From Crete to Amsterdam

Tatiana Markaki is Assistant Professor Cultural Heritage and Language (research school Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM).

Markaki was born in Heraklion, Crete, and studied History and Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Athens (BA cum laude, specialisation: History of the Greek world under Venetian rule). She also acquired a BA in Piano Performance (cum laude) at the National Conservatory in Athens. A follow-up study of the history of Venetian Crete took place at the department of Modern Greek Language and Culture of the University of Amsterdam. Markaki's MA thesis concerned a quantitative analysis of the documents of a Cretan notary in the 16th -17th century, that have been published by prof. dr. Arnold van Gemert and prof. dr. Wim Bakker, both affiliated for many years to this department. A scholarship from the Greek Academy of Sciences offered Markaki the opportunity to work as a fellow at the Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini in Venice, Italy. In that period she conducted research on the notarial records of Candia (modern Heraklion) at the State Archives of Venice concerning issues of socioeconomic and cultural history.

Since 1995 Markaki is working as a (Senior) Lecturer Language Acquisition and Modern Greek History at the Department of Modern Greek Language and Culture. Since September 2013 she is Program Director Modern Greek Studies in the same Department and member of the UvA Amsterdam Regional Transnational European Studies research school (ARTES). Since september 2023 she is Assistant Professor Cultural Heritage and Language and member of the UvA research school Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM). Besides, she works freelance as official interpreter-translator Greek and as advisor in various educational and intercultural projects.

Culture and Language

Markaki's research interest concerns aspects of both the Greek language (in particular Modern Greek lexicography and translation) and the socio-economic and cultural history of Crete during the Venetian rule (1211-1669).

Regarding history her interest focusses on the dowry and trousseau that women on Crete brought into their new household at the time of marriage. By studying marriage contracts and inventories – written in Greek and/or Italian, Venetian and Cretan dialect – Markaki maps patterns of marriage and consumption. This is an attempt to contribute to the knowledge of the history of the Greek world during the period of the Venetian rule; a period that has remained underexposed in comparison with other periods of the Greek history.

Regarding language, the research interests focus mainly on the translation of Dutch non-fiction into Greek, the lexicography of Modern Greek language and early modern material culture terminology and the development of teaching material for language proficiency in Modern Greek.

Cultural Heritage of Crete

Research project: Women and Material Culture in Venetian Crete (16th-17th century)

This project has led to a doctoral thesis project, financed by the Faculty of Humanities, UvA and  the Greek Academy of Sciences in Athens in coöperation with Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini in Venice, Italy. Its title is: Objects and Identities: Dowry and Material Culture in Venetian Crete in Regional and European Context (1600-1645)

The aim of this comparative study was to investigate the socio-economic and cultural function of the dowry given to the bride upon marriage during the first half of the 17th century. The study focussed on the capital city of Crete, Candia (modern Heraklion), and the countryside, by examining unpublished marriage contracts and inventories of movables. The socio-economic aspects included the role of dowry as a medium of social mobility. The cultural aspects included consumption patterns and patterns of material culture. The composition of the dowry and the choices made by the family of the bride, concerning the quantity, quality and value of movables are considered to play a significant role.

Lexicography of Modern Greek

Participant for seven years in the UvA-NTU research project  "Woordenboek Nederlands-Nieuwgrieks/Nieuwgrieks-Nederlands"

Lecturer-Examinator-Course Coordinator

BA Courses in Dutch

• Griekenland en Cyprus: van de Ottomaanse tijd tot heden (6 ECTS)

BA Courses in Greek & English

• Modern Greek Language and Literature 1 (6 ECTS)
• Modern Greek Language and Literature 2 (6 ECTS)

BA Courses in English

• Memory and Conflict: Greece, Cyprus and Turkey (6 ECTS)
• Venice, Byzantium and the Greek World (6 ECTS)
• The Mediterranean and Europe (6 ECTS)
• Project Athens (6 ECTS, open for European EPICUR students)
• Islamicate Art across the Mediterranean World (guest-lecturer, 6 ECTS)
• Greece. Cradle of civilization? (guest-lecturer, 6 ECTS)
• The Greek World between East and West (guest-lecturer, 6 ECTS, open for European EPICUR students)

Supervision of PhD candidates

• D. Pavlidou (ARTES). Dissertation title: A comparative study of the political orientations and ideologies of the Caucasus Pontic Greeks and the western Pontic Greeks prior to 1923.
• L. Xheza (ASCA). Dissertation title: The politics and aesthetics of hospitality: the visualisation of the arrival of refugees in the Greek media.

Internal positions

Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam (FGw, UvA)

• Program Director of  Dept. Modern Greek language and culture  (afdeling MVTC)
• Chair of the Programme Committee (OC) Modern Greek Studies (until academic year 2022-2023)
• Public relations officer & webmaster Dept. Modern Greek language and culture
• Coordinator Minor Mediterranean Studies (30 ECTS)
• Initiator and founder of the Marilena Laskaridis Chair of Modern Greek Studies, UvA: 2018-2028
• Member of the Works Council (OR) of the Faculty of Humanities (2015-2018 & 2021-2023); member of the HRM committee.
• Coordinator of the International Exams for the Certificate of Attainment in Greek in the Netherlands (organised annually by ΚΕΓ, Thessaloniki, and the Dept. of Modern Greek language and culture): 2014-2018
• Project leader & developer projects Webklas light Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities (2008-2010)

University of Amsterdam (UvA)

• Board member of the UvA Central Works Council (COR): 2015-2017
• Member of the Central Works Council (COR): 2015-2018 & 2021-2023; member of the HRM committee
• COR-representative at the UvA-negotiations for the Lecturer's New Policies (Nieuw Docentenbeleid) (March 2022-September 2023)

External positions

• Chair of the Dutch Society for Modern Greek Studies (Nederlands Genootschap voor Nieuwgriekse Studies, NGNS): 2014-2022
• Board member of the European Society for Modern Greek Studies (EENS): October 2014-October 2023
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (WAR) of the Netherlands Institute in Athens (NIA): 2018-2020
• Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board (WAR) of the Netherlands Institute in Athens (NIA): 2020-2023