Argyrou, Vassos 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born November 12, 1955, in Paphos, Cyprus. Education: London School of Economics, M.S.; Indiana University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Hull, Cottingham Rd., Hull HU6 7RX, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, educator. Held positions at colleges in the United States and Cyprus; University of Hull, Hull, England, professor.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Recipient, Leverhulme Research Fellowship.

WRITINGS:

Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean: The Wedding as Symbolic Struggle, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Anthropology and the Will to Meaning: A Postcolonial Critique, Pluto Press (Sterling, VA), 2002.

The Logic of Environmentalism: Anthropology, Ecology, and Postcoloniality, Berghahn Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of articles to journals and chapters to scholarly books.

SIDELIGHTS:

A reader in social anthropology at the University of Hull in England, Vassos Argyrou researches social and cultural theory, postcolonialism, environmentalism, and Mediterranean ethnography. Each of these interests can be seen in the books that he has penned. His 1996 Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean: The Wedding as Symbolic Struggle focuses on Greek Cypriots and their changing perceptions of tradition. In H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, David Sutton quoted Argyrou as saying "that during the last sixty years or so the notion of the West has emerged as the dominant idiom through which a series of relations of inequality are both resisted and legitimated: between social classes, age groups, men and women, city dwellers and villagers, mainland and Cypriot Greeks, and between the two main communities on the island, Greek and Turkish Cypriots." Sutton explained in his review that "Argyrou's focus is on how some of these social differentiations are expressed through changes in wedding rituals from the 1930s to the present." The book is based on fieldwork in Cyprus and from Argyrou's personal experiences as a compatriot. Sutton noted Argyrou "inserts himself into the text to show how alien, and alienated from the people and their habitus, he is." In Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean, the author focuses on the differences between the traditional rural weddings Greek Cypriots hold and the more Westernized variants witnessed in large towns such as Nicosia. For those in the city, the traditional rural weddings are a sign of backwardness. Argyrou argues that in voicing such an opinion "the Cypriot bourgeoisie participate in their own domination," wrote Sutton. That is, urban dwellers use Europe and the West as their cultural authority, rather than their own cultural roots. Sutton commended Argyrou for his "lucid expositions of theory and rich ethnographic descriptions."

In his 2002 study, Anthropology and the Will to Meaning: A Postcolonial Critique, Argyou presents an "intriguing argument," according to Mark Harris of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, "namely that anthropologists will never succeed in their mission to posit a symbolically unified and ethically meaningful world." Harris noted that the "book is a sophisticated exposition and bold critique, revealing Argyrou to be one of the few contemporary British-based anthropologists willing to address significant theoretical and methodological questions." According to a reviewer for Reference & Research Book News, Argyou's 2005 book, The Logic of Environmentalism: Anthropology, Ecology, and Postcoloniality, "interrogates environmentalism," which is perceived as a challenge to modernism.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Anthropologist, September, 1997, James D. Faubion, review of Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean: The Wedding as Symbolic Struggle, p. 669.

American Ethnologist, February, 1998, Anastasia Karakasidou, review of Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean, p. 68.

Comparative Studies in Society and History, July, 2003, Joel Robbins, review of Anthropology and the Will to Meaning: A Postcolonial Critique, pp. 640-642.

Environmental Politics, August, 2006, Wendy Maples, review of The Logic of Environmentalism: Anthropology, Ecology, and Postcoloniality, p. 675.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, March, 1998, Paul Sant Cassia, review of Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean, p. 156; March, 2006, Mark Harris, review of Anthropology and the Will to Meaning, p. 259.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2003, review of Anthropology and the Will to Meaning, p. 71; February, 2006, review of The Logic of Environmentalism.

Social Anthropology, February, 1999, Simon Charsley, review of Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean, p. 99; June, 2007, Justin Kenrick, review of The Logic of Environmentalism, p. 246.

ONLINE

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (June 30, 2008), David Sutton, review of Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean.

University of Hull Web site,http://www.hull.ac.uk/ (June 30. 2008), "Dr. Vassos Argyrou."