The Women’s Classical Committee UK will host a consultation forum on REF 2021 on 18th September from 1pm to 3pm on the Open University campus in Milton Keynes. More details about the room will be provided to registered attendees.
The forum will be led by Maria Wyke, Professor of Latin at UCL and chair of the Classics subpanel, and by subpanel member Katherine Harloe, Associate Professor at the University of Reading. It will consist of a presentation and review of progress already made in the two main panel meetings. This will be followed by time for questions and discussion around concerns from our discipline and how these might be addressed.
This event is free and open to all interested members of the UK classics community, but members of the WCC UK have priority for attending the event in person. We intend to livestream the session via the Google Hangouts platform to enable interested people to attend virtually, and hope to facilitate questions from virtual attendees as well as physical ones. If you are interested in more information, please register as a virtual delegate.
The Women’s Classical Committee invites expressions of interest from anyone who would like to be part of a task force to tackle everyday elitism in departments of Classics, Ancient History and Classical Archaeology in the UK today.
Class and socio-economic background inform how we research, teach, and communicate with each other. The advantages and disadvantages that come with our different backgrounds affect us before coming to university but also continue to shape our experiences long after our first degree. We hope to bring together a group of people who have felt marginalised by this frequently unacknowledged source of prejudice, and begin a constructive discussion to challenge elitism at every level.
If you would be interested in leading, taking part in, or listening to this conversation, please email womensclassicalcommittee at gmail.com by April 30th 2018, giving any information you think relevant, and an indication of how involved (leading, taking part in, listening) you would like to be in setting up a task force for, initially, organising/participating in a day-long workshop on the subject.
We are delighted to announce that the 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Women’s Classical Committee UK will take place on Wednesday the 18th of April, at the Institute of Classical Studies, Senate House, London, from 10am to 5pm.
Our theme this year is ‘Activism’. What does it mean to be a classicist and an activist? How does activism intersect with research, teaching, administration, outreach? How can we make sure our activism remains mindful of structural inequality and advantage, including our own? How should we approach the risks that come with public activism?
Events will include keynote addresses by Nancy Rabinowitz and Donna Zuckerberg, a panel on outreach as activism featuring Mai Musié and Marcus Bell, and a plenary workshop “Whiteness: privilege, advantage and becoming an ally”, delivered by professional facilitators from the Equality Challenge Unit. More details on the workshop, which is designed for both White and BME attendees, are available on our website, along with a provisional programme for the day.
The day will also feature spotlight talks (five minutes each) on classics and activism. Anyone of any gender and career stage who would like to contribute a spotlight talk is invited to send an expression of interest to amy.russell at durham.ac.uk by Monday 12th March.
Registration details and the final programme will be circulated in March. Registration will be free to members. People of any gender expression or identity who support the WCC’s aims are welcome to attend this event. Further details, including our aims and activities and how to join, are available here.
The WCC is committed to providing friendly and accessible environments for its events; the call for registration will include full details about access, dietary needs, and childcare. We have generous funding from the Classical Association and the University of Oxford’s Craven Committee to enable the participation of postgraduate and early career attendees, including reasonable travel expenses for speakers and travel bursaries for attendees.
The International Medieval Congress, held annually at the University of Leeds, is the biggest event on the European medieval studies calendar. The 2017 conference hosted 2,100 actively-involved participants coming from over fifty countries to present their research or contribute to round-table discussions. The WCC established a presence at the IMC in 2017 with two round-tables on feminist pedagogy and periodisation. Following the success of these events, the WCC is pleased to announce that a double-panel on late antique empresses will feature at the forthcoming IMC, organised by Prof. Julia Hillner (University of Sheffield) and Dr Victoria Leonard (Institute of Classical Studies, London). The panels are jointly sponsored by the WCC and the Medieval and Ancient Research Centre, University of Sheffield (MARCUS).
All are welcome!
