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Professor Vrasidas Karalis

Sir Nicholas Laurantus Professor of Modern Greek
Chair of Department

A18 - Brennan MacCallum Building
The University of Sydney

Telephone +61 2 9351 7252

Biographical details

For the last 20 years, my main area of research has been in Modern Greek, Byzantine, Cultural Studies and more recently New Testament Studies. I have also worked in translation, especially of the Australian Nobel Laureate Patrick White and translated three of his major novels into Greek (Voss, The Vivisector, A Cheery Soul).


Furthermore, my Australian involvement can be seen in the number of public lectures I have been invited to offer in Greek-Australian or mainstream Australian venues. I believe that our area of studies has to be gradually incorporated within the mainstream dominant environment and go beyond its introverted ghetto mentality. For my services I received the Federation Medal from the Federal Government in 2003.

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Teaching and supervision

Teaching

  • MGRK1601: Junior Modern Greek 1
  • MGRK1602: Junior Modern Greek 2
  • MGRK2631: Cultural Identities
  • MGRK2653: Sex, Drugs and Music in Modern Greek Culture
  • MGRK2675: New Testament Greek and its World A
  • MGRK2676: New Testament Greek and its World B

Supervision - Current

  • Uros Todorovic, The Relevance of Late Byzantine Art to Contemporary Artistic Movements
  • Afroditi Vassos, The teaching of Greek as a second language
  • Catherine Cassis-Liaros, the Poetics of Death in The work of George Sarantaris

Supervision - Completed

  • Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, The Fate of the Greek Minority in Asia Minor
  • Dr Jen Harisson, Anthropoligical Readings of Nikos Kazantzakis and Patrick White
  • Dr Haris Cypridemos, The Cyprus Question between 1930 and 1960

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Current projects

  • Six Greek Film-Makers I.B. Tauris (forthcoming)
  • Editing a volume on Cornelius Castoriadis and the Project of Radical Autonomy, Brill Publications (forthcoming)
  • Greek Philosophy After the Greeks re-press, Melbourne (forthcoming)

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Associations

  • 2007: Elected member of the Australian Council of the School of Divinities
  • 2005: Re-elected President of Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand
  • 2005: President of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics
  • 2005: Elected Editor of the official journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics
  • 2003: Honorary member of the Greek-Orthodox Community of Lakemba
  • 2002: Re-elected President of the Association fo Modern Greek Studies of Australia and New Zealand
  • 2001: Member of the Sydney University based Society for Literature and Aesthetics
  • 2000: Member of the Centre for Australian Culture and Spirituality
  • 1998: President of the Association of Modern Greek Studies in Australia and New Zealand.
  • 1998: Member of the Council of the Sydney School of Divinity
  • 1998: Member of the Academic Board of the Sydney School of Divinity
  • 1995: Vice-President, Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand.
  • 1995: Member of the International Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis (Societe des amis de N. Kazantzaki, Geneva)
  • 1995: Co-founding member of the Greek-Orthodox Forum, a new cultural association, under the auspices of the Greek-Orthodox Archdiocese, for the promotion of the Hellenic and Byzantine Heritage in Australia.
  • 1993: Vice-president, Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand..
  • 1992: Committee member, Modern Greek Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand.

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Selected grants

2007

  • Critical history of Christianity; Karalis V; RIHSS (Inter-disciplinary research networks and clusters)/RIHSS Internal Research Grant Allocations.
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Selected publications

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Books

  • Karalis, V. (2012). A History of Greek Cinema. New York: Continuum.
  • Karalis, V. (2008). Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris. Blackheath, NSW: Brandl & Schlesinger.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Essay on Andreas Aggelakis. Athens: Odos Panos Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). Reading Dionysios Solomos. Athens: Ideogramma Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Leo the Deacon, Histories, Introduction-translation-notes, by V. K. Athens: Athens Kanakis Publications.

Edited Books

  • Schaap, A., Celermajer, D., Karalis, V. (2010). Power, judgment and political evil: in conversation with Hannah Arendt. Surry: Ashgate.

