Follow SCS News for information about the SCS and all things classical.
We are pleased to announce Plato 2022, an interdisciplinary workshop that will investigate the contemporary relevance of Plato’s ethical and political thought. The workshop will be held virtually on June 9-10, 2022. We welcome papers on Plato’s ethical and political thinking and encourage submissions that relate to contemporary events.
Do you teach ancient history, Latin, or any aspect of the ancient world within humanities courses at a community college? Join other community college faculty for the inaugural meeting of a new group convened by the Society for Classical Studies. You can sign up here for the virtual meeting on Thursday July 15, 2021 at 4pm EDT / 3pm CDT / 1pm PDT and also use the form to suggest topics of interest for discussion. Registered attendees will receive the zoom link on July 14th, 24 hours prior to the meeting.
The Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities initiative (AnWoMoCo), launched by the SCS in 2019 as the Classics Everywhere initiative, supports projects that seek to engage broader publics — individuals, groups, and communities — in critical discussion of and creative expression related to the ancient Mediterranean, the global reception of Greek and Roman culture, and the history of teaching and scholarship in the field of classical studies. As part of this initiative, the SCS has funded 111 projects, ranging from school programming to reading groups, prison programs, public talks and conferences, digital projects, and collaborations with artists in theater, opera, music, dance, and the visual arts. The initiative welcomes applications from all over the world. To date, it has funded projects in 25 states and 10 countries, including Canada, U.K., Italy, Greece, Belgium, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and India.
Revised 9/23/21 with updated submission deadline of Friday February 18, 2022.
As previously announced, Patrice Rankine and Sasha-Mae Eccleston will serve as guest editors of a future issue of TAPA with the theme of race, racism, and Classics (issue 153:1, to appear April 2023). Covid-19 and the global Movement 4 Black Lives have highlighted the extent to which racism is a public health emergency whose reach extends across the Black Atlantic and far beyond. In light of these deeply imbricated developments of 2020 (and 2021), this volume becomes even more timely. A detailed call for papers, along with instructions for submission, follows.
Race and Racism: Beyond the Spectacular
"…the “cultural logic” of lynching enables it to emerge and persist throughout the modern era because its violence “fit” within the broader, national cultural developments. This synchronicity captures why I refer to lynching as “spectacular”: the violence made certain cultural developments and tensions visible for Americans to confront."
Jacqueline Goldsby, A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature
On the eve of March 26th, rapper and internet personality Lil Nas X dropped his newest single, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name),” which caused immense controversy in its wake. At its heart is a young, gay Black man’s anthem about self-expression, resembling a “coming-out song.” Lil Nas X himself implied this in a letter to his younger self, posted alongside the song’s release. The title references the 2017 film Call Me By Your Name (based on the 2007 André Aciman novel) about the summer relationship between a Classics professor’s son and doctoral student.
This allusion to the film is not the only sidelong glance that Lil Nas X gives to the Classics. One of the first establishing shots of the video shows the landscape of “MONTERO” littered with classically-inspired architecture:
The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Hebrew University of Jerusalem cordially invite you to a Joint Conference on
Orality and Literacy XIV: Textualization
Sunday-Wednesday June 20-23, 2021
Sunday, June 20, 2021
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
(Originally posted on haverford.edu)
Aryeh Kosman, Haverford's John Whitehead Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, died early [June 17] of complications following a fall. He was 85.
After receiving his undergraduate and M.A. degrees at the University of California, Berkeley, he briefly studied at Hebrew University before earning his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He joined the Haverford faculty as an assistant professor in 1962, was promoted to full professor in 1973, became the Whitehead Professor in 1987, and retired in 2010.
"Aryeh was a star in Greek Philosophy," says Joel Yurdin, Haverford associate professor of philosophy. "Many of his articles are required reading for anyone writing on the topic, and they covered virtually every area of the field, including metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science." Such scholarship led to visiting professorships at Princeton, UCLA, and Berkeley and, in 1985, an award for distinguished teaching from the Lindback Foundation. That honor affirmed what, by then, thousands of Fords already knew: Prof. Kosman was thoroughly devoted to his Haverford students.
Call for Fellows: Data Visualizations Using the D’Argenio Collection
Background
Seton Hall University Libraries support excellence in academic and individual work, enable inquiry, foster intellectual and ethical integrity and respect for diverse points of view through user-focused services and robust collections as the intellectual and cultural heart of the University. Walsh Gallery, based in the Library, manages the University’s museum collections, and the Library’s Data Services division assists the University community in managing and presenting their data.
The ACLS is running two searches this summer at ACLS. They seek a Program Officer in International Programs (regular ongoing staff position) and a Program Officer in Higher Education Initiatives (two year term).
These positions are excellent for classics Ph.D.s looking to stay in academic contexts but do a different kind of work from teaching and researching.
The SCS Board of Directors has co-signed the following statement, which has been authored jointly by the American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association, the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and PEN America. As of June 16, 2021, 80 organizations have endorsed the statement.
You can read the full text and list of signatories below and read the press release by the American Historical Association here.
June 16, 2021
We, the undersigned associations and organizations, state our firm opposition to a spate of legislative proposals being introduced across the country that target academic lessons, presentations, and discussions of racism and related issues in American history in schools, colleges and universities. These efforts have taken varied shape in at least 20 states; but often the legislation aims to prohibit or impede the teaching and education of students concerning what are termed “divisive concepts.” These divisive concepts as defined in numerous bills are a litany of vague and indefinite buzzwords and phrases including, for example, “that any individual should feel or be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological or emotional distress on account of that individual’s race or sex.” These legislative efforts are deeply troubling for numerous reasons.