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Session 218 – Mon. 02 July – 14.15-15.45
Panel 1: The Late Antique Empress, I: How to Read, Write, and View Imperial Women
Historical studies on late antique empresses have usually been biographies of well-known empresses or single dynasties. This session – the first of two proposed – offers an interdisciplinary perspective on imperial women’s representation and agency. It explores three methodological approaches to the topic: biography, topography, and iconography. Paper
A assesses the benefits and challenges of the biographical approach in light of gender history; paper B investigates how the study of public space impacts on our understanding of imperial women’s role at court; and paper C analyses the relationship between the late antique empress’s image and the cult of the Virgin Mary.
Organised by Julia Hillner, Department of History, University of Sheffield and Victoria Leonard, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Chaired by Robin Whelan, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) / Brasenose College, University of Oxford
Paper A: Julia Hillner, ‘Empress, Interrupted: Writing the Biography of a Late Antique Imperial Woman’
Paper B: Robert Heffron, Department of History, University of Sheffield, ‘Women on the Move: Representations of Imperial Women and Urban Space in Late Antique Rome and Constantinople’
Paper C: Maria Lidova, British Museum, London / Wolfson College, University of Oxford, ‘Late Antique Empresses and the Queen of Heaven: On the Correlation between Sacred and Secular in the Imagery of a Female Potentate’
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Session 318 – Mon. 02 July – 16.30-18.00
Panel 2: The Late Antique Empress, II: Imperial Women between Court Politics and ‘Barbarian’ Kings
This is the second session offering new work on late antique empresses. It focuses on case studies that are rarely discussed or in need of reassessment, as they have significant things to tell us about late antique ecclesiastical, military and political developments. Paper A investigates the changing relationship between state and church through Justina’s role in 4th-century Milan; paper B asks how a reinterpretation of Galla Placidia’s Visigothic marriage as war captivity affects our understanding of Roman-Barbarian relationships; and paper C explores the rising power of late 5th-century imperial women through the burial of the disgraced Verina by her daughter, Ariadne.
Organised by Julia Hillner, Department of History, University of Sheffield and Victoria Leonard, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London
Chaired by Richard Flower, Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Exeter
Paper A: Belinda Washington, Independent Scholar, Edinburgh, ‘Reviewing the Roles of 4th-Century Imperial Women: The Case of Justina’
Paper B: Victoria Leonard, ‘Galla Placidia as ‘Human Gold’: Consent and Autonomy in the Early 5th-Century Western Mediterranean’
Paper C: Margarita Vallejo-Girvés, Departamento de Historia y Filosofía, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, ‘Return of the Confined Empress: The Burial of Verina’
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If you can’t attend in person follow on Twitter: Victoria Leonard (@tigerlilyrocks) and Julia Hillner (@WritingHelena)
The Women’s Classical Committee UK is delighted to announce the following event:
LGBT+ Classics: Teaching, Research, Activism Monday, 12th February 2018 University of Reading
The Women’s Classical Committee UK is organising a one-day workshop on Classics and Queer studies to highlight current projects and activities that embrace the intersections of research, teaching, public engagement, and activism.
The day will bring together academics in Classics (and related fields), LGBT+ activists, museum curators and those working in other areas of outreach and public engagement. We will explore how LGBT+ themes are included in Classics curricula; how public engagement with queer Classics and history of sexualities can contribute to fight homophobia and transphobia; and the ways in which the boundaries between research, teaching, and activism can be crossed. We will also discuss strategies of support for LGBT+ students and staff, current policies in Higher Education, and what still needs to be improved. We hope to create an atmosphere of sharing experiences, knowledge, and ideas among all the participants to further queering our discipline.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
09.45 – Registration desk opens
10.15 – Welcome and Introduction, with a written message from Deborah Kamen (Seattle), Co-Chair of the Lambda Classical Caucus, USA
10.30 – Sebastian Matzner (KCL, London): Queer Connections: Classics and the Gay Science
10.55 – Beth Asbury, Jozie Kettle, Clara Barker (Oxford): Out in Oxford: Hidden Stories in Plain Sight
11.30 – Coffee break
11.45 – Spotlight Talks
Alan Greaves (Liverpool): Transgender Lives in Classics: An Example of Museum-based Learning
Kate Nichols (Birmingham): Working with Students to Queer University Collections
Rebecca Mellor (York): Queer There and Everywhere
Chris Mowat (Newcastle): The Place of Classics in LGBT Public History
Mara Gold (Oxford): Beyond Sappho: Classics and the Development of Modern Lesbian Culture
Jessica Moody (Birkbeck): Lesbian Hellenism? How Fin de Siècle Female Classicists Challenged our Queer Histories
13.00 – Lunch – in the same building as the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, which will be open to visitors until 5.15pm
14.00 – Jen Grove and Rebecca Langlands (Exeter): Ancient Artefacts and Sex Education: Exploring Gender and Sexual Diversity with the University of Exeter’s “Sex & History” project
14.35 – Cheryl Morgan (co-chair of OutStories Bristol): How Not to Erase Trans History
15.00 – Nicki Ward (Birmingham): Sharing Good Practice: A Model for Embedding LGBTQ Inclusivity in the Curriculum.
