Georgios Trantas

Academic Disciplines:

Religious Studies; International Policy and Diplomacy

Research Interests:

Religioscapes, Migration, Diasporas;

International Relations, Politics of Religion and Culture, Cultural Diplomacy, Soft Power;

Identity, Belonging, European Integration (Europeanisation);

Interreligious Dialogue, Conflict, Reconciliation;

Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East.

Memberships:

Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy;

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR);

International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR);

European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR);

British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR);

Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER).

Links:

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9134-9544

https://vid.academia.edu/GeorgiosTrantas

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/789827

https://zenodo.org/record/3946235#.Xye_GSgzbDc

https://goreligioscapes.wordpress.com/

Books:

Trantas, Georgios E. (2018) Being and Belonging: A Comparative Examination of the Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches’ Attitudes to ‘Europeanisation’ in Early 21st Century. Erfurter Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums. Band 16. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang.

Chapters in edited volumes:

Trantas, Georgios E. and Tseligka, Eleni D. (2022) ‘Asylum and Migration System Reform: A New Role for the Orthodox Church of Greece?’. In: Hudson, V. and Leustean, L. N. (ed.) Religion and Forced Displacement in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp.109-144.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2021) ‘East Meets West: Glocality and the Lieu de Mémoire within the Greek-Orthodox Migrant Religioscapes of Germany’. In: Matevski, Z. (ed.) The Role of Religion in Peace and Conflict. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp.27-37.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2020) ‘Shifting the Centre of Gravity of Greek Orthodox EU Policies: A Matter of Leadership?’. In: Makrides, V. N. & Rimestad S. (eds.). Coping with Change: Orthodox Christian Dynamics between Tradition, Innovation, and Realpolitik. Erfurter Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums. Band 18. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang. pp.127-146.

----- (2020) ‘Greek-Cypriot Religiocultural Heritage as an Indicator of Fundamental Rights and a Means to Cultural Diplomacy’. In: Giordan G. & Zrinščak S. (eds.). Global Eastern Orthodoxy: Politics, Religion, and Human Rights. Cham: Springer. pp.149-171.

----- (2019) ‘The Orthodox Church of Greece: Church-State Relations, Migratory Patterns and Sociopolitical Challenges’. In: Leustean L.N. (ed.). Forced Migration and Human Security in the Eastern Orthodox World. [Routledge Religion, Society and Government in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet States]. London: Routledge. pp.164-206.

Journal articles:

Trantas, Georgios E. (2021) ‘Αποτυπώματα της Υβριδικής Συλλογικής Ταυτότητας των Ελλήνων της Γερμανίας και Μεγάλης Βρετανίας μέσα από τις Θρησκειοτοπίες τους’ [Traces of the Hybrid Collective Identity of the Greeks of Germany and Great Britain through their Religioscapes]. Athenian Academic Periodical, 1 (2), pp.101-110.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2021) ‘Greek Orthodox Religioscapes as Domains of Intra-European Migrant Integration and Europeanisation’. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies (JSRI), 20 (58), pp.96-111.

----- (2020) ‘Greek-Orthodox Diasporic Glocality and Translocality in Germany and Great Britain’. Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions (JBASR), 22, pp.71-88.

----- (2020) ‘The Vision of the ‘Byzantine Commonwealth’ as Model for Religiocultural Diplomacy and the Case of the Greek Orthodox Church under Archbishop Christodoulos (1998–2008)’. Politics, Religion and Ideology, 21 (1). pp.24-45.

----- (2019) ‘Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes as Domains of Migratory Integration and Hybridisation in Germany and Great Britain: A Comparative Study’. Politics and Religion Journal, 13 (2). pp.309-332.

----- (2018) ‘The Question of a Contemporary Greek-Orthodox Economic Ethic’. Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, 54 (2). pp.217-228.

Trantas, Georgios E. and Tseligka, Eleni D. (2016), ‘Where the Byzantinesque meets the Urbanesque: Architectural and Hagiographic Elements of Greek Orthodox Urban Reterritorialisation in Germany’. Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, 52 (2). pp.241-260.

Policy reports / reports:

Trantas, Georgios E. and Tseligka, Eleni D. (2020) ‘Religion and Forced Displacement in Greece’. In: Leustean, L. N. (ed.) Religion and Forced Displacement in the Eastern Orthodox World. The Foreign Policy Centre. pp.30-39. Policy report, Online]. 23rd July. Available from: https://fpc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Religion-and-Forced-Displacement-in-the-Eastern-Orthodox-World.pdf.

Trantas, Georgios E. and Šljivić, Dragan (2014) 6th Study-academy of DFG Research Study Group 1412 “Cultural Orientations and Social Structures in Southeast Europe”, Jena and Erfurt, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 28 September – 4 October 2014. Südosteuropa Mitteilungen. (05-06). pp.151-156.

Open-access dataset:

Trantas, Georgios E. (2020) ‘Churches, Arks of Migratory Narratives: A Comparative Study of the Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes in Germany and Great Britain’. Zenodo. [Open-access dataset, Online] 15th July. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3946235.

