Ethnology

The anthropological context and the approach to mentalities throughout history.

  • Once upon a time in Lesbos

    Those who travelled to the Greek islands up until the 1970s could still boast of having encountered their countless primal truths, inevitably brought from the seas. If possible, they even penetrated the soul of the country beyond its unalterable archaeological veneer.

  • Beyond the Meteors

    Modernity being what it is, Christmas in Greece is already a substitute, with the added bonus of spit-roasted meats that are still quite local. This is how the town of Trikala in Western Thessaly is currently lavishly decorated, while its so-called “Christmas” amusement park, whose official, marketed name is “Elves Park,” experiences its heyday during this time of year.

  • Notebook of a young ethnologist in Lesbos

    In that distant year of 1989, I landed on the island of Lesbos for my first fieldwork trip, that of the budding ethnologist I was, or… that I thought I was. I was 23 years old at the time. Thirty-seven years later, in December 2025, I have just published my Lesbos notebooks in French, the self-published book of which is available on Amazon under the title : “Carnet d’un jeune ethnologue à Lesbos (1989): Voyage dans la Grèce oubliée des pêcheurs à la sardine, en anticipation subjective du chaos à venir”.

  • Stray cats

    Visitors to Greece have all observed the omnipresence, not always discreet it must be said, of animals that in the land of the Myrmidónes are called simply “adéspota”; literally: those who have no master. In other words, they do not live under… the authority of a despot, who is moreover a member of the human race.