Biographical Information
I was born in Athens, Greece in 1955 and completed all my high school and university studies in the United Kingdom. After doing my national service in Greece I moved to the United States in 1986 to pursue an academic career. I taught at the Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Center at Queens College, the Hellenic Studies Program at Princeton University, the History Department at Temple University, the History Department and the Onassic Center for Hellenic Studies at New York University, and began teaching at Haverford College in 1996.
Education
D.Phil. Oxford University (1984)
M.A. University of Keele (1979)
B.A. University of Warwick (1974)
Research
My research and publishing focuses on nationalism and ethnicity in modern Greece and its diaspora, and its manifestations across a broad spectrum, from politics to sports.
Books:
The Greeks in Egypt, 1919-1937: Ethnicity & Class London: Ithaca, 1989
Griegos en América Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992
Wrestling with the Ancients: Modern Greek Identity and the Olympics New York: Greekworks, 2004
Ελλάς, Ευρώπη Παναθηναϊκός! 100 Χρονια Ελληνική Ιστορία New York: Greekworks, 2010
The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2019 https://aucpress.com/product/the-greeks-and-the-making-of-modern-egypt/
The Greek Orthodox Church in America: a modern history Northern Illinois & Cornell University Press, 2020 https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501749919/the-greek-orthod...
I have posted several of my contributions to edited volumes, articles in journals, magazines & websites and book reviews at https://haverford.academia.edu/AlexanderKitroeff
My future book projects include a history of AHEPA (American Hellenic Progressive Association) to appear at its centenary in 2022 and a history of Greek Americans and diner restaurants.
I am also continuing my collaboration with film director Maria Iliou with who I have served as the principal historical consultant in four documentaries: The Journey: the Greek Dream in America (2007) http://www.thejourneygreekamericandream.org/ Smyrna 1922: the Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City (2012) https://www.benakishop.gr/books/audio-visual-material/dvd-smyrni-i-katas... From Both Sides of the Aegean: Expulsions & Population Exchange, Turkey-Greece 1922-1924 (2013); Αγαπημένη Θεία Λένα: το Εργο και η Ζωή της Αντιγόνης Μεταξά (2017). Our current project is a 5-part history of the city of Athens, from 1821 to the present. Part 1, "Athens Between East & West, 1821-1896" premiered in February 2020 at the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Teaching
My courses focus on the C20th-21st cultural and social history of Europe and the Mediterranean region, with an emphasis on national and ethnic identities:
- Hist 114 The Modern Mediterranean; Hist 215 Sport & Society; Hist 249 Refugees in C20th Europe; Hist 250 “White” Ethnicity in the United States; Hist 270 From Empire to Nation: the Ottoman World Transformed
- Hist 357 Topics in European History: Nationalism & Immigration; Hist 400 Senior History Seminar
Links
- Appearance on Greece's SKAI TV evening news (Nov. 24, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYbFu_-_C-8&fbclid=IwAR1CKs6myDWrjCgJF_f...
- The Greek Current Podcast: Interview on Calls for a New Charter for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (October 2020) https://thegreekcurrent.simplecast.com/episodes/ecumenical-patriarchate-...
- Zoom presentation of The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt hosted by LMU's Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies (November 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6qt-C0XRkc
- "The Contributions of the Greeks of Egypt" Zoom presentation to Hellenic-link Midwest (October 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YG9sIboGrw
- "Alexander Kitroeff, the Greek Diaspora in America and Beyond" Interview with cosmosphilly (October 2020) https://cosmosphilly.com/alexander-kitroeff/
- Interview on Greek Orthodoxy in America: a modern History with WNTN 1550 AM Boston Grecian Echoes - Mondays With Meleti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb420FEw9yA&t=239s
- "Lunch with Kathimerini" interview with Margarita Pournara (in Greek, May 2019) http://www.kathimerini.gr/1022439/gallery/proswpa/geyma-me-thn-k/ale3andros-kitroef-oi-omogeneis-8eloyn-na-voh8hsoyn
- Keynote Speech Levantine Heritage Society Conference, Athens November 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN9KbVlea2o
- Presentation of The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt at Institute for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Emmanuel College Boston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGugFf3wzpQ
- The Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922: Memory & History Lunchtime presentation at American Hellenic Institute, Washington DC, October 2018 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kitroeff
- "Lunch with Kathimerini" interview with Margarita Pournara (in Greek, May 2019) http://www.kathimerini.gr/1022439/gallery/proswpa/geyma-me-thn-k/ale3andros-kitroef-oi-omogeneis-8eloyn-na-voh8hsoyn
- Documentary on the 100 years of the Ethnikos Kyrix newspaper, in which I was interviewed & was historical consultant (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StcJSvtj0ds&feature=youtu.be
- Interview on Smyrna: the Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City to Cosmos Philly (April 2013) https://cosmosphilly.com/interview-with-alexander-kitroeff/
- Keynote Address on Greece's strategic role in WWII at https://oxidayfoundation.org/ (October 2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5umyDKgycYg&t=8s