Book reviews:

Trantas, Georgios E. (2021) Marko Vekovic Democratization in Christian Orthodox Europe: comparing Greece, Serbia and Russia, Religion, State & Society, 49 (4-5). pp.426-427.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2019) Claudia Sternberg, Kira Gartzou-Katsouyanni, Kalypso Nicolaidis (eds): The Greco-German Affair in the Euro Crisis: Mutual Recognition Lost?. Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, 55 (2). pp.286-287. [Book review].

Special issues / series

----- (2019) ‘Intra-European Mobility, Emigration and New Dynamics Within Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes’. University of Oxford, SEESOX Diaspora Working Paper Series. Paper No. 4.

Conference proceedings:

----- (2017) ‘Pro- or anti-European? The Orthodox Church of Greece at the Crossroads’. In Bochinger, Christoph and Rüpke, Jörg (eds.) Dynamics of Religion: Past and Present - Proceedings of the XXI World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten. Band 67. Erfurt, August 23–29, 2015. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p.425.

Trantas, Georgios E. and Tseligka, Eleni D. (2017) ‘Greek Migrants in Germany and their Entopic Fulfilment via their Church’. In Bochinger, Christoph and Rüpke, Jörg (eds.) Dynamics of Religion: Past and Present - Proceedings of the XXI World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten. Band 67. Erfurt, August 23–29, 2015. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p.450.

Conference Papers:

Trantas, Georgios E. (2022) Sacred Space, Hybridity and Mutability: Greek-Cypriots in the UK. In University of Birmingham, Institute for Research into Superdiversity, Looking back to look forward: Celebrating 10 Years of Research on Migration, Forced Displacement and Superdiversity. Birmingham, 14th to 16th September 2022.

----- (2021) Contested Religioscapes in the Levant: Disparities between Borders and Frontiers. In Aristotle University by Council for British Research in the Levant and The British Academy, Religioscapes: Anthropological Approaches on Collective Identities and Otherness in the Public Domain. Thessaloniki, 22nd October 2021.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2020) The Aesthetics of Being and Belonging in the Greek Orthodox Religioscapes of Germany and Great Britain. In Universität Münster Kolloquium, Ökumenisches Institut, Abt. II: Ökumenik, Ostkirchenkunde und Friedensforschung. Münster, 3rd to 4th July 2020.

----- (2020) Greek Orthodox Religioscapes of Germany and Great Britain: An Assessment of their Aesthetic Commonalities and Differences. In Universität Erfurt – Philosophische Fakultät, Graduiertenkolloquium zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums. Erfurt, 27th June 2020.

----- (2020) Being and Belonging amidst Intersecting Religioscapes. In Council for British Research in the Levant and The British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposium. Amman, Jordan, 26th to 28th January 2020.

----- (2020) Entopic Aesthetics within the Greek-Orthodox Migrant Heterotopias. In University of Lapland Argumenta Seminar, Religious Inquiry in Society: Mapping the Politics of Knowledge. Rovaniemi, 22nd to 23rd January 2020.

----- (2019) Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes: A Religiocultural Aesthetic Approach to Migration. In the Institute of Sociology, the Institute of History and European Ethnology, the Research Centre on Migration and Globalisation, the Research Centre of Social Theory, University of Innsbruck. Innsbruck, 26th November 2019.

----- (2019) Diversity in the Greek-Orthodox Diaspora: The Cases of Germany and Great Britain. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. St. Louis, MO, 25th to 27th October 2019.

----- (2019) Greek-Orthodox Religioscapes in Germany and Great Britain as Symbolic Constellations of Religious Pluralism. In 1st European Conference for Religious Dialogue and Cooperation. Struga, North Macedonia, 14th to 17th October 2019.

----- (2019) Greek-Orthodox Migrant Religioscape Markers, Heterotopias and Entopias. In BASR Annual Conference 2019 – Visualising Cultures: Media, Religion and Technology. Leeds, 2nd to 4th September 2019.

----- (2019) The Refugees Leave, but the Places of Worship Stay. The Greek-Orthodox religiocultural heritage in northern Cyprus. In Aston Centre for Europe (ACE) Workshop, Religious minorities in crisis: European solidarity at risk? Birmingham, 14th June 2019.

----- (2019) ‘GO Religioscapes’: An Overview. Nottingham University Area Studies / Economic Social History Workshop. Nottingham, 23rd May 2019.

----- (2018) The Byzantine Commonwealth: a Model for Cultural Diplomacy? The Case of the Greek Orthodox Church (1998–2008). In Third Annual Tartu Conference on Russian and East European Studies: Reflecting on Nation-Statehood in Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia. Tartu, Estonia, 10th to 12th June 2018.

----- (2018) Paradigm Shift, Institutional Shift: The Greek Migratory Experience. Aston University with the support of the British Academy Workshop ‘Religion and Migration in the Eastern Orthodox World’. Belgrade, 7th to 8th June 2018.

----- (2017) The Fundamental Rights of the Greek-Orthodox Religioscape of Cyprus as an EU Affair. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, 13th to 15th October 2017.

----- (2017) Heterodefinition (not being): A Greek Orthodox Narrative of Othering and State Personification. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, 13th to 15th October 2017.

