What does the investigation of a dictatorship entail and what are the challenges to such an endeavor? Why (and when) do particular societies turn to an examination of their non-democratic pasts? What does it mean for those who never experienced an authoritarian regime first-hand to remember it through television footage, literature, and popular culture? To what extent do current economic and political crises alter public narratives of dictatorial pasts?
This seminar examines the afterlives of dictatorships and the ways in which they are remembered, discussed, examined, and give rise to conflicting narratives in post-dictatorial environments. The course takes as its point of departure the case of the Greek military regime of 1967-1974, and draws on materials ranging from graphic novels to films, performance art, poetry, and architecture to consider issues such as resistance, complicity, censorship, witnessing, ghosts, and public history. Students will have the opportunity to participate in an international conference organized in conjunction with the class. It can be taken with an extra-credit tutorial for students reading materials in Greek.
