Project summary
Abusing Antiquity: a transnational study on the use of the Classical past to support and legitimise extremist, racist and heteronormative politics
This Major Project seeks to investigate the colonisation of the classical past by a spectrum of political forces, ranging from the conservative Right to neo-Nazi and white-supremacist groups in Europe and the UK.
This project will provide fresh understandings of the appropriation of Greco-Roman antiquity from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards, demonstrating how appropriations of the classical world contribute to the past’s potential to polarise us in the present day. Combining approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives across several disciplines, the team will investigate the colonisation of the classical past by a spectrum of political forces in Greece, Germany, and UK.
Further information
Term:
Michaelmas 2024
Principal Investigators:
Dr Helen Roche, Department of History, helen.b.roche@durham.ac.uk;
Professor Elisabeth Kirtsoglou, Department of Anthropology, elisabeth.kirtsoglou@durham.ac.uk
Co-Investigator:
Professor Edith Hall, Department of Classics and Ancient History, edith.hall@durham.ac.uk
Visiting IAS Fellows:
Professor Denise McCoskey, Miami University
Dr Jorge Dagnino, University of San Sebastian, Chile
Dr Magdalena Zira Fantastico Theatro
Events and Activities: