Domestic political debates, economic problems, and troubled foreign relations are the dominating subjects in the Greek domestic and foreign press, providing the outside world with a limited and incomplete vision of the Greek nation. Few are the publications that attempt to address the broader notion of Hellenism. Point of Reference belongs to this latter group, as it strives to expose its readers to a multiplicity of topics relevant to the deeper significance of the Greek identity. The topics discussed in this issue range from poetry to Greek typography to Greece’s international standing over time. As a group of undergraduate students, we can afford to concentrate our efforts on philosophical and abstract issues in the hope that they will contribute to making us pragmatic and capable members of society in the future.
Greek and international scholars knowledgeable on Greek issues, as well as prominent policymakers have visited the Harvard Campus in the past few months, some through individual visits and some through the Greece Symposium organized in October at the Kennedy School of Government and the Symposium organized by the Modern Greek Studies Association in the beginning of November. This issue of Point of Reference is the product of the interaction we had with a number of academics and politicians that took the time to participate in our exploration of Hellenism.
We invite our readers to be critical of our ardent approach while reading this issue. Our goal has been to allow our audience to distance itself from the overly discussed political problems that Greece faces, and to provide food for thought on other, neglected but pertinent, elements of Hellenism. We welcome feedback and support in an effort to make this journal of Hellenic thought and culture a ground for further projections relevant to the Greek nation.