Book Chapters

  • Karalis, V. (2012). The Psychodynamics of Cultural Encounters. In Antonis Kontis, Nikolaos Tatsis (Eds.), The Greek Diaspora in Australia, (pp. 428-449). Athens, Greece: Papazisis Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Confronting Violence and Power: Notes on Hannah Arendt's Humanism (An investigation into Discursive Sources). In A. Schaap, D. Celermajer, V. Karalis (Eds.), Power, Judgement and Political Evil: In Conversation with Hannah Arendt, (pp. 171-189). Surry: Ashgate.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Consequences of bilingualism in Paul's letters. In Carole M. Cusack, Christopher Hartney (Eds.), Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf, (pp. 187-205). Leiden: Brill.
  • Celermajer, D., Schaap, A., Karalis, V. (2010). Introduction: in conversation with Hannah Arendt. In A. Schaap, D. Celermajer, V. Karalis (Eds.), Power, Judgement and Political Evil: In Conversation with Hannah Arendt, (pp. 1-9). Surry: Ashgate.
  • Karalis, V. (2008). Martin Heidegger and the Aletheia of his Greeks. In Karalis, Vrasidas (Eds.), Heidegger and the Aesthetics of Living, (pp. 208-227). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). Greek Christianity after 1453. In Parry, Ken (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity, (pp. 156-185). USA: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The Unreality of Repressed Desires in The Last Temptation of Christ. In Darren J. Middleton (Eds.), Scandalizing Jesus? Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years On, (pp. 73-83). New York and London: Continuum.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Introduction To Asaleuti Zoi. In Not known (Eds.), H Asaleuti Zoi. Athens: Ideogramma.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). The Body Beautiful: Representations Of The Body From Classsical Antiquity To The 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In Steve Georgakis (Eds.), Back to Olympia: The Olympic Games Across Four Millennia 2000-2004, (pp. 130-146). Croydon: Joba Press Pty Ltd.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). History and nihilism in "Gyftopoula" (his novel: the gypsy girl). In Zoumboulakis, Triantafyllopoulos (Eds.), Ho Mythistoriographos Papadiamantes; Synagoge Kritikon Keimenon, (pp. 255-267). Athens: Estia Publications.

