The passion about amateur history on the Greek web during the current economic crisis
Résumé
During the current economic crisis Greeks have increasingly started debating the recent past. The online discussions are not limited to political history but touch fields such as the history of gender relations, the history of Europeanization and consumption politics. This trend was expressed in social media groups, forum threads etc. This presentation examines this willingness for the production of amateur history, the characteristics and the motivation of this creativity arguing that this historical production relates to the crisis twofold: first, it is the outcome of an increasing nostalgia about a more prosperous, safer and optimist recent past. Second, explores how this ‘historical creativity’ can be explained as a consequence of the recent politicization of the public space formulating suggestions on how aspects of the recent past are used as material in the formulation of arguments justifying choices in the present. Finally, drawing on the assumption that visual material plays a key role in the formulation of communities discussing contemporary history the presentation questions the role of images in the construction of such narrations.