Maria Kaliambou

I am Senior Lector at the Hellenic Studies Program and teach folklore and Modern Greek language. I earned my B.A. in History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and my Ph.D. in Folklore Studies/European Ethnology at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. I held post-doctoral positions at the University Charles-de-Gaulle Lille 3 and in Princeton University. In 2006, my dissertation received the “Lutz Röhrich prize” in Germany as the best dissertation in oral literature, and in 2011 the European Commission elected me as “Erasmus Student Ambassador of Greece”. In 2006 I published my first book Home – Faith – Family: Transmission of Values in Greek Popular Booklets of Tales (1870-1970) (in German), and in 2015 The Routledge Modern Greek Reader. Greek Folktales for Learning Modern Greek, Routledge. In 2023 I published my edited volume The Greek Revolution and the Greek Diaspora in the United States (in English and in Greek). I am currently working on my new book with the tentative title “The Book Culture of Greek Americans”. My research situates folklore in a broader interdisciplinary net, combining literature, book history, and diaspora studies. Also I am interested in foreign language pedagogy, especially teaching Modern Greek. I have been the Chair of the Modern Greek Special Interest Group at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and am testified Oral Proficiency Interview tester for Modern Greek.