PhD Oral Defence - Dimitrios Machlouta (July 17, 10:00 am) McGill University

[Dimitrios Machlouta]

Dear colleagues,

On Friday, July 17, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at McGill University, Leacock Building, Room 927 (Montreal, Canada), Dimitrios Machlouta will defend his doctoral dissertation in History and Civilizations, jointly supervised by Christophe Prochasson (EHESS-CESPRA) and Anastassios Anastassiadis (McGill University):

“Underground Intellectuals? 

A Connected and Entangled History of Greek Anti-Junta Networks: Balancing Local Activism and Global Radicalism in Montreal and Paris (1967-1974)”

Committee Members

1 Yolande Cohen, Professeure, Université du Québec à Montréal (présidente du jury)

2 Delphine Diaz, Maîtresse de Conférences HDR, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (rapporteure)

3 Steven High, Professor, Concordia University (rapporteur)

4 Laura Madokoro, Associate professor, Carleton University (rapporteure)

5 Elli Lemonidou, Professor, University of Patras (examinatrice)

6 Anastassios Anastassiadis, Associate professor, McGill University (co-directeur de thèse)

7 Christophe Prochasson, Directeur d'études, EHESS (co-directeur de thèse)

 

ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS

This dissertation examines the complex relationship between local activism and global radicalism by highlighting how intellectual networks engaged in local political struggles also contributed to broader transnational movements. It argues that global radical culture in the 1960s and 1970s remained deeply rooted in microdynamics, with local activism often preceding and shaping international engagement. While much scholarship privileges the global dimension of 1960s radicalism, this study demonstrates that micro-level political contexts played a decisive role in how intellectuals interpreted and engaged with international causes. These contexts shaped their participation in shared radical networks, even when the connections between distinct sociopolitical issues appeared tenuous. The dissertation focuses on anti-junta activism within the Greek diaspora, with particular attention to the experiences of exiled Greek intellectuals in Quebec, Canada, and Paris, France, between 1967 and 1974. Following the Greek military coup of April 21, 1967, repression forced many intellectuals and students into exile. Canada and France emerged as key destinations due to their strong Greek diasporic communities and, in France’s case, its longstanding role as an intellectual centre for Greek elites. In both settings, exiled Greek intellectuals entered local political and intellectual circles and drew parallels between struggles in Greece and developments in their host societies. In Quebec, they arrived during the Quiet Revolution, a period marked by secularization and the assertion of Francophone rights. Figures such as Basile Spiridonakis, Nicolas Oikonomides, and Jean Meynaud secured positions in the province’s expanding universities and integrated into local intellectual milieus. They frequently linked the idea of a “Québec Libre” with that of a “Grèce Libre” while Gérald Godin, Michel Chartrand, and Hubert Aquin supported and reframed anti-junta activism within broader political struggles in Quebec. In France, the Greek anti-junta movement drew support from intellectuals shaped by the aftermath of the Algerian War. Individuals such as Pierre Vidal-Naquet and Roland Dumas, who had denounced state violence during the conflict, extended their activism to Greece and understood opposition to the military regime as part of a wider struggle against authoritarianism. By examining anti-junta activism in Quebec and Paris, this study underscores the reciprocal relationship between local and global political spheres. It shows how exiled intellectuals operated within interconnected struggles in which local activism intersected with transnational networks. By foregrounding the local foundations of global radicalism, the dissertation offers a new perspective on the intellectual and political movements of the 1960s and 1970s and challenges dominant narratives that prioritize global dynamics over local political contexts.

Academic field; Radicalism; Francophonie; Activism; Migration; Quebec–France–Greece