Eleni Stefanou

I am an archaeologist - museologist currently working at the Hellenic Open University where I teach the module Aspects of Cultural Phenomena in the MSc course of Cultural Organisations Management.
  My research interests evolve around the ideological uses of the past in the present, as these are shaped through museum and heritage representations, memory practices, cultural tourism and education, i.e. the predominant fields that shape the intimate relationship of various social groups with the past.
  From 2008 until 2013 I was teaching Museum Studies and Museum Education as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Department of Pre-School Education and the Educational Design, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece.
  I hold a BA degree in Archaeology (2002) from the Department of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
  I obtained my MA degree on Maritime Archaeology (2003) from the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK, and my master thesis explores the relationship of Greek maritime museums and national identity in modern Greece. 
  I conducted a PhD (2008) at the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK, under the supervision of Professor Yannis Hamilakis, funded by the Foundation of State Scholarships (IKY).
  My PhD Thesis is entitled Aspects of Identity and Nationhood: Commemorating, Representing, and Replicating the Greek Maritime Past. It investigates the ideological parameters which govern the Greek maritime heritage representations in connection to the underpinning of narratives about modern Greek national identity, as these are shaped through a series of representation and memorialisation practices, namely maritime museum displays, ancient ship reconstructions, naval commemorative ceremonies, and naval-battle re-enactments. Issues of agency, such as the production of national maritime narratives by private agents, the role of Orthodox religion in maritime heritage representations, and the interaction of the local and the national within Greek maritime communities, are vital for the contextual approach of the interaction of nationalism with the uses of the material past.
Supervisors: Professor Y. Hamilakis