We look back and share some highlights from the 2022 Spring program for U.S. Fulbrighters where in-person events interchanged with online events, and vice versa.
February 16 – Online welcome orientation for the newly arrived 2021–2022 U.S. Fulbright scholars, which included remarks from Fulbright Executive Director Artemis Zenetou and Fulbright Treasurer and U.S. Embassy Cultural Attaché Shanna Surendra.
Photo: Online U.S. Fulbright Orientation - February 2022 / Credits: Fulbright Greece
February 23 – A virtual get-together offered an opportunity to hear from all 2021–2022 U.S. Fulbright fellows in Greece and to learn about the diverse projects that brought them here. The invited speaker was author and social anthropologist Sofka Zinovieff who spoke about her Athens Unpacked podcast and her experiences in this fascinating “City of Villages."
Virtual Spring Get-Together - Testimonials by U.S. Fulbright Grantees
Jane Millar Tully, U.S. Fulbright Research Student
The virtual get-together offered an opportunity to hear from Fulbright fellows joining us in Greece this spring and to learn about the diverse projects that brought them here. I had recently been introduced to the work of our speaker, Sofka Zinovieff, through her Athens Unpacked podcast, so it was a pleasure to hear firsthand about her experiences in this fascinating ‘city of villages.’ Studying classical archaeology makes it easy to focus only on ancient Athens, but this was an engaging reminder to look up, listen, and take in all the modern city has to offer.”
Randy "Drew" Snow, U.S. Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Recipient
“There are those who say that ‘collage’ is an art form reimagined for the 21st century that can speak to our individual and collective identities; thinking of this idea as true, it was a delight to join the other Fulbright Greece grantees virtually for our first get-together, allowing us to see, to listen, to learn, to connect, and to form a virtual community tapestry of individual voices morphing into a collective voice. Although the current pandemic prevented us from meeting in person, we were nonetheless able to share our diverse backgrounds and provocative research interests. As I listened to the different Fulbright Fellows unpack what brought them to Greece for their research, I kept thinking about how their work has implications within Greece and beyond Greece.
“Ms. Zinovieff’s discussion of the symbolic importance of climbing the hills of Athens connected my mind to my own research regarding Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and the symbolic significance in the play of Mount Kithairon as a bordering mountain range between Athens and Thebes that both separates Oedipus from his homeland of Thebes and connects him to it.”
Photo: Author and social anthropologist Sofka Zinovieff presents to U.S. Fulbrighters - February 2022 / Credits: Fulbright Greece
April 14 – An in-person afternoon meeting at the Benaki Museum café where we were joined by Fulbright Chair and U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Officer, Cynthia Harvey. The evening continued with a show of Makriyannis Unplugged at the Gennadius Library’s Cotsen Hall. The show was performed by acclaimed actor, director, and acting teacher, alumnus Yorgos Karamihos. Due to the pandemic, this was one of the few opportunities for an in-person event with U.S. grantees, who attended this excellent performance on the occasion of the bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence.
Photo (top): Makriyannis Unplugged at the Gennadius Library’s Cotsen Hall - April 2022 / Credits: Fulbright Greece