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Delphi Academy of European Studies 2018

In 2018 the seminars focused on the cultural politics in Europe in diverse historical contexts.

Instructors:

Johann Chapoutot (Université Paris-Sorbonne) : “How ‘Germanic’ were the Greeks and Romans? Nazi Germany and the re-writing of the history of Antiquity”

Maria Gough (Harvard)/Jeffrey Schnapp (Harvard) : “Two (cultural) revolutions”

Dimitrios Yatromanolakis (The Johns Hopkins University) : “Antiquity and the cultural politics of the European Avant-Garde”

Delphi Academy 2018

Comments from participants of 2018

For fifteen days, Delphi truly became the centre of the world, the omphalos of one’s own life. One cannot picture the experience of living, reading, and teaching here, in the beautiful park of the European Cultural Centre. The view is breath-taking and invites to meditation, as well as the discussions with colleagues and students. Delphi means now what thinking and teaching should be: a moment out of time, at the cradle of all times and civilisation.

Johann Chapoutot

Professor, Université Paris-Sorbonne

The intimate scale of the Delphi Academy of European Studies made it a memorable intellectual experience for me. I have taught many an advanced graduate seminar over the course of past decades, but to be able to do so in the constant company not just of students but also colleagues, all within the framework of a common theme, made the flow between classroom discussion and daily conversation effortless, pleasurable, and fruitful. But I would be remiss if I didn’t also note the key role in the programme’s success performed by the Academy’s serene modernist campus and by the surround: the town of Delphi, with its extraordinary complex of archeological materials and sites.

Jeffrey Schnapp

Professor, Harvard University

There are many reasons why I deeply appreciated my experience at the Delphi Academy. Not only did it give to me the opportunity to read and discuss texts and cultural objects that I could have hardly encountered in my academic studies, but I could do so in dialogue with talented students and prominent professors and in the beautiful context of the village of Delphi, where nature, history and myth are one thing. The European Cultural Centre of Delphi offers everything a community of scholars might need: spacious rooms, a small library, great food, and a beautiful panorama. It is impossible to imagine a better place where to study the cultural and philosophical tradition of the European continent than in this small green corner of history in Greece.

Alberto Parisi

Harvard University

I attended the Delphi Academy this past summer (2018) and found it to be an incredibly rewarding two weeks. The Academy provided the chance to interact and study with students and professionals not only from various disciplines but also from different parts of the world. The three intensive courses offered during this iteration of the Academy saliently exposed the extent to which antiquity influenced quite disparate European political and social movements, from German Nazism to the Greek avant-garde to Italian fascism. Some of the content of these courses related directly to my own academic research interests and importantly allowed me to contextualise these interests in broader cross-cultural discourses. Lastly, the location of this summer programme, in beautiful and historic Delphi, grounded its focus on modern European history in an ancient yet ever relevant centre.

Ilana Freedman

Harvard University

The two-week seminar programme of the Delphi Academy of European Studies was a special academic experience and a valuable opportunity for me to interact with professors and students from other European and American Universities…I also found very important that all the professors encouraged dialogue and creative and critical thinking…I would strongly encourage students to attend the next seminar programme of the Delphi Academy of European Studies!

Sophia Bouga

University of Athens

Set within the exquisite buildings and grounds of the European Cultural Centre, the Delphi Academy of European Studies offers faculty and students a very special opportunity in which to read, reflect, and debate some of the most crucial issues of our time.  Last summer I co-taught (with Jeffrey Schnapp) a two-week seminar on art and revolution that introduced an international and interdisciplinary group of students to some of the key monuments, exhibitions, and works of art, architecture, and photography by which revolution was made into form.  To do this in Delphi, a place of such deep historical significance, was a uniquely productive and pleasurable experience.

Maria Gough

Professor, Harvard University

There is no other way to describe it. The Delphi Academy, set in the hills above the gulf of Corinth and below Mount Parnassus, is a terrestrial paradise. It would be hard to overstate the natural beauty of the place. What I can say is that we who attended the Academy for two weeks were nourished in every possible: we participated in daily thought-provoking seminars led by faculty from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Paris-Sorbonne, visited the archaeological site at Delphi, and breakfasted, lunched, and dined together in what quickly became a kind of utopian scholarly/learning community. In short, this is the kind of place of classical myth: as soon as you’ve left it, you dream of going back.

Thomas Wisniewski

Harvard University

The Delphi Academy was an incredible opportunity: two summer weeks in the beautiful surroundings of central Greece with a coherent and intellectually stimulating programme of seminars. The seminars were all very different in their approach and subject matter but produced all kinds of interesting connections and counterpoints, and are sure to be invaluable in my future study, both in exposing me to new areas of interest and enriching my approach to topics I was already familiar. It was also a wonderful opportunity to engage with students and scholars, both intellectually and socially, from diverse disciplines and from different countries and institutions across Europe and the USA. The Academy was a great escape from everyday life for an experience which was academically engaging but also relaxing and fun!

Paul Johnston

Harvard University

Overall, the Delphi Academy was quite an enriching experience. As a classicist in a department that foregrounds technical competence over comparative perspectives, the opportunity to engage with currents of reception studies outside of the usual frameworks was rewarding. I appreciated the diversity of approaches to the format and structure of the daily seminars, all of which were quite interesting and useful, and the many readings… One important function of the seminar was the opportunity to meet with scholars of varying fields of expertise, and to that end there were many productive discussions throughout the two weeks.

Nathaniel Herter

Harvard University

The seminar programme of the Delphi Academy of European Studies promoted a very fruitful mixture of interdisciplinary and methodological approaches! The programme is very well organised and conducted in an environment which facilitates concentration and teamwork.

Maria Georgoula

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Last year, I was offered the unique opportunity to be among the participants of the seminar programme of the Delphi Academy of European Studies, which focused on European history and culture and its impact on aspects of socio-political life. I would definitely encourage everybody to apply for this programme, so that s/he may have the opportunity to work closely with excellent professors, who are willing to support students. Although the professors are really outstanding, they are gentle and generous enough to talk to students even outside the classroom. Last but not least, the location of the Academy, the Cultural Centre of Delphi, is the perfect place for someone to find her/his inner peace, come closer to nature, and explore the ancient humanistic values from a modern perspective.

Eirini Pragia

University of Thrace