Dr. Maria Zarifi
University of Thessaly, Volos, GR
Guest Fellow
15.02.11-31.05.11
Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS)
School of History
Born 1973; 1995 Diploma in Philosophy at Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki; 1997 History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at University of Athens; 1998 Research Fellow at University of Athens; 1999 Research Fellow at National Observatory of Athens; 1999 DAAD three-month Research Scholarship; 2001-2003 Scholarship from the National Scholarships Foundation of Greece to conduct doctoral research; 2003-2005 Scholarship from the European University Institute ; 2005 Dr. phil. in History and Civilization at European University Institute Florence; 2006 Research Fellow, Academy of Sciences in Athens; 2006 - 2011 Lecturer in History of Science, Hellenic Open University; 2008 – 2011 Lecturer in Epistemology and Modern European History, University of Thessaly, Volos/Greece; 02/2011-05/2011 FRIAS fellowship
Books:
- Maria Zarifi, Science, culture and politics: Germany's cultural policy and scientific relations with Greece 1933-1945, VDM Verlag 2010
Articles:
- Maria Zarifi: “Im Fadenkreuz der NS-Kulturpolitik: Förderstrategien in Natur-, Technik- und Humanwissenschaften an griechischen Hochschulen.“,, in: Chryssoula Kambas, Marilisa Mitsou (Hg.): Hellas verstehen. Deutsch-griechischer Kulturtransfer im 20. Jahrhundert”. Koeln Böhlau Verlag 2010.
- Maria Zarifi; Elena Maniati: «Φυσικές Επιστήμες και Πολιτιστική Πολιτική στην Ευρώπη του 19ου και 20ου αιώνα», [“Natural Sciences and Cultural Policy in Europe of 19h and 20th century”] in the collective band «Κείμενα ιστορίας και φιλοσοφίας της επιστήμης» [“Essays on History and Philosophy of Science”] Hellenic Open University 2008.
- Maria Zariifi: “Using science for cultural expansion. The National Socialist agenda for the Balkans”, in: The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, Issue 4 2007, pp. 199-233.
- Mari Zarifi: “Das deutsch-griechische Forschungsinstitut fuer Biologie in Piraeus, 1942-1944”, in: Susanne Heim (Hg.) Autarkie und Ostexpansion. Pflanzenzucht und Agrarforschung im Nationalsozialismus. Goettingen 2002, pp.206-232.
‘The role of knowledge networks in creating a transcultural society.’
The proposed study departs from the idea of cultural transfer, in a broader sense, from Germany to Greece and Cyprus. This transmission is regarded as a medium for strengthening the political, economic, scientific and cultural relations between the peripheral Mediterranean countries and the so called “great cultured nation”, in an effort the first to become part of the “civilized West”. Nevertheless, it is not a one-way traffic but it involves both parts of the process that results in the creation of a “transcultural society”. The term describes the transfer of technical or scientific knowledge -narrowly defined- and of social, cultural and political knowledge and expression and has a dynamic in space and time.
The aim of my project is to create a model that describes precisely this process of knowledge and cultural exchange, using as a case study the scientific networks between the German and the Greek and Cypriot scientific communities in a period that spans from 1832 until the time Greece joins the EU, in 1981. During this period Cyprus has its own landmarks in history and some of them follow parallel course with the Greek modern history. The chosen period covering almost the entire twentieth century, will enable some critical reflection on specific thesis in the history of cross-boundary science or cultural thought: this thesis associates the specific period I am studying with the transition from a prevailing nationalism to a stronger Europeanism, or even internationalism.
