Thomas W. Gallant – författare

Experiencing Dominion contributes to ongoing debates on hegemony, power, and identity in contemporary historical and anthropological literature through an examination of the imperial encounter between the British and the Greeks of the Ionian Islands during the nineteenth century. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the imperial encounter, with topics including identity construction, the contestation over civil society, gender and the manipulation of public space, hegemony and accommodation, the role of law and of the institutions of criminal justice, and religion and imperial dominion.Thomas Gallant—widely recognized as one of the leading scholars in historical anthropology— argues that a great deal can be learned about colonialism in general through an analysis of the Ionian Islands, precisely because that colonial encounter was so atypical. For example, Gallant demonstrates that because the Ionian Greeks were racially white, Christian, and descendents of Europe's classical forebears, the process of colonial identity formation was more ambiguous and complex than elsewhere in the Empire where physical and cultural distinctions were more obvious. Colonial officers finally decided the Ionian Greeks were "Mediterranean Irish" who should be treated like European savages.Experiencing Dominion pushes contemporary literature on historical anthropology in a new direction by moving the discussion away from an emphasis on a simple polarity between hegemony and resistance, and instead focusing on the shared interactions between colonizers and colonized, rulers and ruled, foreigners and locals. In this important study, Gallant emphasizes contingency and historical agency, examines intentionality, and explores the processes of accommodation and, when warranted, resistance. In so doing, he reconstructs the world Britons and Greeks made together on the Ionian Islands during the nineteenth century through their shared experience of dominion.

Experiencing Dominion contributes to ongoing debates on hegemony, power, and identity in contemporary historical and anthropological literature through an examination of the imperial encounter between the British and the Greeks of the Ionian Islands during the nineteenth century. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the imperial encounter, with topics including identity construction, the contestation over civil society, gender and the manipulation of public space, hegemony and accommodation, the role of law and of the institutions of criminal justice, and religion and imperial dominion.Thomas Gallant—widely recognized as one of the leading scholars in historical anthropology— argues that a great deal can be learned about colonialism in general through an analysis of the Ionian Islands, precisely because that colonial encounter was so atypical. For example, Gallant demonstrates that because the Ionian Greeks were racially white, Christian, and descendents of Europe's classical forebears, the process of colonial identity formation was more ambiguous and complex than elsewhere in the Empire where physical and cultural distinctions were more obvious. Colonial officers finally decided the Ionian Greeks were "Mediterranean Irish" who should be treated like European savages.Experiencing Dominion pushes contemporary literature on historical anthropology in a new direction by moving the discussion away from an emphasis on a simple polarity between hegemony and resistance, and instead focusing on the shared interactions between colonizers and colonized, rulers and ruled, foreigners and locals. In this important study, Gallant emphasizes contingency and historical agency, examines intentionality, and explores the processes of accommodation and, when warranted, resistance. In so doing, he reconstructs the world Britons and Greeks made together on the Ionian Islands during the nineteenth century through their shared experience of dominion.

This new work from Thomas Gallant provides a highly original analysis of the ancient Greek domestic economy. The nature of their environment together with only rudimentary technology caused the Greek peasants to develop an extensive but delicate web of risk-management strategies. The author details these strategies alongside the key adaptive measures by which the ancient Greeks coped with major fluctuations in food production and supply. As a whole, the book makes a major contribution to the perennial debate about how peasants secure the basic conditions of material subsistence.

Traces the rich social, cultural, economic and political history of the Greeks from 1768 to 1913Often referred to as the ‘Long Nineteenth Century,’ this period witnessed the establishment of a Greek nation-state which had a profound impact on the Greeks of the Diaspora. Innovatively situating the story of the Greeks into a broader Ottoman and Mediterranean context, Thomas Gallant presents the most in-depth exploration of Greek society and culture available in any language. This is a substantive and original contribution to the study of the Greek people during the Modern period.Key features:An interdisciplinary approach bridges history, anthropology and archaeologyEmphasises social history, including an in-depth discussion of Greek rural society and economyBrings Greek history and Ottoman history into dialogue in a way that hasn’t been done beforeIncludes over 70 figures – maps, illustrations, tables and line drawings – which illustrate the key aspects of Greek social lifeThomas W. Gallant holds the Nicholas Family Endowed Chair in Modern Greek History at the University of California, San Diego.

Modern Greece is an updated and enhanced edition of a classic survey of Greek history since the beginning of the 19th century. Giving equal weighting to social, political and diplomatic aspects, it offers detailed coverage of the formation of the Greek nation state, the global Greek diaspora, the country’s relationships with Europe and the United States and a range of other topics, including women, rural areas, nationalism and the Civil War, woven together in a nuanced and highly readable narrative. Fresh material and new pedagogical features have been added throughout, most notably:- new chapters on 19th-century nationalism and ‘Boom to Bust in the Age of Globalization, 1989-2013’;- greater discussion of the late Ottoman context, Greeks outside of Greece and the international background to the Greek state formation;- revisions to take account of recent scholarship, Greekscholarship ;- new timelines, maps, illustrations, charts, figures and primary source boxes;- an updated further reading section and bibliography.Modern Greece is a crucial text for anyone looking to understand the complex history of this now troubled nation and its place in the Balkans, Europe and the modern globalized world.