ABSTRACT
Kalymnians ascribe to Europe the modernity that Kalymnos is seen as either lacking or in the process of acquiring. The Kalymnian claim that they defend their traditions is similar to their claim to have less permeable borders than their fellow islanders. Kalymnians have the dual sense that group identity is something inherent and something that can be lost. Sponge-diving, then, is an example of the toughness of the Kalymnian character that results from the island's barrenness. Europe provides the "modernist" future that Kalymnians see sometimes positively, sometimes negatively, most often with ambivalence. The issue of promiscuity is certainly of greater concern to Kalymnian men; however, it should be noted that Kalymnian women do not dispute these claims, and add their own stories of the legendary resistance of Kalymnian women to rape by foreign conquerors.
