{"id":8673,"date":"2021-06-11T10:49:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/?page_id=8673"},"modified":"2026-03-06T15:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:57:37","slug":"black-classicism-lectures","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/news-events\/black-classicism-lectures\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Classicism Lecture Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lecture series <\/span>Black Classicism – Moving Forward<\/em> began in September 2020 and is co-sponsored by the Core Curriculum, the Department of Classical Studies, and the African American and Black Diaspora Studies Program<\/span>. This lecture series is designed to engage with and critique the ancient world from the perspective of Black authors, artists, and thinkers.<\/p>\n

Lectures are open to faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students<\/span> and draw attendees from throughout New England. About one lecture is held each semester. If you wish to be put on the mailing list or if you have further questions, please contact us at classics@bu.edu<\/a> or 617-353-2427. Our theme for 2025-2026 is \u201c<\/span>Black Classicisms in and out of Africa”<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This year\u2019s speakers include:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shawnya L. Harris<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(Georgia Museum of Art) &\u00a0<\/span>Jeffrey Richmond-Moll<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>(Peabody Essex Museum)<\/span>
\nMonday, March 30, 5-6:30pm, Virtual Zoom Lecture: https:\/\/bostonu.zoom.us\/meeting\/register\/GcJgYy7wS22Zov_7BOXNOA<\/a><\/span>
\nTitle: Nineteenth-Century Black Sculpture and the Classical Tradition: A Conversation about Edmonia Lewis with Shawnya L. Harris and Jeffrey Richmond-Moll<\/span><\/p>\n

Description: Harris and Richmond-Moll are the curators behind the upcoming Peabody Essex Museum’s exhibition “<\/span>Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone<\/a>.” All are welcome to attend, and we encourage those who can make it to Salem to see the exhibit as well. The exhibit runs February 14th – June 7th.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n
\n

Femi Osofisan<\/a>, <\/strong>(Distinguished Professor of\u00a0<\/span>Theatre Arts<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Kwara State University<\/span>, Nigeria)<\/span>
\nMonday, November 17, 5:00pm, Virtual Zoom Lecture<\/span>
\nTitle: Greek Tragedy in Yorubaland: A Conversation with Femi Osofisan
\nJoin the Zoom Lecture Here!<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Description: Join us for an evening of conversation with acclaimed playwright, poet, and scholar Femi Osofisan, Distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts at Kwara State University, Nigeria. Professor Osofisan has published more than sixty plays as well as a number of novellas and poetry collections, and is the first African to receive the Thalia Prize, which was awarded to him in 2016 by the International Association of Theatre Critics. He will be speaking with us about two of his plays: Women of Owu, a 2006 adaptation of Euripides’ Trojan Women, and Medaaye: An African Re-Reading of Euripides’ Medea, from 2022. Both plays are available in the Core Office; please email Brian Walsh (bgwalsh@bu.edu) or Rebecca Moorman (moorman@bu.edu) for more information.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Past Presenters:<\/h3>\n

Presenters for 2024-2025 include:<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Marlowe<\/span><\/b><\/a>, (Colgate University)<\/span>
\nMonday, April 7, 5:00pm<\/span>
\nCAS B18, 725 Commonwealth Ave.
\nTitle: Decolonizing Museums and the Case of the ‘Elgin Marbles’: Exceptionalism vs Solidarity<\/span><\/p>\n

Kimathi Donkor<\/a><\/span><\/b>, (University of the Arts, London)<\/span>
\nMonday, November 18, 5:00pm (Virtual Zoom Lecture)<\/span>
\nTitle: ‘Andromeda Africana Revisited’<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Presenters for 2023-2024 include:<\/h3>
<\/p>\n

Samuel Agbamu\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Reading)<\/span>
\nThursday, March 28th, 2024. 5:00pm EST, Zoom
\nTopic: Putting the \u2018Human\u2019 in Humanism: Unsettling the Coloniality of Antiquity<\/span><\/p>\n

Sonia Sabnis<\/strong> (Reed College)
\nFriday, November 10th, 2023. 4:30pm EST
\nCAS 224, 725 Commonwealth Ave
\nTopic: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Citationality of Ancient Greece & Rome<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Presenters for 2022-2023 include:<\/h3>

