EC EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SUMMER PROGRAMS: Graffiti and the Radicalization of Culture

Monday, June 11, 2018

Graffiti and the Radicalization of Culture

When I first came to Athens for Thucydides, I was shocked but how covered the city was in paint. It seemed like every building we passed has fifty or more tags across it. Some were personal tags or football clubs, but an overwhelming amount were political. While I was no stranger to graffiti, having tagged a lot when I was younger, I had never seen such a heavy concentration of anger as I did in the heart of Athens. Because we were studying the classics, I was not very well read about Greek politics, but seeing these walls of rebellion pushed me to read more on what exactly caused the situation Greece was in to see if there was a direct correlation.

Surely enough, the reasons for graffiti and street art seem to be universal in every culture. It begins with some of distrust or anger with a system or an individual, or maybe just a personal desire to be heard, which is then motivated but circumstance. For many it is the suffocation of suburban life, but for the urban youth of Athens it was a collapse of institutions and a failure of leadership. When the Greek government joined the Euro, there was a great amount of skepticism but those in power assured the people it would benefit them. When the economy collapsed, they were assured again that austerity and the financial help of Northern Europe would be there savior, but again the were left alone in the dark. Every wall of Athens, regardless of the graffiti, tells the same story. It is a story of trust and of loss, which turns to anger and a futile push away from the system until the anger builds so heavy you have to paint it on a wall for everyone to see.

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EC Eastern Security Studies Program

In the summer of 2011, as the "Arab Spring" was unfolding and the "Eurozone Crisis" was entering its second year, the Emmanuel College Eastern Mediterranean Security Studies Program was established in Crete, as a way to make the location the classroom. Beyond the grand theoretical, historical and political understanding that can be achieved through reading and classroom discussion and exchange, a more immediate, intimate and truer appreciation of the complexities can only achieved by experiencing the cultures, languages of personal interaction.

Since 2012 students have been able to combine an intensive curricular study, with the experience of immersion and living in a local setting. The geopolitical and geoeconomic forces that have acted in the region for centuries, can be identified in the classroom, but they can only be understood by being there. This year's EC EMSS Program will add a fourth week of study, experience and exploration and will also travel to the islands of Rhodes, and Cyprus. In Rhodes we will be partnering with the Prefecture of Southern Aegean and the Aegean University, while in Cyprus we will be hosted by the University of Nicosia.