Events Series 2021 concluded last month after five successful events taking place from February through June on a monthly basis. We are pleased to share the collection of recordings of this year’s events embedded below. All videos are with Greek audio and captioned in the context of Harvard’s digital accessibility policy, so you have the option to automatically translate the captions using the player’s features, if you wish to watch them in English.

Like many other aspects of our lives during the pandemic, Events Series 2021 adhered to a new way of conduct with mainly virtual events via our Harvard Zoom account and YouTube channel. Although we are longing for the day on which we will be able to welcome everyone to our premises in Nafplio, we are grateful to have been connected with a total of over 700 viewers from different parts of Greece and abroad who were able to attend the events virtually. In addition, we extend our gratitude to all the speakers of this year’s Events Series who brilliantly illustrated the topic of each event and contributed to stimulating discussions with their fellow panelists and audience.

For its 2021 cycle, the Events Series addressed a dual topic:

• the concept of “environment”, aiming to continue its 2020 -incomplete due to the pandemic- theme
• the 1821 Greek War of Independence with events dedicated to the celebratory bicentennial anniversary year.

On the one hand, two of the events explored the issue of “Environmental Aesthetics and Politics”:

• In February’s event, Theodore Papanghelis gave a talk titled “On Nature: From the Ionian 'Physiologists' to Contemporary Ecology”.

   

• During May’s event, Theano S. Terkenli, Yannis Aesopos, and John Peponis, presented their “Interpretations of the Greek Landscape” through engaging with the topics “The Relationship Landscape-Humans. The Greek Case”, “Greek Tourism Landscapes Clichés”, and “How Does Space Become Meaningful? The Syntax and Schemata of Landscape” respectively.

   

On the other hand, three events were dedicated to “The Revolutionary Landscape of 1821” and were realized with the support of the Municipality of Nafplio:

• In March, the event “European Liberalism and the Greek War of Independence” featured the speakers Filimon Peonidis on the topic of: "Jeremy Bentham as a Critic of the First Political Institutions of the Greek War of Independence" and Anna Karakatsouli on the topic of: "British Participation in the Liberal International".

   

• In April’s event, Vasso Barboussi, Christos Papakostas, and Irene Loutzaki talked about “Dance in Revolutionary Rhythms” by contributing the following topics of discussion respectively: "The Dancing Body as a Revolutionary Act", "Philhellenic Choreographies. Travel Projections and Representations", and "The Dance of Zalongos, a Legend with Great Endurance". The event also featured a traditional Greek music band that performed live.

   

• The closing event in June coincided with the end of the five-month-long High School Research Project on the Greek War of Independence 1821 and included presentations of the 14 students that participated in the project, under the academic coordination of Emmanouil G. Chalkiadakis, on the topic of “Nafplio and Argolis during the Revolution of 1821: The Local and the Global”.

   

We hope you enjoy watching the recordings and we look forward to welcoming you back in the 2022 cycle of the Events Series next year.