Can the Underdogs Speak? Contemporary Greece‘s Subaltern‘ Political Theories through the Lens of Critical Geopolitics and Post-secularis
Έχουν φωνή οι υποχωρούντες; "Υποτελείς" πολιτικές θεωρίες στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα, ιδωμένες μέσα από το πρίσμα της κριτικής γεωπολιτικής και της μετα-εκκοσμίκευσης.
Διδακτορική διατριβή
Author
Μητραλέξης Γεωργακάκος, Σωτήριος
Date
2018-12-03Advisor
Χουλιάρας, ΑστέρηςKeywords
Πολιτισμικός δυισμός ; Κρητική γεωπολιτική ; Αποικιακές σπουδέςAbstract
This study focuses on the more theoretically nuanced among the contemporary outputs of what has been polemically designated Greece‘s ―underdog camp‖ or ―underdog culture.‖ The study attempts to examine these theoretical nuances on their own terms and, subsequently, to assess them through the hermeneutic lens of critical geopolitics, post-secularism, and an understanding of the ―underdog‖ endeavour as a postcolonial endeavour. The study begins with an examination of the ―cultural dualism‖ narrative articulated and endorsed by various intellectuals of Greek statecraft, which is recognised here as an essentially Orientalistic narrative, comprising a peculiar ―Greek Neo-Orientalism‖ (neo- in the sense of a particular mutation in the Orientalistic gaze, according to which one‘s own people and country is Orientalised in an unprompted way). Following this, what has been polemically described as Greece‘s ―Neo-Orthodox movement‖ and its prime theoreticians, Christos Yannaras and Theodoros I. Ziakas, are singled out in an attempt to locate the more theoretically nuanced among the ―underdogs.‖ These theoretical nuances are prompted by developments in twentieth-century Greek theology, which are then examined. An analysis of Neo-Orthodoxy and of the ideas of Yannaras and Ziakas follows, concluding with an account of them in terms of critical geopolitics and post-secularism. The study‘s conclusions include the realisation that, all their shortcomings aside, the theorists in question may well be treated as subjects rather than as objects of critical geopolitics, countering Greek statecraft‘s political projections upon geographical, and as surprisingly (post-)modern thinkers in tune with global theoretical developments that are unbeknownst to them.