Every Costume Tells a Story: Preserving Greek Folk Culture through Ethnographic Interviews in California

Lucas Samaras “Me, Myself and…”, 2017

Dr. Anastasia Panagakos
April 2023

Traditional folk costumes and national dress play an important role in the construction of Greek identity, both within Greece and in diaspora communities globally. The production, display, and assessment of Greek folk costumes is significant in the context of the phenomenon known as FDF, the Greek Orthodox Folk Dance and Choral Festival, held predominantly in California and drawing thousands of participants. For over four decades, Greek American women labored to produce authentic folk costumes to be worn at FDF by their children, melding their sewing and craft skills with knowledge of traditional Greek dress and customs. These costumes, potentially numbering in the thousands, are scattered in the closets of private homes and Greek Orthodox communities throughout the West Coast and constitute a significant, yet largely undocumented cultural resource. One approach to documenting this phenomenon within the context of Greek American life is to employ ethnographic interview methods to illuminate the experiences of each participant. In this seminar, I outline the methods of this project and present three interview case studies to demonstrate basic interviewing techniques and how they may be utilized in a variety of contexts when studying folklore.

When: Wednesday 26 April 2023
What time: 18:00-20:30
Language: English
Where: via zoom (a link will be sent to the participants the day before). This is an online event.

To register please email Mr. Michalis Tziachris at tziachri@enl.auth.gr. If you are unable to attend please email in time to cancel your registration.

Participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance!

Bio

Anastasia Panagakos is a Professor of Anthropology at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California. Her work on the Greek diaspora engages with themes of gender and marriage, transnationalism, technology, tourism, spatial geographies, and youth culture. Her publications include “Faith, Dance, and Intentional Fellowship in Contemporary Diasporas” in Religious Diversity Today: Religion Transforming Society and Social Lives (2016), “Tourist, Local, or Other?: Greek Canadian Women and the Heritage Fling in Greece” in Gender, Place, Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography (2014), and “Mapping Greektown: Identity and the Making of ‘Place’ in suburban Calgary” in Claiming Space: Racialization and Spatiality in Canadian Cities (2006). Her most recent and ongoing ethnographic fieldwork is on the Greek Orthodox Folk Dance and Choral Festival and includes the article “Community in Performance: Greek Folk Dancing and Cultural Production among Gen Z in California” in Ergon: Greek/American Arts and Letters (2021).

Every Costume Tells a Story: Preserving Greek Folk Culture through Ethnographic Interviews in California