Full Title: The Greek Heritage of Pontus: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Date: 19-May-2025 - 19-May-2025
Location: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
Contact Person: Isabella Greisinger
Meeting Email: [email protected]

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Language Documentation; Sociolinguistics
Subject Language(s): Pontic (pnt)
Language Family(ies): Hellenic

Call Deadline: 15-Feb-2025

Meeting Description:

The aim of this conference is to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on Pontic Greek cultural heritage.

Call for Papers:

Since 1922-23, the Greek heritage of Pontus, a region located along the southern Black Sea coast in present-day northeastern Turkey, has been predominantly preserved within the Pontic diaspora in Greece and various parts of the world. At the same time, its roots in the Pontus region itself are becoming increasingly rare. The year 2025 marks 112 years of the development of Pontic Greek cultural heritage outside of Asia Minor. The challenges faced by the Greek heritage of Pontus extend beyond the events of 1916 (persecution of the Pontic Greeks) to 1923 (population exchange and the Lausanne Convention). Recent decades have presented significant challenges to the survival of Pontic Greek culture, especially as the Pontic Greek dialect approaches extinction. UNESCO classifies Pontic Greek as a "definitely endangered" language.

This conference seeks to explore both the diachronic and synchronic aspects of the Pontic Greek heritage of Asia Minor. Our goal is to discuss, analyse and compare the characteristics and status of Pontic Greek culture both before and after 1923 from a multidisciplinary perspective. The following questions will be addressed:
- What is the linguistic situation of the Pontic Greeks in Greece and other regions with substantial Pontic diaspora communities, such as Germany?
- What do we know about the current state of the Pontic Greek dialect and other cultural expressions of Pontic Hellenism in its place of origin?
- How has the history of Pontic Hellenism been shaped by 112 years of development of Pontic heritage outside of the Pontus region?
- What changes have occurred in Pontic music?
- What additional questions can be formulated regarding ethnology, history, diaspora and genocide studies?

Given the interdisciplinary nature of this conference, we invite submissions of abstracts no longer than 300 words (excluding references) from all fields within Greek Studies, including but not limited to linguistics, ethnology, musicology and diaspora and genocide studies.

Abstracts should be sent by email both in Word and PDF files to the conference organizers, Isabella Greisinger ([email protected]), Thede Kahl ([email protected]), and Vassilios Spyropoulos ([email protected]), by 15 February 2025.