End Date : November 13, 7:00 pm
Faculty House at Columbia University
Columbia University Libraries
Institute for Comparative Literature and Society
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Center & Periphery in the Classics: Theory, Practice, and Turning Points
This event will be held in Faculty House at Columbia University.
There is limited capacity to attend this event in person. If you wish to participate in person, secure your spot by filling out this form.
Conference events on Thursday, November 11 will take place in Garden Room 2 (1 pm – 6 pm) Conference events on Friday, November 12 will take place in the Presidential Ballroom (9 am – 6:30 pm) Conference events on Saturday, November 13 will take place in the Seminar Ballroom (9 am – 7 pm)
More information about the event, including the event program and abstracts, can be found here.
To participate in this conference via Zoom, use the link here. No registration required.
AMPRAW is an annual conference that is designed to bring together early-career researchers in the field of classical reception studies, and will be held for the tenth year. It aims to contribute to the growth of an international network of PhDs working on classical reception(s), as well as to strengthen relationships between early career researchers and established academics.
In November 2021, Columbia University hosts the tenth edition of AMPRAW, “Center and Periphery in the Classics: Theory, Practice and Turning Points” The liminal features of the US (and of New York City in particular) inspired us to focus on this topic. Reception Studies in Classics are still treated as “peripheral” in many places, including this country, in spite of their increasing importance. 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. 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. Hosting AMPRAW at Columbia will facilitate a most important and timely dialogue around how we define what gets treated as a center and why, and who is left out. The theme we propose will open up some areas within the discipline as it is traditionally conceived of: in particular, it could call into question the primacy attributed to the Classical canon, allowing for voices generally disregarded to regain a central place within the scholarly world. Not least, Columbia is stimulated and inspired by its own location –As an historical crossroad of cultures, New York City makes such a renegotiation even more compelling than elsewhere. The city would provide a perfect setting for this meeting, insofar as it showcases the attractiveness of the center, while also revealing how the periphery exists within and is in tension with it.
