Ethnology
The anthropological context and the approach to mentalities throughout history.
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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”.
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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.
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Greeks of Asia Minor and Greeks of Hellas
Otherness and identities during the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor (1919-1922) In May 1919, the first Greek soldiers landed in Smyrna. This new episode of Greco-Turkish warfare on the soil of Asia Minor, lasting three years and four months, was part of the political and military continuity of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the Great War (1914-1918). It ended with the rout of Greek troops in August-September 1922 and an exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey.
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Ghost Greece
There are certain places we know only half as well, if not only through their ghosts of the past. Thus, in keeping with the title I chose for my 2013 book on the Greek crisis: “Ghost Greece,” one of the characteristics of my excursions exploring this beautiful country is that it remains decidedly… somewhat ghostly, in these times.
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Frappé coffee
Visitors to Greece of a certain generation, once they arrive at Athens airport, or otherwise on board the first ferry to the islands, order their first frappé coffee. And the adventure begins!
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Downtime
In Greece, the first day of May is deeply linked to the flowering of nature, the fertility of the Earth, the irrevocable end of winter and the welcome of the sunny and warm days that follow.