Our music textbook briefly mentioned the fact that the longer you are in a country, the less you know about it. While on some level I acknowledged that that was probably true when I read it, I feel like it is really starting to hit home.
Today was the first day we talked about Greece. Not ancient Greece, just Greece. This period of time is often referred to as modern Greece, but that somehow doesn't feel right to say. You don't say modern Egypt or modern Britain (usually). It is as if, in academia, the default Greece is the ancient one. Which is fine for people like Grace, but when talking about Greece for the last 200 years, it is a very different story.
When Greece gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, it was not a western country. Having been shielded from western thought, they missed out on the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the like. The people there dressed like Turks, acted like Turks, and had a religion that was completely different from the rest of Europe.
Greece owed its independence to the western world, which had helped it out of a sense of nostalgia for the ancient world. But fearing the sense of revolution, the major powers (Britain, France and Russia) kept control of Greece, imposing and deposing rulers, blockading certain ports, and overall keeping rein on Greek politics. So much for the independent state. But at the same time, Greece was having a lot of trouble on its own, starting ill advised boarder wars with Turkey.
Up until 2001, it was unclear to the world whether Greece was European or Asian. Only after it became part of the EU did it become European. And for a while it was looking like Greece should not join. It was not European enough. It has just escaped a dictatorship, its economy was weak, and overall it was not very western. ok, that's not entirely true. It's educated elite were western, but the rest of the country was not. It was an eclectic mix of East and West.
How it has changed. From fezzes and skirts to western fashion, Greece has done everything in its power to shed its Eastern past and try to look more European. It is like a teenager, trying to join the popular crowd, changing her clothes, mannerisms, and interests. The most clear view of how things have changed is to listen to Greek music. Much of this music is Eastern inspired, but modern pop is so westernized it is hard to trace.
Has Greece lost something by becoming fully European? I am sure that they were not fond of the Ottoman Empire, but its inspiration created a very interesting crossroad culture that is now almost completely gone. And what about Turkey? Turkey is now in a similar situation, a crossroad between east and west that is trying to get into the EU. But it is less western than Greece. How far would they go to get into the EU. How far should they? And is it even fair that a country should feel pressured to become more like Europe?
Questions questions. But one thing is for sure. Greece is not what I thought it would be at all.
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