In the issue of the Bulletin of the Corfu Reading Society (no. 29, 2016-2019), Professor Emeritus of History of Ideas and Modern Greek Culture George Leontsinis presents a thoughtful and dense article entitled «The future of the Ionian identity», where he explores the dynamics of the Ionian cultural identity in contemporary historical time.
The study focuses on the historical formation of the Ionian identity, which was the product of the intersection of Western and Greek influences, based on the long Venetian and British presence on the Ionian islands. The author points out the uniqueness of the Ionian Islands as a field of early European liberalism, but also as the birthplace of modern political and social ideas in Greece.
Against the backdrop of the social and cultural mutations of the last decades, the Professor raises questions about the viability of this identity in the 21st century. He stresses the need to reconnect the Ionian Islands with its historical memory, not through sterile reproduction of localist stereotypes, but through a dynamic redefinition of the values, political culture and intellectual tradition of the Ionian Islands.
The work is distinguished for its critical alertness and its intensely educational character, making it a timely read for those interested in collective identity, modern Greek culture and the challenges of the future.
The text was delivered as a counter-speech immediately after the proclamation of Professor George Leontsinis as an honorary member of the Corfu Readers' Society by the President as a decision of its Administrative Committee.