15.25 – Maria Moscati (Sussex): Starting as Researcher and Becoming an Activist
15.50 – Coffee break
16.05 – Round table on policies and support strategies with Clara Barker (Oxford), Simon Chandler-Wilde (Reading), Deb Heighes (Reading), Alan Greaves (Liverpool) Alyssa Henley (SupportU), and Jessica Moody (ECU).
16.35 – Concluding discussion
17.15 – Keynote address by Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham):
Queer Classics: Sexuality, Scholarship, and the Personal from a Personal Perspective
And in the Life and Work of A.E. Housman
18.15 – Drinks reception
Please note that this programme will be updated as necessary.
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The event is organised by Katherine Harloe (k.c.harloe at reading.ac.uk), Talitha Kearey (tezk2 at cam.ac.uk), and Irene Salvo (isalvo at uni-goettingen.de).
Attendance is free for WCC UK members, £10 for non-members (to cover catering costs). You can join the WCC UK here (and if you’re a student, underemployed, or unemployed, membership is only £5). Travel bursaries will be available for students and the un/under-employed.
If you would like to attend this event, registration is now open on Eventbrite. You will need to register both for the workshop and the keynote. You can attend either or both of them but they are separate tickets – workshop registration is here and keynote registration is here. Members of the WCC UK are entitled to complimentary tickets and have been sent instructions on how to order them; if you need a reminder, please e-mail us at womensclassicalcommittee at gmail dot com.
The WCC is committed to providing friendly and accessible environments for its events, so please do get in touch if you have any access, dietary, or childcare enquiries.
Child-friendly policy
The Women’s Classical Committee is committed to making our events as inclusive as possible, and recognises that the financial and practical challenges of childcare often impede people from participating in workshops and conferences. Anyone who needs to bring a dependent child or children with them in order to participate in one of our events is usually welcome to do so, but we ask you to inform of us this in advance so that we can take them into account in our event planning and risk assessment. The safety and well-being of any children brought to our events remain at all times the responsibility of the parent or carer. While we do our best to ensure that rest and changing facilities are available for those who may need them, this will depend on the individual venue we are using. Again, please contact us in advance to discuss your needs, and we will do our best to accommodate them.
***
The event LGBT+ Classics is generously supported by the School of Humanities of the University of Reading, the University of Reading Diversity and Inclusion Fund, and by the Collaborative Research Centre 1136 Education and Religion at the University of Goettingen.
The Women’s Classical Committee UK is delighted to announce the following event:
LGBT+ Classics: Teaching, Research, and Activism
12th February 2018
University of Reading
Organised by: Katherine Harloe, Talitha Kearey, and Irene Salvo
The Women’s Classical Committee UK is organising a one-day workshop on Classics and Queer studies to highlight current projects and activities that embrace the intersections of research, teaching, public engagement, and activism.
The day will feature a series of talks and a roundtable bringing together academics in Classics (and related fields), LGBT+ activists, museum curators and those working in other areas of outreach and public engagement. We intend to explore how LGBT+ themes are included in Classics curricula; how public engagement with queer Classics and history of sexualities can contribute to fight homophobia and transphobia; and the ways in which the boundaries between research, teaching, and activism can be crossed. The roundtable will focus in particular on strategies of support for LGBT+ students and staff, current policies in Higher Education, and what still needs to be improved. Confirmed speakers include: Beth Asbury, Clara Barker, Alan Greaves, Jennifer Grove, Rebecca Langlands, Sebastian Matzner, Cheryl Morgan, Nicki Ward, and Maria Moscati. Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham) will deliver the keynote address ‘Queer Classics: sexuality, scholarship, and the personal’.
