Understanding resistance also means asking what constitutes an act of resistance in such regimes. Roseman in particular examines this issue. In "How We Built the Road...", she considers the ways in which Spanish Galicians reconstruct history on a local level (through folklore, etc.) in response to state attempts to bring the citizenry under control. In doing so, she invokes Reed-Danahay's concept of débrouillardise. "Acts of débrouillardise,” she states, "often involve both partial accommodations and resistance to externally imposed material conditions and cultural meanings." (Roseman 1996, 837) It is questionable whether those who employ this "technique", which can be loosely translated as "muddling through", ought to be seen as active resistors. Alternately, we can understand their "resistance" as passive, or, as Roseman argues, acts may be reconstructed later as acts of resistance though they may not have been conceived of in this way at the time.
[...] Through Van Dyck's analysis of discourse and language, we get a deeper understanding of the way in which resistance is always formulated in opposition to other forms of power. In her analysis of poetic form and the political poetics of 1970's Greece, she draws from other theorists to make the distinction between monologic, dialogic, and paralogical models of language. Citing Bakhtin, she describes the difference between the first two: " . the important difference between these two types of discourse is that the dialogic, unlike the monologic, is self-consciously conflictual it makes us aware that its truth claims are partial . [...]
[...] Whereas Theodorakis refers to the Greek poetic tradition in order to create a national resistance movement, which he conceives of as lead by artists, poets, and perhaps intellectuals as well, Eighteen Texts appeals more directly to a popular audience. Its stories feel formulaic and intentional, unlike the works of Theodorakis and earlier poets. The stories describe incidents from the daily lives of citizens of the nation of "Boliguay", where it is implied that a harsh ruling government is in place. [...]
[...] In examining his work and that of the authors' of Eighteen Texts, we can examine to what degree their work was successful in creating an atmosphere of resistance under the Greek junta. Theodorakis, in Journals, compiles the work of several poets from the earlier generation, including Angelos Sikelianos and Andreas Kalvos, whose poetry invokes ancient Greek figures and ideals in what could be called a nationalistic spirit. "Into the hearth of your new freedom, Greece!", Sikelianos writes. And Kalvos: "Greeks, divine souls; Who in great dangers; Have shown tireless strength; And lofty nature; How during these trials; Of the homeland have you not tried; To protect the crown of laurel; From the wicked hands of such robbers?; They are many of them; Fearful to behold" (246) These poems, which have obvious implications for Theodorakis and the Greek resistance, complement his own, expressly political works. [...]
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