McGill Modern Greek Studies

10/06/2026

On September 22, we had the pleasure of hosting the roundtable: “War and Maritime Trade: Legal Aspects, Historical Lessons” featuring the Hon. Peter Pamel, FCA Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal, and Professor Gelina Harlaftis (University of Crete, Academia Europaea). The discussion was moderated by lawyer and McGill Faculty of Law Associate Professor (Professional) Pearl E. Eliadis.

Held in collaboration with the Consulate General of Greece in Montreal at the McGill Faculty Club’s Billiard Room, the event brought together the Consuls of Greece, Türkiye, Iraq, Egypt, and Uruguay for a thoughtful dialogue about the legal and historical issues surrounding an often “invisible” but all-too-essential component of today’s world: maritime trade, which is responsible for 80% of the world’s international trade.

09/24/2026

Last night, we held our annual Tom Nacos and Family Lecture, where we had the pleasure of hearing from Professor Gelina Harlaftis of the University of Crete on “Greek Diaspora to Shipping Tycoons”.

We also took a moment to celebrate the accomplishments of our past and current students. Photographed below is AHEPA representative Ken Matziorinis and Lily Christopoulos, the AHEPA scholarship recipient.

We thank everyone who joined us last night and who continues to make this event a success year after year!

09/22/2026

On Monday Sept. 21st, the Minister of Education of the Hellenic Republic, Ms Sofia Zaharaki, visited McGill accompanied by the Consul general of Montreal M. Karalekas. She met with prof. Anastassiadis to discuss the Immigrec research project on the Hellenic diaspora and the B.Ed TESL Greek as a 2nd language program which trains certified teachers of Greek as a second language for Greek schools in the diaspora.

She also met and discussed their experiences with students and recent graduates of McGill involved in Hellenic studies: Elina Lianidaki (B.Ed TESL Greek), Panagis Vitoratos (B.A. History & Economics), Lucas Tsovras (MA History), Christios-Stavros Konstantopoulos (Phd History) and Dr Dimitris Machlouta (Phd History McGill, currently FQRSC post-doctoral fellow at UQAM).

On the following days, she had a working lunch with Dean Shapiro and Associate Dean Graduate Studies & Global Engagement Laszlo of the Faculty of Arts as well as Elysa Pylkannen. Director of programs at Graduate and Postdoctoral studies to discuss duale degrees and research partnerships between Greece and Québec.

09/21/2026

This week!

🚨Upcoming event🚨

Join us on 23 September at the McGill Faculty Club Ballroom (3450 McTavish) for the Tom Nacos and Family Annual Lecture where Gelina Harlaftis (University of Crete) will present "Greek diaspora traders to shipping tycoons: Creating the global shipping firm."

Consult the following abstract for more information:

In 1893, Panagi Vagliano, a major diaspora merchant and shipowner from the island of Cephalonia and based in London, foresaw the future of Greek shipping. In an interview conducted in his office in London and published in the Greek newspaper Acropolis, a reporter described a casual and confident Vagliano, his “right leg folded on his left one, as he usually did, looking towards the window with a childish laughter.” Vagliano told the reporter “I imagine the Greek steam shipping colossal and the Greek shipowner so big that you cannot imagine...” When Vagliano gave this interview, Greek nationals owned only one percent of the world’s shipping fleet. Eighty years later he was proved right: by the 1970s, Greeks owned the largest fleet in the world and Greek shipping tycoons were among the wealthiest people on earth. In the mid-1970s, the Onassis group of shipping companies was one of the world’s ten largest independent tanker-owning companies, along with a number of other Greek shipowners. According to the Review of Maritime Transport, in 2025 “Greece continues to be the largest ship-owning country, accounting for more than seventeen percent of the world total.”

The Greek shipping industry originated in networked family enterprises dating back to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century island shipping companies. These small, family-owned companies evolved into international trading companies like Panagi Vagliano’s, and then reinvented themselves during the twentieth century into ship management and global maritime business groups like Aristotle Onassis’s. This lecture following these two leading Greek firms, Vagliano’s in the nineteenth century and Onassis’s in the twentieth, will explain how Greek firms and their entrepreneurial networks evolved, how they not only survived, and thrived from the eighteenth century to the present day gaining international competitive advantage and reputation within the shipping sector.

09/01/2026

🚨Upcoming event🚨

Join us on 23 September at the McGill Faculty Club Ballroom (3450 McTavish) for the Tom Nacos and Family Annual Lecture where Gelina Harlaftis (University of Crete) will present "Greek diaspora traders to shipping tycoons: Creating the global shipping firm."

Consult the following abstract for more information:

In 1893, Panagi Vagliano, a major diaspora merchant and shipowner from the island of Cephalonia and based in London, foresaw the future of Greek shipping. In an interview conducted in his office in London and published in the Greek newspaper Acropolis, a reporter described a casual and confident Vagliano, his “right leg folded on his left one, as he usually did, looking towards the window with a childish laughter.” Vagliano told the reporter “I imagine the Greek steam shipping colossal and the Greek shipowner so big that you cannot imagine...” When Vagliano gave this interview, Greek nationals owned only one percent of the world’s shipping fleet. Eighty years later he was proved right: by the 1970s, Greeks owned the largest fleet in the world and Greek shipping tycoons were among the wealthiest people on earth. In the mid-1970s, the Onassis group of shipping companies was one of the world’s ten largest independent tanker-owning companies, along with a number of other Greek shipowners. According to the Review of Maritime Transport, in 2025 “Greece continues to be the largest ship-owning country, accounting for more than seventeen percent of the world total.”