Journals

  • Karalis, V. (2012). Breaking the Image, Celebrating the Word: Byzantine Iconoclasm and the Tendency to Abstraction. Literature and Aesthetics, 22(2), 13-32.
  • Karalis, V. (2012). In Search of Neo-Hellenic culture: Confronting the ambiguities of modernity in an ancient land. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 3(2), 129-145.
  • Karalis, V. (2011). The construction of cinematic realism in Mihalis Cacoyannis' early films (1954-1959). Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 15, 161-173.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Disambiguating the Sublime and the Historicity of the Concept. CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture, 12(4), 1-11.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Reflections on the project of a renewed Polis: After Athens and Jerusalem. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, 102(1), 6-23.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). The Cinematic Gaze in Early Greek Cinema (1905-1945). Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora: critical thoughts on Greek and world issues, 36(1-2), 7-44.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). The Socialist Era in Greece (1981-1989) or the Irrational in Power. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 14(2010), 254-270.
  • Karalis, V. (2009). The mythopoetics of space in the Timaeus. Literature and Aesthetics, 19(1), 138-152.
  • Karalis, V. (2008). Aristotle and us: some observations on his philosophical language. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, 93(May 2008), 36-51.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). On Transference and Transposition in Translation. Literature and Aesthetics, 17(2), 227-239.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). The Poetics of the Sacred Name in the Work of William Butler Yeats. Nea Hestia, September 2007(1803), 414-431.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). William Butler Yeats, "A General Introduction For My Work". Nea Hestia, September 2007(1803), 293-315.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). Notes on the Utopian and Chthonic Semiotics of the Jindyworobaks. International Yearbook of Aesthetics, 10(2006), 115-125.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). On Nikos Kazantzakis' statement that "We do not fight our dark passions with a sober, bloodless, neutral virtue which rises above passion, but with other, more violent passion". Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), (Special Issue on Culture and Memory), 129-141.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). Patrick White and the Great Code of Hellenism. Literature and Aesthetics, 16(1), 173-192.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). The Disjunctive Aesthetics of Myth and Empathy in Theo Angelopoulos' Ulysses Gaze. Literature and Aesthetics, 16(2), 201-214.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). Mr Gurdjieff's Legacy: The poetics and aesthetics of reality in the thought of a new age guru. Literature and Aesthetics, 15(1), 252-266.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The City as the Topos and the Habitus of Modernity in the poetry of Michael Dransfield. Literature and Aesthetics, 15(2), 217-226.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). Yorgos Chronas; 99 Poems - Book Review. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand).
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Erotocritos' Double Language. Diavazo, 454, 104-113.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). George Ioannou And The Poetry Of Conscious Sinfulness. Diavazo, 452, 75-80.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Introduction to the critical publication of Kostes Palamas, Life Immovable. Ideogramma, , 9-53.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Neopagan Modernity In Hamlet'S Symbols. Diavazo, 449, 97-100.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Psycho-readings And Psycho-narratives Of Critical Discourse. Diavazo, 453, 119-124.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). C.P Cavafy and the Poetics of the Innocent Form. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 11, 152-164.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). In memory of Kimon Friar. Diavazo, 439, 36-43.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). The tragedy of the low middle class. Diavazo, 440, 87-95.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Thoughts on the concept of individualisation in the works of Stelios Ramfos. Diavazo, 439, 83-92.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). Imagination is always metaphysical. Diavazo, 432(September), 108-113.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). The Fear of Nothingness in K. Dimoula's Poetry. Diavazo, 435(December), 95-101.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). The Occluding Alphabets of a National Poet: the case of Dionysios Solomos' 'Reflections'. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 10, 19-40.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). An appreciation of Greek literary criticism. Diavazo, 419, 122-128.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). History and Nihilism in Papadiamantis' The Gypsy Girl. Diavazo, 422, 105-110.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Leo Tolstoy and Nikos Kazantzakis: Evangelists of a Terrified God. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES, 38938, 177-194.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). The Dramatic work of Angelos Sikelianos. Diavazo, No 424, 130-139.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). The Virture of Quality. Diavazo, 424, 151-154.

Edited Journals

  • Karalis, V. (2005). Special issue on Australian Society (p. 320). JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Special Issue on C.P. Cavafy (p. 380). JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Special Issue on Dionysios Solomos. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). Special Issue on Nikos Kazantzakis. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.

Conferences

  • Karalis, V. (2009). Psychodynamics of inter-cultural encounters (Greek presence in Australian society and the emergence of Greek/Australian subjectivity). Seventh Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies 2007, Australia: Department of Languages, Modern Greek, Flinders University.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The poetics of Deep Image and the language of kenosis in Athos Dimoulas? Poetry. Greek Research in Australia: 5th Biennial Conference of Greek Studies, Adelaide, South Australia: Flinders University.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Under the Eyes of the Dead: the Metaphysics of Mortality in Rhapsody 24 of Kazantzakis' Odyssey. 1 International Conference on Crete and Europe, : UNSW Australian Defence Force Academy.

Other

  • Karalis, V. (2004), Interview with Margaret Thronsby, on National ABC Radio, March 2004.
  • Karalis, V. (2002), TRANSLATION: S.S. Charkianakis, Australian Passport, introduction & notes by V.K., Brandl & Schlesinger, Sydney, 2002.

2012

  • Karalis, V. (2012). A History of Greek Cinema. New York: Continuum.
  • Karalis, V. (2012). Breaking the Image, Celebrating the Word: Byzantine Iconoclasm and the Tendency to Abstraction. Literature and Aesthetics, 22(2), 13-32.
  • Karalis, V. (2012). In Search of Neo-Hellenic culture: Confronting the ambiguities of modernity in an ancient land. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 3(2), 129-145.
  • Karalis, V. (2012). The Psychodynamics of Cultural Encounters. In Antonis Kontis, Nikolaos Tatsis (Eds.), The Greek Diaspora in Australia, (pp. 428-449). Athens, Greece: Papazisis Publications.

