Description
Konstantinos Daskalakis and Chara Vlachaki
Societal features are often inscribed in discourse, thus making discourses rich resources for advancing understanding of societal features. The study examines Kolokotronis’ Memoirs to retrieve manifestations of societal features. It (a) traces a collectivistic spirit prevalent in the subjugated Greek society at the time of the 1821 Greek revolution and (b) retrieves the leader’s perception of societal progress and education in the context of the collective Greek consciousness. The findings highlight dimensions of collectivism (i.e. solidarity, need for unity, and self-sacrifice) and conceptual metaphors shaping perceptions of education and progress. The study shows that the collectivistic spirit is ubiquitous in the Memoirs and that perceptions of education and progress relate to the collective self of the newly born Greek state.
