Dr Letsiou Styliani
University of Macedonia
Everyday Life Options of Young Pontic Greek Migrants from the Former Soviet Union (USSR)
Abstract
The present paper is on the young Pontic Greeks from the Former Soviet Union (USSR), who, in our days, have already moved to Greece either with their whole family either with some members of their family or just by themselves. These young people have been born and grown up -at least most of them- in a small village in Georgia, which is a part of the Caucasus region. However, after the fall of the old soviet regime in 1989, their families decided to come and continue their lives in their “historical” motherland Greece. Some families decided to move as a whole, but some others decided to send one or two members at a time just to find a place to stay, a job and in general, to arrange other details. My point in this short paper is to show that these young Pontic Greeks from the Former Soviet Union (USSR) are really confused. They cannot decide if they are Greeks or Russians or Georgians. They don’t know which is their “real” mother tongue, their “real” motherland as well as their “real” origin. Till nowadays, hundreds of books have been written about the “Greekness” of Pontic Greeks and -almost- none about their “Russianness” or “Georgianness”. Thus, I am going to present some information about how these people feel, express themselves and live after my personal research in Northern Greece a few years ago.
Biography
Η Στυλιανή Γ. Λέτσιου είναι πτυχιούχος του Τμήματος Βαλκανικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Δυτικής Μακεδονίας (Φλώρινα) και κάτοχος δύο μεταπτυχιακών τίτλων, αφενός στην Πολιτική Επιστήμη από το Institut d’Études Politiques de Strasbourg (Université Robert Schuman) και αφετέρου στην Ιστορία και Κοινωνική Ανθρωπολογία από το Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Ανθρωπολογίας και Ιστορίας του Πανεπιστημίου Αιγαίου (Μυτιλήνη). Είναι διδάκτωρ Οικονομικών και Πολιτικών Σπουδών στην σύγχρονη Ανατολική και Νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη και Υποψήφια Μεταδιδάκτωρ Προσφυγικών Σπουδών του Τμήματος Βαλκανικών, Σλαβικών και Ανατολικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Μακεδονίας (Θεσσαλονίκη). Μιλά άπταιστα εννέα ξένες γλώσσες (αγγλική, γαλλική, ιταλική, ρωσική, ρουμανική, βουλγαρική, γερμανική, ισπανική και γεωργιανή). Έχει εργαστεί ως ειδική σύμβουλος του Υφυπουργού Υγείας κ. Μ. Μπόλαρη και κατά τη διάρκεια των τελευταίων ετών, διδάσκει στο Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας.