2011

  • Karalis, V. (2011). The construction of cinematic realism in Mihalis Cacoyannis' early films (1954-1959). Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 15, 161-173.

2010

  • Karalis, V. (2010). Confronting Violence and Power: Notes on Hannah Arendt's Humanism (An investigation into Discursive Sources). In A. Schaap, D. Celermajer, V. Karalis (Eds.), Power, Judgement and Political Evil: In Conversation with Hannah Arendt, (pp. 171-189). Surry: Ashgate.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Consequences of bilingualism in Paul's letters. In Carole M. Cusack, Christopher Hartney (Eds.), Religion and Retributive Logic: Essays in Honour of Professor Garry W. Trompf, (pp. 187-205). Leiden: Brill.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Disambiguating the Sublime and the Historicity of the Concept. CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture, 12(4), 1-11.
  • Celermajer, D., Schaap, A., Karalis, V. (2010). Introduction: in conversation with Hannah Arendt. In A. Schaap, D. Celermajer, V. Karalis (Eds.), Power, Judgement and Political Evil: In Conversation with Hannah Arendt, (pp. 1-9). Surry: Ashgate.
  • Schaap, A., Celermajer, D., Karalis, V. (2010). Power, judgment and political evil: in conversation with Hannah Arendt. Surry: Ashgate.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). Reflections on the project of a renewed Polis: After Athens and Jerusalem. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, 102(1), 6-23.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). The Cinematic Gaze in Early Greek Cinema (1905-1945). Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora: critical thoughts on Greek and world issues, 36(1-2), 7-44.
  • Karalis, V. (2010). The Socialist Era in Greece (1981-1989) or the Irrational in Power. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 14(2010), 254-270.

2009

  • Karalis, V. (2009). Psychodynamics of inter-cultural encounters (Greek presence in Australian society and the emergence of Greek/Australian subjectivity). Seventh Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies 2007, Australia: Department of Languages, Modern Greek, Flinders University.
  • Karalis, V. (2009). The mythopoetics of space in the Timaeus. Literature and Aesthetics, 19(1), 138-152.

2008

  • Karalis, V. (2008). Aristotle and us: some observations on his philosophical language. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology, 93(May 2008), 36-51.
  • Karalis, V. (2008). Martin Heidegger and the Aletheia of his Greeks. In Karalis, Vrasidas (Eds.), Heidegger and the Aesthetics of Living, (pp. 208-227). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Karalis, V. (2008). Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris. Blackheath, NSW: Brandl & Schlesinger.

2007

  • Karalis, V. (2007). Greek Christianity after 1453. In Parry, Ken (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity, (pp. 156-185). USA: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). On Transference and Transposition in Translation. Literature and Aesthetics, 17(2), 227-239.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). The Poetics of the Sacred Name in the Work of William Butler Yeats. Nea Hestia, September 2007(1803), 414-431.
  • Karalis, V. (2007). William Butler Yeats, "A General Introduction For My Work". Nea Hestia, September 2007(1803), 293-315.

2006

  • Karalis, V. (2006). Notes on the Utopian and Chthonic Semiotics of the Jindyworobaks. International Yearbook of Aesthetics, 10(2006), 115-125.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). On Nikos Kazantzakis' statement that "We do not fight our dark passions with a sober, bloodless, neutral virtue which rises above passion, but with other, more violent passion". Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), (Special Issue on Culture and Memory), 129-141.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). Patrick White and the Great Code of Hellenism. Literature and Aesthetics, 16(1), 173-192.
  • Karalis, V. (2006). The Disjunctive Aesthetics of Myth and Empathy in Theo Angelopoulos' Ulysses Gaze. Literature and Aesthetics, 16(2), 201-214.

