Biographical Information
I was born in Athens, Greece in 1955 and completed all my high school and university studies in the United Kingdom. After doing my national service in Greece I moved to the United States in 1986 to pursue an academic career. I taught at the Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Center at Queens College, the Hellenic Studies Program at Princeton University, the History Department at Temple University, the History Department and the Onassic Center for Hellenic Studies at New York University, and began teaching at Haverford College in 1995 and retired in 2022. I am currently teaching courses at College Year in Athens, a program for U.S. College students doing their semester abroad in Greece.
Education
D.Phil. Oxford University (1984)
M.A. University of Keele (1979)
B.A. University of Warwick (1974)
Research
My research and publishing focuses on nationalism and ethnicity in modern Greece and its diaspora, and its manifestations across a broad spectrum, from politics to sports.
Books:
The Greeks in Egypt, 1919-1937: Ethnicity & Class London: Ithaca, 1989
Griegos en América Madrid: MAPFRE, 1992
Wrestling with the Ancients: Modern Greek Identity and the Olympics New York: Greekworks, 2004
Ελλάς, Ευρώπη Παναθηναϊκός! 100 Χρονια Ελληνική Ιστορία New York: Greekworks, 2010
The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2019 https://aucpress.com/product/the-greeks-and-the-making-of-modern-egypt/
The Greek Orthodox Church in America: a modern history Northern Illinois & Cornell University Press, 2020 https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501749919/the-greek-orthod...
The History of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association 1922-2022 - A Century of Service Washingron & Athens: AHEPA & Hellenic American Union, 2022, 2nd edition Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2023 https://holycrossbookstore.com/products/the-history-of-ahepa-1922-2022-a...
Peter Tiboris: A Musical Odyssey New York: Arkadia Publishers, 2023.
I am currently working on a book on Greek-owned diners in America
Several of my contributions to edited volumes, articles in journals, magazines & websites and book reviews are available at https://haverford.academia.edu/AlexanderKitroeff
I am also continuing my collaboration with film director Maria Iliou with who I have served as the principal historical consultant in four documentaries: The Journey: the Greek Dream in America (2007) http://www.thejourneygreekamericandream.org/ Smyrna 1922: the Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City (2012) https://www.benakishop.gr/books/audio-visual-material/dvd-smyrni-i-katas... From Both Sides of the Aegean: Expulsions & Population Exchange, Turkey-Greece 1922-1924 (2013); Αγαπημένη Θεία Λένα: το Εργο και η Ζωή της Αντιγόνης Μεταξά (2017). Our current project is a 5-part history of the city of Athens, from 1821 to the present. Part 1, "Athens Between East & West, 1821-1896" premiered in February 2020 at the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Links
- Interview with the Greek Current on the Greeks of Egypt https://thegreekcurrent.simplecast.com/episodes/the-greeks-of-egypt-a-br...
- Interview with Egypt Migrations on the Greeks of Egypt https://egyptmigrations.com/2021/06/18/interview-with-dr-alexander-kitro...
- Appearance on Greece's SKAI TV evening news (Nov. 24, 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYbFu_-_C-8&fbclid=IwAR1CKs6myDWrjCgJF_f...
- The Greek Current Podcast: Interview on Calls for a New Charter for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (October 2020) https://thegreekcurrent.simplecast.com/episodes/ecumenical-patriarchate-...
- Zoom presentation of The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt hosted by LMU's Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies (November 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6qt-C0XRkc
- "The Contributions of the Greeks of Egypt" Zoom presentation to Hellenic-link Midwest (October 2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YG9sIboGrw
- "Alexander Kitroeff, the Greek Diaspora in America and Beyond" Interview with cosmosphilly (October 2020) https://cosmosphilly.com/alexander-kitroeff/
- Interview on Greek Orthodoxy in America: a modern History with WNTN 1550 AM Boston Grecian Echoes - Mondays With Meleti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb420FEw9yA&t=239s
- "Lunch with Kathimerini" interview with Margarita Pournara (in Greek, May 2019) http://www.kathimerini.gr/1022439/gallery/proswpa/geyma-me-thn-k/ale3andros-kitroef-oi-omogeneis-8eloyn-na-voh8hsoyn
- Keynote Speech Levantine Heritage Society Conference, Athens November 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN9KbVlea2o
- Presentation of The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt at Institute for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Emmanuel College Boston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGugFf3wzpQ
- The Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922: Memory & History Lunchtime presentation at American Hellenic Institute, Washington DC, October 2018 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kitroeff
- "Lunch with Kathimerini" interview with Margarita Pournara (in Greek, May 2019) http://www.kathimerini.gr/1022439/gallery/proswpa/geyma-me-thn-k/ale3andros-kitroef-oi-omogeneis-8eloyn-na-voh8hsoyn
- Documentary on the 100 years of the Ethnikos Kyrix newspaper, in which I was interviewed & was historical consultant (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StcJSvtj0ds&feature=youtu.be
- Interview on Smyrna: the Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City to Cosmos Philly (April 2013) https://cosmosphilly.com/interview-with-alexander-kitroeff/
- Keynote Address on Greece's strategic role in WWII at https://oxidayfoundation.org/ (October 2011) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5umyDKgycYg&t=8s