We are also reserving time during the day’s schedule for a series of short (five-minute) spotlight talks by delegates. Through this session, we hope to provide a chance for delegates to share research projects, teaching programmes, and experiences related to LGBT+ issues. We are particularly interested in spotlight talks on:
new, queer and gender-informed work in classics, ancient history, archaeology, papyrology, philosophy, or classical reception;
fresh ideas on teaching the history of queerness through texts and material culture;
the difficulties and discriminatory experiences encountered by members of staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and early-career researchers, because of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.
If you would like more information or to volunteer to give one of these talks, please send a brief description of your talk (about 80/150 words) to Irene Salvo, LBGT+ liaison officer, salvoirene AT gmail DOT com. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 5th December 2017.
People of any gender expression or identity who support the WCC’s aims are welcome to attend this event; further details are available at our About Us page.
Attendance is free for WCC UK members, £10 for non-members (to cover catering costs). You can join the WCC UK here (and if you’re a student, underemployed, or unemployed, membership is only £5). As with all WCC events, travel bursaries will be available for students and the un/under-employed.
The WCC is committed to providing friendly and accessible environments for its events, so please do get in touch if you have any access, dietary, or childcare enquiries. The full statement of our childcare policy is here.
At the WCC-UK AGM in April 2017, I was struck that there seemed to be a shift from the inaugural AGM in 2016. In 2016, there had been a focus on problems that WCC might address in Classics. Now there was a move towards how WCC could address some of these problems. The presentation at the 2017 AGM from Dr. Anna Bull of the 1752 Group fitted this shift. Anna’s presentation raised some problems that run deep in HE culture around sexual harassment, but Anna identified various possible actions, including some do-able steps that individuals can take, and these can make a difference. It was in a similar spirit that Fiona, Katerina and I organised an event looking for possible solutions to bullying and harassment in UK Classics. Fiona and I had already written a paper that was problem-focused. It was a goal of this new event to discuss ways forward.
A number of people contacted me once the Call for Papers had gone out to give support or relate their experiences. Some were torn between coming along to help ensure that others will not go through what they had – and keeping these experiences in the past. And it was the latter that won out. This included attempting to go through institutional policies: one respondent (not a classicist) told me that they only had any success when the union at their HEI was serious about legal action for failure in duty of care. The perpetrators left, but for other institutions. This academic highlighted weak management and peer silence as practices that ‘give permission’ to bullying. Another person who got in touch – a classicist – had experiences of ‘gagging orders’ which can create a ‘wall of silence’ that allow some individuals to bully a succession of colleagues. Correspondents also discussed the ways in which universities can make their staff insecure at all stages in their careers. This culture not only mitigates against a good working environment, but it also discourages whistle-blowing, as people feel scared to put their necks on the line, for the sake of their careers.
Everyone present at the event, the programme for which is available here, was there because the topic mattered to them and/or to others close to them. We agreed to keep discussion in camera, so no twitter. Among the key issues raised were the following – and there is plenty here that WCC can explore further.
Bullying and Harassment in the UK Classical Workplace: Finding Solutions
Women’s Classical Committee UK Workshop
University of Roehampton, 11th September 2017
Organisers: Susan Deacy, Fiona McHardy, Katerina Volioti
This event takes place at a time when various groups are coming together in the UK and internationally to discuss workplace bullying and harassment and to seek solutions. The issue is high on the agenda of the Women’s Classical Committee UK, which conducted a survey in 2016 asking for feedback on experiences of gendered bullying and sexual harassment. A paper in Cloelia in 2016 by two of the current event’s organisers (Susan Deacy/Fiona McHardy) explored the responses to this survey while also presenting the experiences of other classicists. One goal of this workshop is to look in further depth at some of the problems in Classics. For example, we should like to look at where issues of gender intersect with mental health, age, disability and status. We also anticipate a discussion around whether the perpetuation of ‘traditional’ views of Classics might be fostering a culture where bullying and harassment can endure. But: our key goal is to move from identifying problems to finding solutions. We take inspiration, here, from the ongoing moves in Classical women’s networks in North America and Australasia to tackle issues in the discipline by cooperation, including by those who have themselves suffered unpleasant experiences in the workplace. Our quest will also be informed by initiatives beyond Classics, including the 1752 Group, which is developing strategies for combatting sexual misconduct at UK HEIs.
