So I’m going to struggle to livetweet @wmarybeard ‘s lecture because the room is WAY over capacity + they’ve had to open up extra screens to expand the room - standing room only. This seems like very poor planning - clearly this room was never going to be big enough! #AIASCS
Panic over - @pjmillerCLAS found some chairs for our little group! I think we might be close to starting now #AIASCS
Also PSA - this talk is going to be filmed and with be posted by the @scsclassics after the event - so do not fear everyone! You don’t have to rely on me after all (although I’m sure I will have a few comments) #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard starts with a discussion of early papers given at first meeting of then-called APA... and WOW it sounds dull 😂 journalists at the time commented how ‘out of touch’ the meeting was with the ‘average’ American #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard states that it is important to know the history of our discipline in order to know where to take it next #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard we are right to interrogate the state of Classics - she points to how we only have to look around this room to see that we have a long way to go in terms of diversifying our field #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard notes the difference between now and 100 years ago, when Latin and Greek were deeply embedded in school curriculums and a grasp of one or both of the languages was absolutely essential to gain admission to university #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard - some people see the ‘loss’ of this philological emphasis as a sign of ‘decline’, whereas others (side note - myself included) argue that this strict focus on philology is not the be all and end all of Classics #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard - BUT this idea of a ‘golden age’ of philological learning is not always all that it seems - exam papers reveal that much of the language ‘learning’ in the late 1800s was really just a memory exercise #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard - we cannot ignore the fact that Classics has been co-opted by toxic groups and messaging (e.g defence of slavey, alt-right) #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard is commenting on the perception of Classics as a pathway to power in elite society (particular in relation to British imperialism) but also points out that this pathway wasn’t always quite as straightforward as it seems #AIASCS
(I can see what MB is saying here - that Classics = straightforward power/elitism may be myth - but surely the important bit is that the PERCEPTION remained and that is what creates the barrier - I may be misinterpreting her here so don’t quote me!) #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard now moves on to what constitutes the boundaries of Classics as a discipline - where do subjects lie in the disciplinary framework? What do we include and not include in ‘Classics’? #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard the debate around the margins and boundaries of the discipline is highlighted simply by the change in name from the APA to the SCS #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard the change in name to the SCS highlights the general shift from pure philology to a more ‘package’ deal that encompasses language, literature, material culture, history, art history etc - shift to teach the entirety of Greek and Roman culture #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard now turns to the question - what about the future of Classics? The myths about Classics and the history of our discipline should prompt us more forcefully to address how we view our field now #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard refers back to earlier comments made today re: how white men need to relinquish their overt privilege in Classics - argues that this will not only benefit those of us that aren’t white men, but also white men too #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard notes the controversy over the BBC casting a black actor - David Gyasi - as Achilles (and highlights how the whole argument was ridiculous because Achilles is *spoiler alert* not a real person!) #AIASCS
.@wmarybeard however seems wary of ‘forcing’ diversity - in the sense that we should not always search for Classics to ‘reflect’ our society now - she used the phrase ‘Classics is for all of us but also for none of us’ #AIASCS
There was more to this point but I couldn’t articulate it all quickly enough! And so brings the lecture to the end! #AIASCS
So - general thoughts of the little group I was sitting with - nothing controversial but also nothing very hard hitting. We felt like, given the topic of the talk and the events of the last two days, MB could have taken a more hard-hitting approach #AIASCS
