The Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA) was founded in 1968 by a group of intellectuals and scholars (Americans and Greeks in America), to showcase the merits of the modern Greek tradition and contemporary Greek culture. It has evolved since then to an American-based, non-profit academic organization, dedicated to the promotion of Modern Greek Studies in the United States and Canada and conversant internationally on all issues, historical and contemporary, which pertain to Greek matters.

Interdisciplinary in orientation, it seeks to stimulate the discovery and diffusion of knowledge about the language, literature, arts, history, politics, economy, and society of modern Greece. Its membership, which currently exceeds four hundred, consists primarily of teachers, students, and professional scholars, many of whom reside in various parts of the world, including Greece. Membership also includes and is open to many other individuals who are actively concerned with Greek history and culture, even if they are not necessarily academics.

MGSA defines its scope broadly to include not only post-independence Greece but also the period of Ottoman rule and the later Byzantine Empire, as well as those aspects of early Byzantine, Hellenistic, and Classical times that have a bearing on the modern period.The impetus is not to reinforce the continuity thesis but to show how multifaceted Greek history and culture is.

It is this same investment in the broad range and multifaceted character of Greek history and culture that underlies the MGSA’s commitment to an interdisciplinary approach to all things Greek. This includes an explicit commitment to engage questions emerging from Greek diaspora conditions and the Greek-American experience.

The MGSA’s activities since its foundation have been and continue to be extensive. The Association convenes a biannual Symposium, which has steadily grown in size, reputation, scholarly range, and international participation. Its publication activities include the most reputable periodical in the field, the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, a Bulletin for its membership that reports on the meetings of the Executive Board and on various activities of MGS and Hellenic Studies programs across the country, and over the years, a number of significant volumes on Greek history and literature. The MGSA also serves as an information and communications center for all persons seriously interested in the study of modern Greece through its website information and the listserv MGSA-L.