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Call for Lightning Papers: Classics and Civic Activism

Joint AIA/SCS workshop, January 2–5, 2020, Washington, D.C.

Organizers: Yurie Hong (Gustavus Adolphus College), Marina Haworth (North Hennepin Community College), Amit Shilo (UC, Santa Barbara), T. H. M. Gellar-Goad (Wake Forest University)

Classicists at all levels have knowledge, experience, skills, and contacts that can usefully contribute to civic activism outside of academia proper. The Classics & Social Justice Affiliated Group has organized a workshop on the subject of Classics and Civic Activism for the upcoming AIA/SCS meeting. We invite proposals for a lightning round on outward-facing activism in which presenters will spend 3 minutes sharing their own experiences and making recommendations. These presentations will become integral to discussions among participants during the following breakout sessions.

The lightning round is the second of three parts of the workshop:

1) Three featured presenters from Indivisible, the National Humanities Alliance, and the American Federation of Teachers will offer guidance in community organizing, engaging with representatives, and other advocacy work, specifically focusing on how academics and educators can combine their skills and expertise with activism.

2) Lightning-round presentations will allow members to share their own experiences with civic engagement, presenting a broad spectrum of Classics-based activism.

3) Small-group discussion will allow time for participants to actively engage with the topics raised in the lightning round and share their own techniques and resources.

Potential lightning-round topics include, but are not limited to:

  • using insights from the ancient world to advocate for social justice today
  • engaging in political or community issue advocacy
  • public-facing outreach projects
  • advocating for educational policy
  • organizing and unionizing at colleges and schools
  • fostering inclusivity and accessibility in museums and historical sites
  • letter-writing campaigns and citizen lobbying
  • educating the public about ancient and modern democracy

Submit a 1-2 sentence proposal to be a lightning-round speaker by filling out this brief submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1gaRC3BfaAmwri3UfKHYnKFI6Old…

no later than midnight September 15. The organizers are committed to ensuring diversity in topics and presenters, including presenters from all parts of the AIA/SCS membership: undergraduate and graduate students, retired members, teachers and professors, independent scholars, curators, editors, and more. We welcome submitters to comment on their own positionality in relation to their topic if they would like.

Due to limited time, not all potential speakers may be able to be accommodated during the lightning round, however there will be time during the following small-group discussion. Giving a lightning-round talk *does not* interfere with giving a paper or chairing a panel elsewhere on the program (per the SCS’ “single-appearance” policy).

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(Photo: "Handwritten" by A. Birkan, licensed under CC BY 2.0)