Classics today: decentering and digitization
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Understand the concepts of classics and classical heritage and their cultural-historical background, including its colonial and hegemonic entanglements.
- Describe how digital transitions are reshaping the ways to preserve, transmit and communicate classical heritage.
- Collaboratively reflect on how digital approaches influence disciplinary power dynamics.
- Analyze how digital tools can foster inclusive and diversified interpretations of classical traditions
- Demonstrate an awareness of the digital tools and methods available for classical research as well as an ability to identify the most suitable to their objectives.
- Understand key concepts of citizen humanities and apply them to make classical heritage more sustainable and inclusive.
- Critically evaluate their own role as knowledge producers in classics.
- Design and present a small-scale citizen humanities project incorporating decentering and/or digital analysis.
Course Content
- Decentering and diversifying classical traditions
- Intersectionality and inclusive scholarship
- Citizen humanities for classical heritage
- Digitalization and AI applied to research and scientific communication in classics
- Group and individual project development
- Reflective and evaluative synthesis
Schedule Overview
Pre-course (remote):
- Readings on AntCom, intersectionality, and decolonizing classics
- Webliography listing the main digital tools presented during the course
- Completion of the module on Sci-Starter: Foundations of Citizen Science (1 hour)
- 500-word reflection: “Whose classics are we studying?”
Day 1 Introduction: Decentering the Classics
Morning
Welcome – What is AntCom?
Lecture Whose Classics? (Aglae Pizzone)
Lunch
Afternoon
Ice-breaking activity – Discussion on the submitted reflections
Presentation of toolkits and templates
Collaborative workshop: Canon formation and erasure – case studies with discussion
Day 2 Intersectionality in Classical Studies: Class
Morning
Lecture Class, classics and cultural erasure (Henry Stead)
Collaborative discussion
Lunch
Afternoon
Collaborative workshop: applying intersectional lenses (class)
Day 3 Intersectionality in Classical Studies: Race and Gender
Morning
Lecture What does Medusa look like? Reading race and gender between antiquity and the present (Aimee Hind Scott)
Collaborative discussion
Lunch
Afternoon
Collaborative workshop: applying intersectional lenses (race and gender)
Day 4 Citizen Humanities: Rethinking Engagement
Morning
Lecture Premodern humanities and citizen engagement (Thomas Kaarsted TBC)
Poster demonstrations from AntCom students
Lunch
Afternoon
Working with the template
Brainstoriming sessions in groups, assisted by a facilitator
Individual planning – imagining a citizen engagement plan
Day 5 Citizen Humanities: Applying it to Classics
Morning
Rewriting and Reimagining the Classics — Assisted group work and creative design.
Lunch
Afternoon
Idea pitch
Peer to peer feedback
Feedback from the instructors
Day 6 The digital transition and the democratization of manuscript studies
Morning
Lecture New Ways of Reading (Aglae Pizzone and Lars Boje Mortensen)
Workshop on IIIF
Lunch
Afternoon
Visit to the labs and to the Special Collections
Individual work on final presentations assisted by facilitators
Day 7 Machine learning and the classics
Morning
Lecture Being Human (and Humane) in the age of Artificial Intelligence (Barbara Graziosi)
Collaborative discussion
Lunch
Afternoon
Workshop with Jacob Murel: introduction to the NLP tool for classics “Logion”
Individual work on final presentations assisted by facilitators
Day 8 New tools, new connections: how to do sentiment analysis on ancient texts
Morning
Lecture Emotion theory and computational sentiment analysis: the challenge of antiquity (Eric Cullhed)
Collaborative discussion
Lunch
Afternoon
Sample testing of sentiment analysis
Individual work on final presentations assisted by facilitators
Day 9 Discovering forgotten layers, uncovering biases – advanced manuscript imaging
Morning
Lecture White Light Contains All Colours: The Myth of Whiteness and the Spectral Life of Artworks (Irina Ciortan)
Linking theory and practice: the end of white antiquity – collaborative discussion
Lunch
Afternoon
Demos and sample testing
Finetuning of presentations – individual work assisted by facilitators
Day 10 Rewriting and Reimagining the Classics
Presentations from the students
Evaluation review
Assessment
- Participation & Engagement (20%) – Active involvement in discussions, labs, fieldwork and peer review. Timing: Throughout
- Citizen Humanities project design (60%) – Active involvement in discussions, labs, fieldwork and peer review. Timing: Throughout
- Final Reflection (500 words) (20%) – Reflective essay on learning outcomes and personal development. Timing: Due 2 weeks after course ends