflicting punishment; the other with presenting the subject sympathetically, pushing beyond boundaries, a predilection for appreciation and praise. Contrary to what might be assumed, it is far easier for the critic to revile than to reveal; to deride and dismiss than to illuminate.
—Joyce Carol Oates
CONTENTS
Why White Ethnicity? Why Ethnic Pasts?
The Politics and Poetics of Popular Ethnography
Folk Immigrant, Ethnic, and Racial Pasts in History and Discourse
Whither Collective Ethnic Identities?
White Ethnics and the Slippery Terrain of European Americanness
CHAPTER THREE
Whose Ethnic Community?
Gendered Pasts and Polyphonies of Belonging
CHAPTER FOUR
Interrogating Ethnic Whiteness, Building Interracial Solidarity
Popular Ethnography as Cultural Critique
CHAPTER FIVE
Ethnicity as Choice?
Roots and Identity as a Narrative Project
CHAPTER SIX
Redirecting Ethnic Options
Historical Routes of Heritage
AFTERWORD
White Ethnicity as Cultural Becoming
Notes
References
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Books bear countless imprints of those critical communities and institutions that contribute to their making. This book is no exception. It is animated by the eddies and currents of intellectual and material sustenance that I have received throughout years of teaching and writing in my intellectual home, the Modern Greek Studies Program at the Ohio State University. I have been fortunate to find myself in the company of scholars who encouraged the kind of critical scholarship that drives this work. I am indebted to Gregory Jusdanis for stressing the importance of interventionist scholarship, and of academic prose unencumbered by jargon. I am equally indebted to Vassilis Lambropoulos for teaching me the meaning of scholarly commitment and for nurturing critical inquiry and interdisciplinary research. With boundless generosity Artemis Leontis created environments for intellectual exchange beyond the classroom. I am grateful to her for taking the time to read my manuscript numerous times, gently encouraging me to keep asking better questions.
The writing of this book has been made possible by the material and intellectual support that I have received from various academic institutions. I express my appreciation to the College of Humanities of the Ohio State University for granting me generous research leaves that helped formulate my ideas and bring this book into fruition. A Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Research Fellowship in Hellenic Studies (fall 2005) made available crucial time for uninterrupted thinking and writing. I thank Dimitri Gondicas, the affiliated faculty, and the staff at the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University for their warm hospitality and for offering a critical forum for the discussion of my ideas. I have also benefited from invitations to present my work in modern Greek programs at Columbia University, San Francisco State University, Yale University, and the Center for Folklore Studies at the Ohio State University. I thank both my hosts and the audiences for engaging with and providing insights on my work. All along, my home Department of Greek and Latin has been supportive of research on modern Greece and its diaspora. I would like to express my appreciation particularly to the chairs, David Hahm and Fritz Graf, for their guidance and unflagging backing. To all those institutions and individuals I extend my gratitude for encouraging an interdisciplinary research project whose aim has been to interrogate disciplinary assumptions and practices.
Numerous individuals lightened the arduous process of writing with their friendship and intellectual presence. Since my graduate years, Martha Klironomos has been a constant source of support and a reminder that along with an unwavering commitment to research, one must have an uncompromising dedication to teaching. I cannot thank her enough for the advice she has given me about how to manage this dual investment. I have greatly benefited from the analytical acumen of Eric Ball and Anthony Kaldellis, who have been tireless in supporting my work. They have provided the critical ear that listens well, leaving no premise and no assumption unexamined. What an invaluable