Emma Ianni and Valeria Spacciante's volume of essays from the AMPRAW conference Center and Periphery was published online through Columbia's Academic Commons in September.
Conversations about how the Classics contributed to create the myth of a pure and privileged Western culture against which all attempts at intervention have been delegitimized are becoming more and more frequent within North American universities. This volume responds to a most important and timely dialogue around how we define what gets treated as a center and why, and who is left out. Reception Studies, in particular, are still treated as “peripheral” to the discipline of Classics in many places, in spite of their increasing importance. They have been sidelined both by those who advocate the study of Classics as an unquestionable discipline, and those who wish to do away with the classical heritage completely. Framing the discussion in terms of center and periphery has the effect of illuminating the ways in which this dichotomy has historically inhabited – and haunted – academia. The papers in this volume thus model ways in which classical reception can facilitate interpretive approaches that take care to engage with antiquity without losing sight of the dynamics of marginalization and oppression that populate both the ancient sources and the modern systemic structures surrounding their study and deployment(s). Foregrounding the innovative work of early career scholars, we aim to model and reimagine together new ways to be in Academia, and to rethink our discipline vis-à-vis today’s power structures.
It features five contributions, plus our Foreword. The Stanwood Cockey Lodge Fund sponsored the publication.
Read the series here! https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/search?f%5Bseries_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Annual+Meeting+of+Postgraduates+in+the+Reception+of+the+Ancient+World&search_field=all_fields