\nDominic Machado<\/strong> (College of the Holy Cross)
\nTuesday, March 14th, 2023. 5:30pm EST, (Zoom)<\/p>\n

Topic: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Classics: A Model For A More Just Field?
\nThis talk examines Martin Luther King’s use of classical allusions in order to understand how he envisioned the Greco-Roman world as part of the larger march towards justice. It argues that while King was often critical of classical values, his sermons also offer several new ways that classics and classical philology can be used in the fight for a more just society. In addition to reflecting on King’s classicism, this talk reflects on how King’s use of the classics, driven by its moral aims and universalizing humanity, offers a potential guide for the future of the field of Greco-Roman studies.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rosa And\u00fajar<\/strong> (King’s College)
\nWednesday, November 9, 2022. 5:30pm EST
\nVirtual: Zoom<\/span><\/p>\n

Topic: Dionysus in the Caribbean: Appropriating Ancient Greek Theatre in the American \u201cMediterranean\u201d Sea
\nThis lecture examines\u00a0<\/span>the afterlife of ancient Greek drama across the globe, with a focus on the Hispanic Caribbean.\u00a0It first discusses the\u00a0\u201cglobal turn\u201d in Classical Reception Studies and some of the challenges that have emerged\u00a0<\/span>regarding\u00a0the alleged universality of Greco-Roman \u201cclassical\u201d texts, especially in non-European contexts.<\/span> It then turns to the way playwrights in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico appropriated Greek drama across the twentieth century to explore controversial issues related to politics and racial identity. Analyzing the afterlives of ancient drama in the distinctive climate of the Hispanic Caribbean enables us to interrogate the complex resonances of ancient Greek drama today.<\/span>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Presenters for 2021-2022 include:<\/h3>

\nMathias Hanses<\/strong> (Penn State University)
\nThursday, March 3, 2022. 5:30pm
\nIn Person: George Sherman Union 239 – Terrace <\/span>Lounge<\/span>
\nVirtual: Zoom\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Topic: Cicero with Local Applications: W. E. B. Du Bois\u2019 Views of the Ancient Mediterranean at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.
\n<\/span>Professor Hanses researches modern receptions of ancient materials, and especially in Black Classicism. His current book project, under contract with Oxford University Press, focuses on W. E. B. Du Bois\u2019 engagement with the works of Marcus Tullius Cicero. It is tentatively titled Black Cicero: W. E. B. Du Bois, the Ancient Romans, and the Future of Classical Scholarship.<\/em><\/span>
\nEmail core@bu.edu if you have any questions.\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Patrice Rankine <\/span><\/b>(University of Chicago)
\nWednesday, December 1, 2021. 5:30pm
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Topic: The Classics, Race, and Community-Engaged or Public Scholarship<\/span>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Presenters for 2020-2021 include:<\/h3>

\nNicole Spigner <\/span><\/b>(Northwestern University)
\nTuesday, April 6, 2021. 5:30pm
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Topic: \u201cNiobe in Noir\u201d: The Poetry of Phillis Wheatley and H. Cordelia Ray<\/span><\/p>\n

Emily Greenwood <\/strong>(Yale University)
\nMonday, October 26, 2021, 5:30pm
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Topic: “Black<\/span>\u00a0Classical Philology: Writing back to a deadly metaphor in Aristotle’s\u00a0Politics<\/i>“.\u00a0 Based on material from her current book project,\u00a0Black<\/span>\u00a0Classicism<\/span>s and the Expansion of the Classical Tradition<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Margaret Malamud<\/strong> (New Mexico State University)
\nMonday, October 19, 2021, 5:30pm
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Topic:\u00a0“‘Her brown hands bore me alabaster smooth’<\/i>: Sculpting Cleopatra in Stone and Word.” Based on a poem by Tyehimba Jess about the 19th-century sculptor, Edmonia Lewis and her piece, \u201cThe Death of Cleopatra.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/span>
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Picture credit: milestonerome.com\u00a0<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lecture series Black Classicism – Moving Forward began in September 2020 and is co-sponsored by the Core Curriculum, the Department of Classical Studies, and the African American and Black Diaspora Studies Program. This lecture series is designed to engage with and critique the ancient world from the perspective of Black authors, artists, and thinkers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16797,"featured_media":0,"parent":7109,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16797"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8673"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11589,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8673\/revisions\/11589"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/classics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}