09/06/2026
The Modern Greek Program at the University of Michigan is pleased to invite you to join us for the lecture Ottoman Greek Settlement in the Mitten State
Presented by Yiorgos Topalidis, Flagler College
Monday, September 28, 2026 | 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Classical Studies Library, 2175 Angell Hall
435 S. State Street, Ann Arbor
Dr. Yiorgos Topalidis will present the historical events surrounding the migration and settlement of Ottoman Greeks in Michigan. The lecture will contextualize these events through the lens of social memory theory and highlight the erasure of migrant and refugee identity writ large. Combining macro-level findings from extant scholarship with new, individual-level evidence from the Ottoman Greeks of the United States Digital History Project at Flagler College, the lecture will illuminate the experiences of Ottoman Greek migrants who made Michigan their home and explore how their identities have been remembered — or erased — across generations.
Dr. Topalidis received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Florida in 2022. His research interests include emigration from the Ottoman Empire to the U.S.; White identity construction and contestation; and transgenerational memory transfer. He is currently working on a monograph that explores the social construction of Ottoman Greek migrant identity in an early-twentieth-century U.S. context as a case study for decoupling Whiteness from White supremacist Whiteness.
We hope you will join us for this exploration of Ottoman Greek history in Michigan.
Write to [email protected] if you have questions.