2005

  • Karalis, V. (2005). Mr Gurdjieff's Legacy: The poetics and aesthetics of reality in the thought of a new age guru. Literature and Aesthetics, 15(1), 252-266.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). Special issue on Australian Society (p. 320). JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The City as the Topos and the Habitus of Modernity in the poetry of Michael Dransfield. Literature and Aesthetics, 15(2), 217-226.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The poetics of Deep Image and the language of kenosis in Athos Dimoulas? Poetry. Greek Research in Australia: 5th Biennial Conference of Greek Studies, Adelaide, South Australia: Flinders University.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). The Unreality of Repressed Desires in The Last Temptation of Christ. In Darren J. Middleton (Eds.), Scandalizing Jesus? Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years On, (pp. 73-83). New York and London: Continuum.
  • Karalis, V. (2005). Yorgos Chronas; 99 Poems - Book Review. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand).

2004

  • Karalis, V. (2004). Erotocritos' Double Language. Diavazo, 454, 104-113.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). George Ioannou And The Poetry Of Conscious Sinfulness. Diavazo, 452, 75-80.
  • Karalis, V. (2004), Interview with Margaret Thronsby, on National ABC Radio, March 2004.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Introduction To Asaleuti Zoi. In Not known (Eds.), H Asaleuti Zoi. Athens: Ideogramma.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Introduction to the critical publication of Kostes Palamas, Life Immovable. Ideogramma, , 9-53.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Neopagan Modernity In Hamlet'S Symbols. Diavazo, 449, 97-100.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Psycho-readings And Psycho-narratives Of Critical Discourse. Diavazo, 453, 119-124.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). Special Issue on C.P. Cavafy (p. 380). JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2004). The Body Beautiful: Representations Of The Body From Classsical Antiquity To The 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In Steve Georgakis (Eds.), Back to Olympia: The Olympic Games Across Four Millennia 2000-2004, (pp. 130-146). Croydon: Joba Press Pty Ltd.

2003

  • Karalis, V. (2003). C.P Cavafy and the Poetics of the Innocent Form. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 11, 152-164.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Essay on Andreas Aggelakis. Athens: Odos Panos Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). History and nihilism in "Gyftopoula" (his novel: the gypsy girl). In Zoumboulakis, Triantafyllopoulos (Eds.), Ho Mythistoriographos Papadiamantes; Synagoge Kritikon Keimenon, (pp. 255-267). Athens: Estia Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). In memory of Kimon Friar. Diavazo, 439, 36-43.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Special Issue on Dionysios Solomos. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). The tragedy of the low middle class. Diavazo, 440, 87-95.
  • Karalis, V. (2003). Thoughts on the concept of individualisation in the works of Stelios Ramfos. Diavazo, 439, 83-92.

2002

  • Karalis, V. (2002). Imagination is always metaphysical. Diavazo, 432(September), 108-113.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). Reading Dionysios Solomos. Athens: Ideogramma Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). Special Issue on Nikos Kazantzakis. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). The Fear of Nothingness in K. Dimoula's Poetry. Diavazo, 435(December), 95-101.
  • Karalis, V. (2002). The Occluding Alphabets of a National Poet: the case of Dionysios Solomos' 'Reflections'. Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 10, 19-40.
  • Karalis, V. (2002), TRANSLATION: S.S. Charkianakis, Australian Passport, introduction & notes by V.K., Brandl & Schlesinger, Sydney, 2002.

2001

  • Karalis, V. (2001). An appreciation of Greek literary criticism. Diavazo, 419, 122-128.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). History and Nihilism in Papadiamantis' The Gypsy Girl. Diavazo, 422, 105-110.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Leo the Deacon, Histories, Introduction-translation-notes, by V. K. Athens: Athens Kanakis Publications.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Leo Tolstoy and Nikos Kazantzakis: Evangelists of a Terrified God. JOURNAL OF MODERN GREEK STUDIES, 38938, 177-194.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). The Dramatic work of Angelos Sikelianos. Diavazo, No 424, 130-139.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). The Virture of Quality. Diavazo, 424, 151-154.
  • Karalis, V. (2001). Under the Eyes of the Dead: the Metaphysics of Mortality in Rhapsody 24 of Kazantzakis' Odyssey. 1 International Conference on Crete and Europe, : UNSW Australian Defence Force Academy.
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