Tradition and Modernity Revisited: Existential Memory Work on a Greek Island

How are notions of “tradition” and “modernity” deployed to express changes in people’s everyday lives? I explore these issues through a consideration of discourses and practices concerning food, dress and home decoration on the island of Kalymnos, Greece. I suggest that these be approached using the concept of “existential memory work,” in order to show that these are not simply markers of status and class distinction but express deeply moral concerns about individual and collective identities. A key concern for Kalymnians is the question of how to live properly in the present, thereby tying contemporary life to a remembered past and an imagined future.