Theodoros A. Spyros

I obtained my first degree in Social Anthropology (Department of Social Policy and Social Anthropology) from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Athens) in 1995.

I then completed a first master diploma (D.E.A.) in Social Anthropology and Ethnology (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales), under the supervision of Mr. Maurice Godelier. Additionally, I undertook postgraduate studies in History (D.E.A., University of Paris I- Panthéon-Sorbonne) and in Sociology of Tourism (Master Program in Tourist Administration, Hellenic Open University).

I obtained my PhD in 2009 in Social Sciences (Department of Sociology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences of Athens).

During the academic year 2004-2005, I was affiliated as Marie Curie doctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Urban Cultures and Societies (C.S.U.), Institute for the Research of Contemporary Societies (I.RE.S.CO.), National Center of Scientific Research (C.N.R.S.), Paris. As doctoral fellow of I.RE.S.CO., I have taken a complementary formation in Sociological Practices.

These inter-disciplinary academic interests are reflected both in my academic teaching and in my research and writing up to date.

My teaching courses are informed by my engagement with inter- and trans-disciplinarity, as they combine Anthropology, Sociology and History. During the academic years 2009-2012, I taught Social Anthropology, Sociology of Culture, and Sociology of Migration at the Department of Sociology, University of Crete.

Currently, I teach Folklore and Social Anthropology at the Hellenic Open University, and Historical Anthropology and Ethnohistory at the Post-graduate Program “Political Science and History” of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens.

As for my research and writing, during my postgraduate and my doctoral studies, I conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork among the Vlachs (Aromanians), a Latin-speaking minority of former "(semi)nomads" in Pindus Mountains (Central Greece).

Combining the anthropological approach with sociological, historical and geographical perspectives, I was interested in the historical processes of socio-cultural production of the identity of Vlach-speaking populations. Specifically, I studied both the "cultural" elements of their identity, that is, their ethno-linguistic "alterity,” as well as its social elements, namely their "nomadic past".