SACRED SCHOLARS, PROFANE ADVOCATES INTELLECTUALS MOLDING NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN GREECE

Central to the multifaceted process of nation-building are the cultura l politics involved in the construction of national ideology. This pap er examines the role of academics and intellectuals in shaping public discourse and popular national consciousness on the Macedonian issue i n contemporary Greece. It explores how those holding institutionalized positions of power in government, academic circles, and the media hav e constructed and projected an often teleological nationalistic interp retation of history and contemporary politics that defends so-called n ational interests by stifling public political debate and dissenting i nterpretations of historical evidence. It addresses how such individua ls, as protectors of a ''sacred'' truth of national history, applied t heir powerful social capital to attack and de-legitimize a group of cu ltural critics who recently challenged the dominant national consensus of knowledge and historical understanding surrounding the Macedonian controversy.