Efthalia Prokopiou
Project: Notions of Home in the Far Right “White Genocide” Narrative: A Multinational and Multilingual Approach to Contemporary Far Right Self-Representations in Europe and the Americas
Supervisor: Prof. Dr Volker Depkat
Thalia Prokopiou holds a degree from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, and a master’s degree in North and Latin American Studies from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (MA The Americas/Las Américas). She has conducted research in the fields of human rights, literature and culture. Alongside her academic pursuits, Thalia has also contributed as an editor and writing coach, honing her skills in communication and analysis.
At the Leibniz ScienceCampus Regensburg, Thalia is developing her interdisciplinary research on contemporary issues of political change and continuity. Her project takes a critical stance on far-right groups and parties, with a focus on comparative methodologies and discourses of power. The central research questions revolve around populist far-right rhetoric in Europe and the Americas with a comparative focus on Greece and the USA. The goal of the project is to dissect the tropes of homeland and analyze the aesthetics, symbols, and metaphors prevalent in far-right political narratives. Her project is characterized by key terms such as homeland, ultranationalism, populist rhetoric, far-right aesthetics and White Supremacy symbolism reflecting her commitment to rigorous analysis and critical engagement with pressing socio-political issues.
- “Exploring Far-Right Shadows: Navigating disturbing archival material in California and Virginia”. In: Frictions Europe, America and Global Transformations (05.02.2024), doi: 10.15457/frictions/0032
- “Competing Sovereignties: Intertwinement, Contestation, Evolution”. Report on the 2nd Graduate Workshop Conference of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg. With Nargiza Kilichova. In: Frictions: Europe, America and Global Transformations
- Impressions from the Workshop “Unbuilding binaries: Exploring affective and analytical responses to binary divisions as encountered in the field”. In: Frictions, doi: 10.15457/frictions/0011. With Drivalda Delia, Frederik Lange, Daniela Mathuber, Eva-Maria Walther, and Vita Zelenska. 18 August 2021.
“Sculpting Far-Right Memoryscapes: Far-Right ‘Honor and Memory Ceremonies’”. Paper presentation at the Memory Studies Association 8th Annual Conference Memories in Transit. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú. 18–20 July 2024.
“Battlegrounds of Memory: Unveiling Far-Right Ultranationalism at War Memorial Sites”. Paper presentation at the 33rd Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism Nationalism and Memory. University of Edinburgh, UK. 9–11th April 2024.
“Gender Front: White Supremacist Gendered Narratives and Spatial Divides”. Paper presentation at the UC Berkeley Postdoctoral Forum. University of California, Berkeley, USA. 28 September 2023.
“’Racial Humanism and Ecological Consciousness’: Golden Dawn’s Ecofascist Discourse”. Paper presentation at the 4th Graduate Workshop of the GS OSES Environmental Discourses and Practices in Eastern and Southeastern Europe: Challenges and Opportunities. Regensburg, Germany. 25–27 May 2023.
“Race, Mysticism and Pseudo-populism in Contemporary White Supremacist Narratives: Examples from Greece and the USA.” Paper presentation at the 9th European Workshops in International Studies. University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki Greece. 7 July 2022.
“Remembering Antiquity: ‘White identity’, ‘white homeland’ and populism in contemporary alt-right discourses.” Paper presentation at the American Studies Colloquium. Regensburg University, Germany.
9 December 2021.“The Challenges of Digital and Media Ethnographies. ”Collaborative presentation with Lara Saadi & Karen Silva Torres (University of Leipzig) and Vita Zelenska (University of Regensburg) for the series Area Studies Under Discussion: Area Studies and the Challenges of the Digital Era. Universities of Leipzig, Marburg and Regensburg. 18 January 2021. Online.
“Derechos lingüísticos en México: El acceso al intérprete en el ámbito procesal.“ Poster presentation in Primer Foro de Cultura Indígena: México Multicultural y Plurilingüe. Guanajuato, Mexico, 24–26 Aug 2016.
- Transnational Memory Cultures and American Studies. 32nd Annual Conference of the Postgraduate Forum (PGF) of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS/DGfA). Regensburg, Germany, 9–12 November 2022
- Competing Sovereignties: Intertwinement, Contestation, Evolution. 2nd Graduate Workshop of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies in cooperation with the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World. Regensburg, Germany, 2–4 December 2022
- Mobilities and Transformations: Perspectives from the Americas. 1st International Conference of RIIA – Interdisciplinary Research Network on the Americas. Erlangen, Germany, 26–28 June 2019.
- Leibniz ScienceCampus Writing-up Doctoral Research Scholarship (March 2024 – May 2024), Leibniz ScienceCampus "Europe and America in the Modern World" Regensburg.
- Τravel Grant for archival research at the USA (May 2023), Bavarian American Academy.
- Frauenbeauftragte Travel Grant for archival research at the University of California, Berkely, USA (2023), Committee for Equal Opportunities for Women in Science and the Arts, University of Regensburg.
- Leibniz scholarship for doctoral researchers (March 2020 – December 2023), Leibniz ScienceCampus "Europe and America in the Modern World" Regensburg.
- Bavarian Government Scholarship for international master’s students (October – November 2017), Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg.
- Recorded lecture (September 2022)
“Neoecofascism: The Green Nuances of the Neofascists./ Neo-Ökofaschismus. Die grünen Schattierungen der Neofaschisten” for the online lecture series (MOOC) Europe and America in the Modern World hosted on the Open Educational Repository of the Virtual University of Bavaria (vhb). https://oer.vhb.org/edu-sharing/components/render/e487e407-4836-4f00-bbd7-2354709b713d?viewType=1&id=15a0c0bc-a60b-4982-8312-583d6ea3d51d - Hauptseminar co-facilitator (Summer Semester 2021)
Assisted Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings in Hauptseminar “Populism, the extreme right and the politics of resentment in the EU”. - Academic Writing Coach - Student Assistant (April 2018 – March 2019)
Writing Centre Learning Lab, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg