The local Press in the Ionian Islands during the period of British rule (1849-1864)

Mikalef, Anastasios Tasos (2022). The local Press in the Ionian Islands during the period of British rule (1849-1864). University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This research examines the local press of the Ionian Islands during the period of British rule (1849-1864) through a thorough examination of the primary sources. It utilizes newspapers in order to assess the relations between the colonizers and the colonized and re-define aspects of the British Colonial and Modern Greek History. It contributes to their critical examination, in an effort to advance current knowledge about the Ionian local press’s significance.

Although other researchers have previously attempted to study the Ionian press, there has been no similar study which has been able to reflect on the multidimensional role of the newspapers. One of the most significant contributions of this study is that the local press was one of the major advocates of the Ionian Islands’ unification with the Greek Kingdom; since its emergence (1849) this local press criticized all forms of recession and political instability in the Ionian state. Thus, aspiring to demonstrate its political nature, the thesis focuses on the role of the newspapers as political motivators of the public opinion by promoting the lines of the political parties they belonged to; at the same time, the thesis investigates the attitudes of the Heptanesian men of letters, who acted as journalists at the time. In this respect, the goal of the dissertation is to present the close relation of the Ionian press to the politics of the region, proving that the papers were one of the principal means of political discourse in the Ionian state.

The thesis complements and advances current knowledge about the Ionian press’s contribution in shaping public opinion (i.e. formulating ideologies, views, beliefs and moralities of the locals’ character), illustrates the identity of the journalists of the period and presents the viewpoints of the Ionians regarding the several challenges they were faced with – for instance, poverty, language, class, misuse of power and lack of individual freedoms. By examining in depth a different –non ruling– point of view, this study claims that Heptanesian newspapers were a powerful instrument and a guide of the public sentiment; they were a game changer, because they were voicing the views of an important group of intellectuals, thus constituting a diachronically priceless archive for researchers.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):