The Greek shipping industry originated in networked family enterprises dating back to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century island shipping companies. These small, family-owned companies evolved into international trading companies like Panagi Vagliano’s, and then reinvented themselves during the twentieth century into ship management and global maritime business groups like Aristotle Onassis’s. This lecture following these two leading Greek firms, Vagliano’s in the nineteenth century and Onassis’s in the twentieth, will explain how Greek firms and their entrepreneurial networks evolved, how they not only survived, and thrived from the eighteenth century to the present day gaining international competitive advantage and reputation within the shipping sector.

07/24/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dimitri Machlouta!

Last Friday, July 17, Dimitri successfully defended his Cotutelle PhD dissertation between McGill University in Montreal and the EHESS in Paris: "Underground Intellectuals? A Connected and Entangled History of Greek Anti-Junta Networks: Balancing Local Activism and Global Radicalism in Montreal and Paris (1967–1974)."

We are also delighted to announce that Dimitri has been awarded a two-year FRQSC-funded postdoctoral fellowship for the project:
« L’impact des migrants européens francophones sur les universités québécoises, années 1960–1970 » .

Dimitri will carry out his postdoctoral research at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) under the supervision of Professor Magda Fahrni, from September 2026 to August 2028.

Congratulations, Dimitri, on these remarkable achievements, and best wishes for continued success in your research and future endeavours!

07/22/2026

FR: Nous sommes heureux de partager l'enregistrement de la table ronde consacrée à l'histoire des réfugiés, qui s'est tenue le 16 juillet 2026 à Atelier-Librairie Le livre voyageur à Montréal. Organisée par le Research Group on Transitions and Global Modernities de l'Université McGill, cette discussion de 90 minutes a réuni les historiennes Delphine Diaz, Yolande Cohen et Laura Madokoro autour d'une réflexion stimulante sur l'exil, les migrations forcées, les archives et les défis liés à l'écriture de l'histoire des réfugiés.

La discussion était animée par Anastassios Anastassiadis et Dimitrios Machlouta. Nous adressons nos plus sincères remerciements à nos intervenantes, à notre public, à l'Atelier-librairie Le Livre voyageur, ainsi qu'à Bruno Lalonde pour leur accueil et leur contribution à la réussite de cet événement.

ENG: We are pleased to share the recording of the roundtable on the History of Refugees, held on July 16, 2026, at Atelier-Librairie Le livre voyageur in Montreal. Organized by the Research Group on Transitions and Global Modernities at McGill University, the 90-minute discussion brought together historians Delphine Diaz, Yolande Cohen, and Laura Madokoro for a thought-provoking conversation on exile, forced migration, archives, and the challenges of writing the history of refugees.

The discussion was moderated by Anastassios Anastassiadis and Dimitrios Machlouta. We extend our sincere thanks to our speakers, our audience, the Atelier-librarie Le Livre voyageur and Bruno Lalonde for hosting this event.

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07/09/2026

Venez nous rejoindre le 16 juillet de 18 h à 20 h à Atelier-Librairie Le livre voyageur pour l'événement « Pratiquer l'histoire des réfugiés : une table ronde ».

Réunissant les autrices de trois ouvrages récents consacrés à l’histoire de l’exil et des réfugiés, cette table ronde portera sur les défis intellectuels, méthodologiques et archivistiques liés à la recherche et à l’écriture de l’histoire des réfugiés, tout en abordant les questions de l’ego-histoire et de la positionnalité des chercheuses et des chercheurs. Elle examinera également la manière dont les historiennes et les historiens réagissent à l’évolution des contextes politiques, négocient les changements d’échelle ainsi que les démarches comparatives, et réévaluent les catégories analytiques à travers lesquelles les migrations forcées ont été appréhendées.

Intervenantes : Yolande Cohen (UQAM), Delphine Diaz (Reims Champagne-Ardenne) et Laura Madokoro (Carleton).

Modérateurs : Anastassios Anastassiadis (McGill) et Dimitrios Machlouta (McGill/EHESS).

06/23/2026

We are pleased to announce that Dimitrios Machlouta has received the 2026 Canadian Committee on Migration, Ethnicity and Transnationalism Article Prize (Le prix du meilleur article du Comité canadien sur la migration, l’ethnicité et le transnationalisme) awarded by the Canadian Historical Association / Société historique du Canada.

The prize recognizes "as an excellent use of Werner and Zimmerman’s histoire croisée" Machlouta's article “Academic Refugees or Undesirable Newcomers? Greek Anti-Junta Networks, Francophone Intellectuals, and Canada’s Quandary during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, 1960–1976,” published in Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies (98, 2025),

To read the article, please follow this link: https://journals.openedition.org/eccs/7847

06/09/2026

Bring her back!! Some of the MSSG 2026 students with the Caryatids, who await the (hopeful & eventual) return of their sister!