2025 LIT PRO

18th Annual International Conference on Literature
organized by the  Literature Unit of the Athens Institute

Program (Athens Local Time)

2-6 June 2025
9 Chalkokondili Street, 10677 Athens, Greece

(Note 1: the program is organized along time slots and not according to common theme)
(Note 2: at the end of each session questions and discussions will follow)

Monday 2 June 2025

08.45-09.30
Registration

09:30-10:00
Opening and Welcoming Remarks:

  • Gregory T. Papanikos, President, Athens Institute.
10:00-11:30 Session 1
Session 1a
Moderator: William Davis, Deputy Head, Literature Unit, Athens Institute & Professor, Colorado College, USA.		 Session 1b
Moderator: David Philip Wick, Director, Arts, Humanities and Education Division, Athens Institute & Retired Professor of History, Gordon College, USA.
  1. Tamar Paichadze, Professor, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia.
    Nino Mindiashvili, Associate Professor, Caucasus International University, Georgia.
    Title: Georgian Literature at the Crossroads: Cultural Dialogue – Alternative for Georgian Post Totalitarian Reality.
  2. Eva Kata Szederkenyi, Assistant Professor, University of Pécs, Hungary.
    Title: “The Shanghai Detective Mission” – The Notion of Abandonment in Kazuo Ishiguro’s when we were Orphans.
  3. Aliyah Alsaber, Assistant Professor, Imam Mohammad Ιbn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia.
    Title: Un-Be-Longing: Diasporic Identity and Multiple Displacements in The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan.
  4. Barbara Pawlak, PhD Student, University of Lodz, Poland.
    Title: Technology as a Hyper Object in Don DeLillo’s White Noise.
  1. Glenn Bugh, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, USA.
    Title: The Generalship of Francesco Morosini in the Morean War (1685-1694).
  2. Marek Stary, Assistant Professor, Charles University, Czech Republic.
    Title: War as an Investment Opportunity. Purchasing Imperial Officers in the Kingdom of Bohemia during the Thirty Years’ War.
  3. Tsermaa Nyamdavaa, Senior Lecturer, National University of Mongolia, Mongolia.
    Title: Conflicts Between Herders and Crop Farmers within the Buffer Zone Rangelands of Hustai National Park, Mongolia.
  4. Julie Wosk, Professor Emerita, State University of New York, USA.
    Title: Female Automata from Ancient Times to Today’s AI-Enhanced Women Robots.
  5. Ilksoy Aslim, Lecturer, Bahçeşehir Cyprus University, Cyprus.
    Title: New Era New Preferences: Changing Positions of Angola and Cyprus in Foreign Policy of the USA.

 

11:30-13:00 Session 2
Session 2a
Moderator: Khaled Alkodimi, Associate Professor, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia.		 Session 2b
Moderator: Glenn Bugh, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, USA.
  1. Anna Dolidze, Researcher and Lecturer, Tbilisi State University, Georgia.
    Tamar Sharabidze, Professor, Tbilisi State University, Georgia.
    Title: Georgian Modernism of the Twentieth Century: Contextualizing Connections to Western Intellectual Traditions.
  2. Claudiu-Liviu Onisoara, PhD Student, University of Craiova, Romania.
    Title: The Archetype of Hero, Hidden Hero and Anti-Hero in the Book of Esther in the Light of Mesopotamian Myths.
  3. Darius Branche, PhD Candidate, Teaching Assistant, Duquesne University, USA.
    Title: Bachelard’s Nietzsche.
  4. Cobus Crowther, Postgraduate Student, North-West University, South Africa.
    Nicholas Meihuizen, Professor, North-West University, South Africa.
    Title: Our Apollonian Dilemma: Appreciating the Power of the Imagination in the 21st Century Through Two of Keats’s Odes.
  1. David Philip Wick, Retired Professor of History, Gordon College, USA.
    Title: Small Brilliances and Urban PTSD – A Brief, Shaping, Analytic Look at the Evolving Economy of Athens in the Century After it Helped Bring Rome to the Aegean.
  2. Amanda Herring, Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University, USA.
    Title: Anatolizing Herakles: Herakles as a Symbol of Civic and Royal Power in Hellenistic and Roman Anatolia.
  3. Dominykas Barusevicius, PhD Student, Vilnius University, Lithuania.
    Title: New Evidence of Early Counting Practices in the Eastern Baltic.
  4. Gloria Rose Lopez, Master’s Student, University of South Florida, USA.
    Title: The Gorgoneion and the Evil Eye: Cultural Importance and Acceptance of Apotropaic Iconography in the Ancient Greco-Roman World.

 

13:00-14:30 Session 3
Moderator: Ranko Kozic, Full Professor, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
  1. Jennifer Donahue, Associate Professor, The University of Arizona, USA.
    Title: The Events of the Day: Friedrich Urich’s Account of Life in Pre-Abolition Trinidad.
  2. Graziella Acquaviva, Associate Professor, University of Turin, Italy.
    Title: Swahili War Verses: Towards an East African Self.
  3. Khaled Alkodimi, Associate Professor, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia.
    Title: The Subaltern, the Artificial Friends and the Posthuman Society: Ishiguro’s Postcolonial Perspective in Klara and the Sun.
  4. Daniela Gallardo, PhD Student, Arizona State University, USA.
    Title: Racial Dynamics and Masculinity in Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don: An In-Depth Examination of 19th-Century Mexican American Identity.

