"national identity and nostalgia in expatriates’ letters, 1979-2009" by mara sfountouri
DESCRIPTION
Workshop IV: Finding Expats in Archives. Presentation by Mara Sfountouri, international master student at the Erasmus University. From the symposium "The Expatriate Experience: Past and Present", held in The Hague on 11th April 2013.TRANSCRIPT
National identity and nostalgiain expatriates’ letters, 1979-2009
History, memory and national identity
Globalization
Expatriation
A historiographical gap
Expatriation literature: job arena
National identity and nostalgia• natives• immigrants
National identity and nostalgia: the sources (1)
The expatriates’ sense of national identity is evident intheir letters, postcards, e-mails (ego-documents)
Nostalgia for the homeland works as a magnifier lens Culture (music, movies, sports) Landscape - Weather Food Everyday items The educational system
National identity and nostalgia: the sources (2)
Quotations
“To many of you who read this, you will have seen us on our trip home in
July/August. This was the highlight of our year. Simple things like hearing an
Australian accent around you, people you don't know saying hello to you and
talking with you... that is what makes Australia unique for us.”
“We were lucky enough to stay with some friends of friends who were most
gracious and their neighborhood strongly resembled suburban American where
one lawn joins the other, where children can safely run down the street to
Johnny’s, and where you can take a walk after dinner and be greeted by your
neighbors who very likely will be doing the same thing.”
National identity and nostalgia: the sources (3)
Quotations
“To many of you who read this, you will have seen us on our trip home in
July/August. This was the highlight of our year. Simple things like hearing an
Australian accent around you, people you don't know saying hello to you and
talking with you... that is what makes Australia unique for us.”
“We were lucky enough to stay with some friends of friends who were most
gracious and their neighborhood strongly resembled suburban American(sic)
where one lawn joins the other, where children can safely run down the street to
Johnny’s, and where you can take a walk after dinner and be greeted by your
neighbors who very likely will be doing the same thing.”
Conclusion: The usefulness of
the Expatriates’ ego-documents
A new entry in the large discussion
about national identity, history and memory
THANK YOU!