Penn Arts & Sciences Logo

10/24 Caitlin Gillespie (Brandeis) & Jeffrey Ulrich (Rutgers), "Teaching Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World"

Thursday, October 24, 2019 - 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm
402 Cohen Hall
Courses on race and ethnicity in the ancient world are becoming more and more common in classical studies departments across the country, and with good reason. This colloquium traces the origins of race and ethnicity courses in Afrocentrist debates, recent political movements, and core requirements, addresses several ways in which this type of course has been integrated into classics curricula, discusses strategies for designing and implementing this type of course, and presents sample syllabi and readings. We will offer lessons from our own experiences teaching in different university environments, and discuss how our courses have changed. Race and ethnicity courses are purposefully designed in order to foster students to create connections between ancient and modern worlds; colloquium participants will be encouraged to consider how such a course must change in order to suit each student body and current political and scholarly climate.