14:30-15:30 Lunch

15:30-17:00 Session 4
Moderator: Claudiu-Liviu Onisoara, PhD Student, University of Craiova, Romania.
  1. Eka Dughashvili, Associate Professor, St. Andrew the First-Called Georgian University of the Patriarchate of Georgia & Researcher, Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts, Georgia.
    Title: Georgian-Greek Manuscript from Saint Petersburg Collection: Greek Texts.
  2. Aneesah Nishaat, Lecturer, Higashi Nippon International University, Japan.
    Title: Themes of Resilience, Empathy, and Well-being in Tagore’s Kabuliwala: A Positive Psychology Approach.
  3. Simonetta Milli Konewko, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA.
    Title: Between Folly and Wisdom: The Folktales of Montebotolino / Badia Tedalda in a Global Context.
  4. Vina Tirven-Gadum, Associate Professor, Athabasca University, Canada.
    Title: Does the Message in Albert Camus’ Play Les Justes Still Resonate Today?

17:30-20:00 Visit Aristotle’s Lyceum (Itinerary)
(Pre-booking is required)

20:30-22:30
Athenian Early Evening Symposium (Sequence of Events: Ongoing Academic Discussions, Dinner, Wine and Water, Music, Dance)

 

Tuesday 3 June 2025

 

09:30-11:00 Session 5
Moderator: Christina Weiler, Director in Residence, Junior Year in Munich, Germany.
  1. Hilda Israel, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Mpumalanga, South Africa.
    Title: An African Fusion Project: Writing Stories as Teaching Tools.
  2. Ranko Kozic, Full Professor, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
    Title: Isocrates’ “Encomium of Helen” and the New Myth in the Dialogues of Plato.
  3. Ken Moore, Senior Lecturer, Teesside University, UK.
    Title: “…though he was born a woman”: The Tale of Caenis/Caeneus, Transphobic Centaurs, Potential Trans Allies and Ovid’s Apparent Obsession with Transmen in the Metamorphoses Book XII.
  4. Kristina Yahuzhynska, PhD Student, Central Ukrainian National University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine.
    Title: Ancient Numismatics of the Bosporan Kingdom in the 20th Century French Historiography.

 

11:00-12:30 Session 6
Session 6a – A Microsymposium on Romanticism
Moderator: Hilda Israel, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Mpumalanga, South Africa.		 Session 6b
Moderator: Amy Coren, Assistant Professor, Pasadena City College, USA.
  1. William Davis, Professor, Colorado College, USA.
    Title: Romanticism, Hellenism, and the “Islands of the Blest”.
  2. Margaret Russett, Professor, University of Southern California, USA.
    Title: Things as they are; or, the Spirits of the Age.
  3. Christina Weiler, Director in Residence, Junior Year in Munich, Germany.
    Title: Women, Nature, and Bucolic Liberation in Sophie Tieck’s Fairy Tale “Belinde”.
  4. Joseph Rockelmann, German Language and Literature Teacher, Bavarian International School, Germany.
    Title: Ludwig Tieck’s Foray into the World of Psychology.
  1. Snezhana Filipova, Professor, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia.
    Title: Christian Reliquaries in the Shape of Human Mask – Head Reliquaries.
  2. Nicolas Richer, Full Professor, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France.
    Title: When did the Battle of Platæa Precisely Occur in 479 BC?
  3. Tomasz Borowski, Research Fellow, University of Warsaw, Poland.
    Title: Between Public Square and Colonnaded Street – Cultural Significance of the Urban Layout of Byzantine Philoxenite, Egypt.

 

12:30-14:00 Session 7
Moderator: Ken Moore, Senior Lecturer, Teesside University, UK.
  1. Jon Davidann, Professor, Hawai’i Pacific University, USA.
    Title: The Myths of Westernization.
  2. Amy Coren, Assistant Professor, Pasadena City College, USA.
    Title: Of Horses and Herders: Hustai National Park’s Buffer Zone Project as a Model for Community Based Conservation.
  3. Orly Kayam, Lecturer, Researcher and Writer, Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, Israel.
    Title: The Rhetoric of Language Teaching.
  4. Meera Anna Oommen, Associate Director, Dakshin Foundation, India.
    Title: Wild Boar and Domestic Swine: Understanding Conflict and Power Struggles from Porcine Entanglements in India.

14:00-15:00 Lunch

16:00-19:30 Session 8
Old and New-An Educational Urban Walk
The urban walk ticket is not included as part of your registration fee. It includes transportation costs and the cost to enter the Parthenon and the other monuments on the Acropolis Hill. The urban walk tour includes the broader area of Athens. Among other sites, it includes: Zappion, Syntagma Square, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Ancient Roman Agora and on Acropolis Hill: the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion, and the Parthenon. The program of the tour may be adjusted, if there is a need beyond our control. This is a private event organized by ATINER exclusively for the conference participants.

20:30-22:00
An Ancient Athenian Symposium: Continuous Dialogues, Timeless Flavors (featuring authentic ancient Athenian dishes, local wine, and sweet delicacies from ancient Athens)

Wednesday 4 June 2025
An Educational Visit to Selected Islands
or Nafplio & Mycenae Visit

Thursday 5 June 2025
Visiting the Oracle of Delphi

Friday 6 June 2025
Visiting the Ancient Corinth and Cape Sounion







Conference Venue: 9 Chalkokondili Street, 10677 Athens, Greece