Homeland Activism, Public Performance, and the Construction of Identity: An Examination of Greek Canadian Transnationalism, 1900s-1990s

This thesis examines cases of Greek Canadian transnationalism throughout the twentieth century. It utilizes a large database of oral interviews, newspaper records, both Greek and English language publications, and a variety of archival documents, including government correspondence, community records, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police files, to investigate the ways that Greek immigrants, and to a lesser extent their Canadian-born children, responded to political and humanitarian crises in Greece and engaged in homeland practices. Focusing on Greek Canadians' use of public performances, namely cultural presentations, humanitarian relief campaigns, commemorative celebrations, and public protests, in mobilizing broader support for their cause, I argue that such transnational acts nurtured a diasporic space that drew Greek Canadians into a public dialogue on the meaning of Greek immigrant identity. Mediated by immigrant elites and shaped by particular conditions in both Greece and Canada, Greek Canadians' transnationalism contributed significant material and symbolic aid to Greece, but also served as a vehicle for them to privilege and project their ethnic and national identities on a public stage. Though, to be clear, no single narrative emerged, as multiple authors professed to represent the majority of Greeks even while women and working-class men were relegated to less public roles and, often, engagement in homeland affairs engendered political and ideological strife among Greeks. While chapter one addresses various forms of public and private transnationalism among early twentieth century Greek immigrants, each of the remaining chapters provide a detailed case study of homeland activism. Chapter two examines Greek Canadians' humanitarian aid work in the Greek War Relief Fund during the Second World War, and chapters three and four focus on Greeks' political engagement in response to the right-wing military dictatorship and competing claims over Macedonia. In exploring how homeland practices and politics became localized in the diaspora, this thesis demonstrates the significance of transnationalism in the construction of Greek immigrant identity.Ph.D