----- (2017) Greek Orthodoxy, the Protestant Ethic and Homo Economicus. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, 13th to 15th October 2017.

----- (2017) Greek-Orthodox Cultural Heritage and its Strategic Importance to the Representation of the Church of Cyprus to the European Union. In Global Orthodoxy: Religion, Politics, and Human Rights. Padua, 12th May 2017.

----- (2016) The Latent, Conditional Ethnarchic model of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia 28th to 30th October 2016.

----- (2016) Christodoulos’ Byzantine Diplomacy Parallels in a Post-Westphalian Context. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, 28th to 30th October 2016.

Tseligka, Eleni D. & Trantas, Georgios E. (2016) Hagiography as a Narrative Medium of the Greek-Orthodox Gastarbeiter German Social Experience. In Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Atlanta, Georgia, 28th to 30th October 2016.

----- (2015) Greek Migrants in Germany and their Entopic Fulfilment via their Church. In XXI IAHR World Congress. Erfurt, 23rd to 29th August 2015.

Trantas, Georgios. E. (2015) Pro- or Anti-European? The Orthodox Church of Greece at the Crossroads. In XXI IAHR World Congress. Erfurt, 23rd to 29th August 2015.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2015) Contemporary Ethnarchic Dimensions of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. In Graduiertenkolloquium zur Kulturgeschichte des Orthodoxen Christentums. Erfurt, 26th June 2015.

Tseligka, Eleni D. & Trantas, Georgios E. (2014) Home is Where the Church is: Greek Migrant Communities and their Spatial Reestablishment in the German Urban Environment Within the Context of Greek Orthodoxy. In Religion in Urban Spaces Conference. Göttingen 9th to 11th April 2014.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2013) The State as a Person through the Eyes of the Greek Orthodox Church. In Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung Colloquium. Regensburg 19th November 2013.

----- (2013) The Pivotal Role of Ohrid in the Work of St. Clement. In DFG–Graduiertenkolleg 1412, Studienakademie 2013. Ohrid, 30th September to 5th October 2013.

Tseligka, Eleni D. & Trantas, Georgios E. (2013) Greek Migrant Communities of Germany and the Perpetuation of Collectivism. In Liverpool Hope University, XII Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions & Special Conference of the International Association for the History of Religions. Religion – Migration – Mutation. Liverpool, 3rd to 6th September 2013.

Events/Media/Outreach:

Organisation of the Webinar Wednesdays’ series titled Religion, Self and Otherness: Tracing the Complexities of Glocal Christianities, for the Centre of Mission and Global Studies, VID Specialized University. The series hosts acclaimed guest speakers and occurs monthly between January and May 2022. See further information here: https://www.vid.no/arrangementer/vid-webinar-wednesdays-series/.

Co-organisation of the international seminar/conference Religioscapes: Anthropological Approaches on Collective Identities and Otherness in the Public Domain. Hosted by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and funded by the Council for British Research in the Levant and The British Academy. Thessaloniki, 22 October 2021.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2020) ‘The Greek-Orthodox Diasporic Religioscapes of Europe in Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic’, University of Oxford, SEESOX Diaspora – Pandemic Blog. [Online] 12 June 2020. Available from: http://seesoxdiaspora.org/publications/pandemic-blog/the-greek-orthodox-diasporic-religioscapes-of-europe-in-light-of-the-covid-19-pandemic.

Organisation of a photo exhibition on 09 March 2020, 18:00-21:00, intended to showcase dimensions of the H2020 research project (acronym GO Religioscapes), with the support of the Hellenic Centre which hosts the event, and, in collaboration with the Hellenic Institute, Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies and Centre for the GeoHumanities, Royal Holloway University of London. See further details here: https://helleniccentre.org/event/greek-orthodox-religioscapes-exhibition/.

Workshop, co-organised with Lucian N. Leustean and Anne Jenichen: Aston Centre for Europe (ACE) Workshop, Religious minorities in crisis: European solidarity at risk? Aston University, Birmingham, 14 June 2019.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2014) Europeanisation – The Implicit Victim of Educational Deficits. Think Tank To Diktio – Network for Reform in Greece and Europe. [Online] 10th January. Available from: http://todiktio.eu/en/index.php/topics/youth-education-employment/item/285-europeanization-the-implicit-victim-of-educational-deficits.

Interview to Heimo Fischer of Deutsche Welle (DW): Fischer, Heimo (2013) Zypern: Orthodoxe Sonderrolle. Deutsche Welle. [Online] 23rd March. Available from: www.dw.de/orthodoxe-sonderrolle/a-16692286?maca=de-rss-de-region-europa-4021-rdf.

Trantas, Georgios E. (2012) Ανάλωση Διπλωματικού Κεφαλαίου Χάριν Λαϊκισμού; [Eng.: Consumption of Diplomatic Capital for the Sake of Populism?] To Vima. [Online] 21st May. Available from: www.tovima.gr/opinions/useropinions/article/?aid=458749.

Keywords:

Orthodox Christianity

Religioscapes

Migration

Diasporas

Southeastern Europe