Eleonora Vratskidou
Mary Seeger O'Boyle Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2012-2013
- DegreePh.D., History and Civilizations, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 2011DissertationL'émergence de l'artiste en Grèce au XIXe siècle 1840-1890Research ProjectOriginality: The Emergence of a Value in Nineteenth-Century Greece
Eleonora Vratskidou graduated with a B.A. in History and Archaeology from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, and holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History and Civilizations from the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (E.H.E.S.S.), Paris. Her research concerns the cultural history of modern Greece, with a focus on the study of cultural transfers in the context of nation-state formation. Her doctoral dissertation examined the emergence of the visual artist’s profession and the construction of the artistic field in nineteenth century Greece. She was a course lecturer at the E.H.E.S.S., 2011-12, co-teaching an interdisciplinary seminar on the history of biography (18th-20th centuries), and was a visiting researcher (2012) at the Dahlem Humanities Center, Freie Universität Berlin, where she worked on the concept of genius in late nineteenth century European aesthetics.
About the Research Project
Originality: The Emergence of a Value in Nineteenth-Century Greece
Which types of discourses shaped and promoted originality as a positive value in 19th century Greece? In which social spheres did the notion apply? How did its meaning vary across time and context, according to the actors that appealed to it? Principally relevant to artistic and literary production, the notion of originality gradually took on ethical connotations and operated in close connection with the notion of individuality. This project seeks to examine how the reception of the originality-idea in Greece questioned and redefined the conception of the individual in the context of nation-state formation and modernization. Aiming to contribute to a history of social representations and values, I will adopt a cross-disciplinary approach, which draws on anthropological and philosophical insights. The metamorphoses of the polysemic concept of originality will be examined through a selective corpus of sources, comprising lexicographical data, art theory and criticism, biographies, writings on psychology, and popular literature.
Publications
L’émergence de l’artiste en Grèce au XIXe siècleMare & Martin,