Classics in the 21st century
Thursday 4 July 2019, 5.30 pm
Beveridge Hall, Senate House
The event is free. Please register here
Followed by a Drinks Reception
We live in a world where the lessons of the past are constantly ignored or dismissed. Yet the past continues to fascinate us. The classical world especially has never been more popular. In movies, novels, video games and TV documentaries, Greece and Rome are constantly in the public eye. So what does the classical world have to offer us in the 21st century? In this session, a panel of classical scholars with a special interest in contemporary popular culture will debate this issue, with questions and contributions from members of the audience.
The discussion will be followed by a wine reception.
The event is free and all are welcome. Please book your place in advance using the link above as places are limited.
Panelists
Johanna Hanink is Associate Professor of Classics at Brown University. Her books include Lycurgan Athens and the Making of Classical Tragedy and The Classical Debt: Greek Antiquity in an Era of Crisis; she is also a translator of both ancient and modern Greek.
Angie Hobbs is Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy, ethics and political theory and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (C.U.P.). She contributes regularly to radio and TV programmes, and speaks around the world, including at the World Economic Forum, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. She is currently a judge for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize and a member of the World Economic Forum Council for Values, Ethics and Innovation.
Twitter: @drangiehobbs
Elena Isayev is a historian focusing on migration, hospitality and displacement, which she has written about for the Red Cross and in her monograph Migration Mobility and Place in Ancient Italy (Cambridge 2017). She also works with Campus in Camps in Palestine, and is a Trustee of Refugee Support Devon. She is Professor of Ancient History and Place at University of Exeter.
Mai Musié is a Knowledge Exchange Project Officer at the University of Oxford. Her role focuses on showcasing the mutually beneficial sharing of ideas, data, experience, and expertise, involving collaboration between researchers and external organisations or the public. She has worked in Higher Education for the last ten years in access and outreach projects including running the Classics Outreach Programme for the Faculty of Classics at Oxford. Previous roles include working for the South Wales Reaching Wider Partnership and Swansea Race Equality Council. Mai recently completed her doctorate in the representation of the Persians in the ancient Greek novels. Her research areas include race and ethnicity in the ancient world, Classics education, and medieval Ge’ez manuscripts. She is currently co-curating the Ge’ez manuscript project with the Faculty of Classics and the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford with UK Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora communities. In addition, she is one of the co-founders of the Classics in Communities project which aims to promote and encourage the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek at primary and early secondary level (and beyond) in UK state schools. Her latest book, Forward with Classics (co-edited with Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson and Steve Hunt), has been published by Bloomsbury UK.
Josephine Quinn (Chair) is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford, and Martin Frederiksen Fellow and Tutor at Worcester College, Oxford. She works on the ancient Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Near East, and her most recent book, In Search of the Phoenicians, came out in 2018.