New Course Spotlight: CL237
Fayum mummy portraits from Roman Egypt
In Spring 2021, Professor Jones will be teaching another of our new courses for next semester, ‘Race and Ethnicity in Ancient Greece and Rome’. The class plunges students into a field of current debate about race in the ancient world. Students will explore the transformation of racial identities over time, and the influence of classical ideas in modern cultures, particularly the United States. Students with an interest in history can delve more deeply into the origin of current ideas, but there are no prerequisites for the course, and no prior knowledge of the ancient world is necessary. The course fulfills Hub units for Social Inquiry I, Individual in Community and Teamwork/Collaboration.
The course will be taught by Professor Brandon Jones, an expert in Greek culture of the Roman period, and a popular teacher of Greek and Latin at BU. We asked him about the course:
What inspired you to design this course?
The best inspiration one can have: student interest. BU students have been vocal about their desire for classes in their disciplines that address racism, its roots and its effects. Classical Studies have a place in the history of uses and abuses of racialization and it is important that we offer classes that approach the ancient world and its legacy even when the picture—ancient and modern— is not pretty.
What is one thing that might surprise students who take CL 237?
May I reframe this and say that ancient Greeks and Romans would be surprised by many facets of the conception of race in the United States today? For starters, they might have trouble coming up with a singular term to describe our notion of “race.”
Why Greece and Rome? What began your interest in this field?
I came to study Greece and Rome, first of all, because the Classics department at my undergraduate institute was a small and welcoming community—much like the one here at BU. I also liked the many beautiful moving parts of ancient languages and how much they impact modern systems of not only language but thought. My passion for Greek and Roman history and culture was a happy accident.