Conflict and Negotiation in American Culture(s)
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The Conflict between Emotion and Reason in Rational Choice Theory
Ioanna Gympaki is a graduate student at the Department of Philosophy in the University of Athens. After completing her undergraduate studies in the Department of English Literature and Culture of the same university, she decided to embrace new fields of study, extending from Cultural Studies and Philosophy to Psychology and Social Sciences. She has presented research papers in conferences in Greece and abroad, some of which have been published in Greek and foreign journals, while she has received awards and scholarship funds for her academic performances.
“Red Pill or Blue Pill?”: The Postmodern Condition as Conflict and Negotiation in The Matrix Trilogy
Damla Pehlivan is a student in the M.A. program of Comparative Literature in Dokuz Eylül University. She earned her B.A. from Ege University, American Culture and Literature Department, in 2018. She participated at the International Undergraduate Symposium in Ege University in 2017 and 2018. Her bachelor’s project with her colleague Serhan Bulanık is entitled “WESTWORLD: Science Fiction as a Retrospection of the Future.” Her research on Altered Carbon (2018–) will be published in 2020 as a part of the collection of essays entitled Sex, Death and Resurrection in Altered Carbon: Essays on the Netflix Series. Her research interest includes psychoanalysis, postmodernism, cultural theory, and, in particular, the work of theorists such as Žižek, McLuhan, and Baudrillard.
Killin’ Jews and Nazi Hunters: Re-storying Postmodern Identities in Inglourious Basterds and its Greek Subtitles
Katerina Marazi holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature, an M.A. in American Literature and Culture, a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies and American Pop Culture, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Her research interests include Adaptation, Brand Identity Theory, Transmedia Storytelling, and Media Franchise Culture within the entertainment industry. Dr. Marazi is a member of EAAS/HELAAS, the Multimodal Group, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Hellenic Semiotic Society. She has presented her research work at conferences both in Greece and abroad, she has published papers in peerreviewed journals, and she regularly contributes book reviews to the European Journal of American Studies (EJAS).
Kelly Pasmatzi earned her B.A. in English Language and Literature from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2006. She pursued postgraduate studies in Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester, where she completed her M.A. (2008) and her Ph.D. (2014). She is the Research Director at the English Studies Department of The International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, CITY College, and teaches modules on Translation Theories and Literary Translation, among others. She is also a member of the editorial board for the journal New Voices in Translation Studies. Her research interests lie in literary translation, cultural transfer, and sociological approaches to translation.
Not Just Entertainment: Hollywood and the Culture War
Melenia Arouh holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southampton in film aesthetics. Dr. Arouh is Assistant Professor at the Communication and Philosophy Departments of the American College of Greece, Deree College. She is also the Assistant Head of the Communication Department. Her current teaching includes such courses as Introduction to Film, Film Analysis, Aesthetics, and Philosophy and Cinema. Her publication and research interests are in the areas of film-philosophy, film aesthetics, and media studies.
Preaching to the Choir: The Christian Film Genre in Culture Wars
Sophia Zuanich is a senior undergraduate Honors student studying Communication with a focus on journalism and film studies at the American College of Greece, Deree College. She has been President of the Communication Society at Deree since 2018, and she is involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities. Her research focuses mainly on media studies and framing.
Karolos Koun and American Dramaturgy: An Overview
Zafiris Nikitas is a Ph.D. Candidate in History of Theatre at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His academic interests focus on the cultural identity of Modern Greek, European, and American Drama during the 19th and the 20th century. He has received an Excellence Scholarship by the Greek Institution of Research and Innovation for his ongoing doctoral project. He has collaborated with prestigious Research Centers, such as FORTH, and he has published papers in peer-reviewed journals. The most recent presentation of his research work took place at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, within the frame of an academic symposium.
From Thesis to Published Book: (It does not have to be) An Odyssey
Aikaterini Delikonstantinidou holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Studies from the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Theatre Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, focusing on applications of Digital Theatre on Adult Education. She is also the Young Scholar Representative of the Hellenic Association for American Studies (HELAAS) and member of the editorial team of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, the journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC). Her articles have been published in numerous volumes and journals, her research work has been presented at national and international conferences, and she is the recipient of several awards, grants, and scholarships. Her research areas include Theatre and Performing Arts, Greek Tragedy, Ethnic Studies, Digital Literacies and Education.
Publishing Your Research: Notices to Young Scholars
Maria Virginia Tsikopoulou is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of American Literature and Culture of the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds an M.A. (2018) in English and American Studies and a B.A. (2015) in English Language and Literature from the same institution. During her M.A. studies, she was awarded a scholarship of excellence as a class valedictorian. Her research interests include Contemporary Fiction, Postmodern Literature, Drama, and Artistic Practices, with a special focus on Urban Space, Spatiality, and Psychogeography.
Dimitra Nikolaidou is a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is a member of HELAAS and the international War/Game project. Her work has been presented in Greek and international conferences. Her papers have been published in the WyrdCon Companion, the Ex-centric Narratives journal, and Wargames: Memory, Militarism and the Subject of Play (Bloomsbury 2019).
Female Struggle and Negotiation of Agency in Christina Dalcher’s Vox
Maria Pinakoulia holds a B.A. degree in English Language and Literature (2016) and an M.A. degree in English and American Studies from the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2018). Her research focuses on 19th- and 20th-century British and American women’s writing and cultural theory. She is interested in postcolonialism, questions of race, gender, cultural identities, and war narratives. Her diploma thesis researched British women’s writing during the period of decolonization, examining the intersection of colonial whiteness and gender. She is currently working as an English language teacher in private and state schools and at the Military School of Non-Commissioned Officers in Trikala, Greece.
Control over Women’s Bodies in the On-Screen Adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale and the Contemporary Abortion Conflict
Anastasia Miskaki is a graduate of the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and, at the moment, she is a postgraduate student at the School’s M.A. program titled “English and American Studies.” Her interests involve Romanticism, Comparative Literature, Poetics, and Gender Studies.
Efrosyni Pappa is a graduate of the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is currently enrolled in the School’s M.A. programme on English and American Studies. Her interests include Romanticism, the Gothic, Renaissance Literature, and Feminism.
Conflict-ing/-ed Neo-burlesque Bodies: From Nostalgia to Objectification and Back
Maria (Mariza) Tzouni is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of American Literature and Culture in the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. She has presented her research work in both national and international conferences while her poems have been published in anthologies and online blogs. Her fields of interest include Neo-burlesque performance, Performance Art, Theater, Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Popular Culture Studies.
Sanitizing American History: The Absence of Historical Conflicts in Fictional Representations of American Theme Parks
Paschalia Mitskidou is a freelance writer and editor based in Athens. She holds a B.A. in History (Ionian University) and an M.A. in Creative Writing (University of Western Macedonia). She is a Ph.D. student at the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her research interests focus mainly on contemporary American literature, digital narratives, and the representation of history in immersive media. Her Ph.D. research explores virtual reality in contemporary American culture and the ways in which the past is reconstructed, revised, or recontextualized through virtual reality narrative practices.
Conflicts Related to Sexist US Advertisements and to Their Translation
Stavroula Vergopoulou is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Translation and Intercultural Studies of the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. For her doctoral research, which addresses gender, translation, and advertising, she is funded by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. She holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Aristotle University and an M.A. in Translation from Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Faculty of Translation Studies, Linguistics and Cultural Studies in Germersheim, Germany). For her postgraduate studies, she was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Racial Manifestations of Selfhood: Black Self as Burden in Yusef Komunyakaa’s Apologize for the Eyes in my Head
Panteleimon Tsiokos holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has attended several summer schools, conferences, symposiums, seminars, and workshops. He is a member of several Associations for American Studies and his research interests include American folk, ethnic, and minority literature, issues of identity in the twentieth-century contemporary American fiction and poetry as well as the urban space.
Imprisoned or Reformed: Exploring Racial Conflict and Brutality by Correctional Officers in Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys
Kalliopi Fragkouli holds a B.A. degree from the School of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2015). She completed her M.A. in English and American Studies at the same institution (2018). She has done research on African American fiction, particularly on Toni Morrison’s works, placing emphasis on black feminism and beauty standards. She has also researched African American poetry, focusing on the works of Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, and Paul Laurence Dunbar, and addressing the issue of slavery, torture, lack of freedom, and sense of belonging. Her research interests include Contemporary American Literature, American Ethnic and Minority Literature, African American Novelists, Feminist Theory, as well as Race and Gender Studies.
Transformations of the Fantastic: Racial Conflict, Negotiation, and Transformation in Tabletop Role-Playing Games
Dimitra Nikolaidou is a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of English Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is a member of HELAAS and the international War/Game project. Her work has been presented in Greek and international conferences. Her papers have been published in the WyrdCon Companion, the Ex-centric Narratives journal, and Wargames: Memory, Militarism and the Subject of Play (Bloomsbury 2019).
Syllabus Design Workshop
Penny Koutsi is a Ph.D. student at the Department of American Literature and Culture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. She is currently working on her dissertation which examines the death penalty in contemporary Anglophone plays. Her academic interests include Theater Studies, Political Theory, as well as the themes of conflict and violence. She has taken part in various national and international conferences and contributed articles to the e-magazine ECHOES and to MIT’s online magazine, among others.
Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis, Fulbright alumnus, holds a doctorate degree from the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has a B.A. in English Language and Literature and a M.A. in American Literature and Culture. His fields of research activity include LGBT+ Studies, Performance Studies, and Popular Culture Studies. His Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the politics of global gay culture and the praxis of camp in contemporary pop music spectacles. Parts of this research as well as other projects have appeared in international conferences and journals.
