The Mataroa Network: Greek Intellectuals as Brokers in the Transnational Exchange of Knowledge between Greece and France, 1945-1989

In December 1945, a group of young Greek scholarship holders set sail from war-torn Athens to Paris on the ocean liner Mataroa. In the years that followed, many actors within the “Mataroa Network” went on to achieve prominence in their respective fields, exerting influence on French, Greek and global legal and art history, as well as the history of philosophy. The Mataroa, representing the collective migration experience, evolved into a symbol for these diverse accomplishments. Despite its significance, the Mataroa Network has not been subject to a comprehensive historical investigation. Through an actor-centred examination at the intersection between the history of knowledge and migration history, this dissertation project seeks to uncover the multiform and multidirectional knowledge interactions and transfers facilitated by the actors of the “Mataroa Network”, which act as intermediaries or brokers in the Franco-Greek knowledge transfer. The term “network” is hereby used to delineate the conjunctions between the Mataroa individuals on a social and epistemological level. The study focuses on philosophers, artists, and jurists, with the biography of one person from each professional group at the centre of analysis. For instance, the experience of persecution by the occupants and the Greek Stalinist left led Cornelius Castoriadis and other Mataroa philosophers to develop an anti-totalitarian left-wing theory in Paris, years before the western left distanced itself from Stalinism. Investigating three varying forms of disciplinary knowledge interaction within the Mataroa Network provides an opportunity to explore the reciprocal connections between migrated elite networks and the production and modification of knowledge. In addition, this illuminates the diverse ‘Franco-Greek’, or West and Southeast European knowledge interactions, using an innovative actor-centred approach. The study challenges the limitations of culturally and nationally defined knowledge concepts, which creates an opening to explore the broader role of intellectuals and expert knowledge in a globalised world. Furthermore, by examining knowledge transfers between Southeast and Western Europe, an intersection that is largely unexplored, this study aims to contribute to the development of the methodological advancement of “migrant knowledge” in the second half of the 20th century.