Thanks to our new hires, our department is offering new undergraduate courses!
First, Dr. Gaia Gianni's Family, Household, and Kinship in the Ancient World course (CLAS/HIST 3217):
This upper-level course focuses on the family as a foundational unit of ancient Mediterranean societies. Through a survey of primary and secondary literature, the students will engage with the evolution of familial networks from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, with a focus on the Greco-Roman world. Emphasis will be given to the lived experiences of women, children and enslaved individuals, whose voices are often suppressed in patriarchal societies. Although the readings will focus primarily on Greece and Rome, the students will have ample opportunity to discuss how certain ideas (regarding fidelity, childcare, reproduction, intimacy, marriage, divorce, etc.) are still incredibly pervasive in modern and contemporaneous societies, including our own. The course will involve extensive readings and in-class discussion, in addition to a final paper in which the students will not only showcase what they have learned but also present their own original thoughts and ideas.
Second, Dr. Harriet Fertik's Classics and African American Political Thought (CLAS 3210):
In this course, we explore ideas of citizenship and political life in ancient Greek and Roman texts (focusing on the 5th century BCE-1st century CE) and in African American texts (with attention to the 18th to 20th centuries). We will follow recent developments in scholarship on Black Classicisms, which considers how peoples from Africa and across the African diaspora have understood and reimagined the literatures, arts, and cultures of antiquity. As we will see, these two traditions of political thought—Greco-Roman and African American—have long been in conversation with each other, and studying them side by side can shed light on the challenges that US-American democracy faces today.
We examine 1) how African American thinkers have interpreted, made use of, and revised the Classics in their own work and 2) how African American thinkers contribute to and develop traditions of political inquiry and debate that have historically been traced to ancient Greece and Rome.
OTHER COURSES
Classics: Dr. Julia Hawkins is teaching Medicine in the Ancient World class (CLAS 2204), Dr. Tom Hawkins is teaching Black Cultures and Classical Education course (CLAS/AFAMAST 3956), and Dr. Sarah Johnston is teaching Ancient Greek Religion (CLAS 3401).
Graduate Seminars: Dr. Sarah Johnston is teaching a seminar on Theories and Methodologies for the Study of Myth and Dr. Benjamin Acosta-Hughes is teaching a seminar on Callimachus in Rome (LATIN 7890)
LANGUAGE COURSES
Latin: Dr. Julia Hawkins is teaching Vergil (LATIN 2102), Dr. Harriet Fertik is teaching Roman Comedy (LATIN 2106), and Dr. Benjamin Acosta-Hughes is teaching a special Latin course on Callimachus in Rome (LATIN 5030).
Greek: Dr. Tom Hawkins is teaching a Homer course (GREEK 2102) and Dr. Benjamin Acosta-Hughes is teaching a course on Greek Lyric, Iambos, and Elegy (GREEK 5012).
Autumn 2024 Classes:
- CLAS 3203, War and Displacement in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature, Dr. Fertik
- CLAS 3302, Citizenship in Democratic Athens, Dr. Parmenter
- CLAS 7891, Epipgraphy Graduate Seminar, Dr. Gianni
- LATIN 5017, Roman Satire and Novel, Dr. J. Hawkins
