Claiming the Classical 'Mapping Workshop'

News

On 9 November 2018, Helen and Naoise Mac Sweeney organised a Mapping Workshop for the recently-founded ‘Claiming the Classical’ Research Network at the Institute of Classical Studies, London.

This workshop ‘mapped’ how Greco-Roman antiquity is being deployed in political rhetoric in the 21st century, identifying differences across national and continental boundaries as well as across the political spectrum.

Does invoking the Spartans mean something different in the banlieues of Paris from what it means in Charlottesville, Virginia? If Europa on the bull represents internationalism in Brussels, what does it signify in Beirut, Brisbane, or Beijing? Looking internationally, does the Right make more use of classical antiquity than the Left? And if so, why?

The workshop featured a combination of formal papers and discussion sessions. The range, extent, and nature of politicised appropriations of antiquity during the twenty-first century were mapped; considering geographical, social, and ideological variation.

PROGRAMME

9:00 The Americas (Chair: Rebecca Futo-Kennedy, Denison University)

  •  USA: Denise McCoskey (Miami State University)
  • USA: Curtis Dozier (Pharos Project and Vassar College)
  • USA: Liz Sawyer (University of Oxford)
  • USA-Mexico: Chiara Bonacchi (University of Stirling)
  • Brazil: Juliana Bastos Marques (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro)

11:00 Coffee, tea, and biscuits

11:30 Africa and Asia (Chair: Barbara Goff, Reading University)

  • Ghana: Michael Okyere Asante (Stellenbosch University)
  • South Africa: Grant Parker (Stanford University)
  • China: Michael Scott (Warwick University)

12:45 Lunch

13:30 The Mediterranean (Chair: Rosa Andujar, Kings College London)

  • Italy: Marco Carbone (University College London)
  • Italy: Sam Agbamu (King’s College London)
  • Greece: Konstantinos Poulis (ThePressProject)
  • Greece: Catherine Psilakis (Université de Lyon)
  • Turkey: Elif Koparal (Ege Üniversitesi) and Güneş Dürü (independent)
  • Israel: Netta Schramm (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

15:45 Coffee, tea, and biscuits

16:15 Northern Europe (Chair: Gwladys Bernard, Université Paris 8)

  • France: Anne-Sophie Noel (Université de Lyon)
  • Germany: Julia Müller (Technische Universität Dresden)
  • EU: Neville Morley (University of Exeter)
  • UK: Damjan Krsmanovic (University of Leicester)

18:00 Reception