The structure of the event will draw strongly on informal discussion and sharing experiences in a supportive, confidential environment. In addition to the topics set out below, discussions areas will include ‘gagging orders,’ social media bullying and institutional duties of care.
You can book for this event via our Eventbrite page. Members of the WCC UK are entitled to complementary tickets and have been sent instructions on how to order them; if you need a reminder, please e-mail us at womensclassicalcommittee at gmail dot com.
Schedule
1pm – Lunch
1.30 – Introductions; identifying the issues; outlining the problems (Fiona McHardy); some possible solutions (Susan Deacy)
2.30 – Short papers
Katerina Volioti – (Under)standing bullies
Alan Greaves – Homophobia in Classics and Archaeology
Kate Keen and Jay Gainsford – Codes of Conduct: A Perspective from Fan Conventions
4pm – Tea and coffee
4.15 – Discussion, solutions, wrap-up and take-away tips
5pm – Close
Abstracts
Katerina Volioti – (Under)standing bullies
We talk about bullying in negative terms, and with good reason. And yet, there is somehow less of an incentive for us to understand bullies as distinct personality types. In this short presentation, I shall cover two types, as discussed mostly in the business literature: the abrasive and the narcissistic personality. Both personalities are described also in connection with leadership and high performance, making it more difficult to differentiate leadership from bullying behaviours. My main objective in this presentation, nonetheless, is to discuss bullies as suffering individuals who crave for love and affection in their loneliness, but whose behavioural problems can be addressed by specialists (counsellors, psychologists, and psychiatrists). Regrettably, most bullies neither see the need for treatment nor do they believe that there is anything wrong with them. I close with a pessimistic statement: “We still do not know how to deal with the bullies”.
Katerina Volioti is Visiting Lecturer teaching Classical Art at the University of Roehampton and worked in corporate business before returning to academia.
Alan Greaves – Homophobia in Classics and Archaeology
In this paper I will examine, with reference to theories, data and illustrations from my own life, the many subtle (and less subtle) ways in which homophobia operates within academia. I will also illustrate how, at the University of Liverpool, we have managed a campaign of peer education across all disciplines to raise awareness of LGBT* equality matters via our Flagship lecture series and some of the results from that programme.
Alan M. Greaves is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Liverpool.
Kate Keen and Jay Gainsford – Codes of Conduct: A Perspective from Fan Conventions
In recent years there has been growing debate about the need for codes of conduct at academic conferences, as a way of addressing sexual and gender-based harassment, and other misconduct. This debate has been going on for longer (and still continues) around science fiction and fan conventions. Kate Keen is Deputy Director of Nine Worlds Geek Fest, an annual London event that places inclusivity at the heart of its mission, and has been closely involved in formulating its codes of conduct. Jay is the lead of Nine Worlds technical team and a passionate advocate for the benefits of diversity and inclusion in STEM. In this presentation they talk about why Codes of Conduct are necessary, what academia can learn from fan cons’ experience in implementing them, and what best practice looks like.
The University of Manchester is delighted to host the next Women’s Classical Committee UK free training event and editathon, supported by Wikimedia UK.
Wikipedia holds around 200 biographies of classicists, of which, at the start of this initiative, only approximately 10% were dedicated to women. This WCC UK’s second event of its kind, this year alone, is taking steps towards redressing the gender imbalance by training and encouraging classicists to edit Wikipedia with this focus.
The event will take place at the University of Manchester, M13 9PL, from 10.00-18.00 on September 15, 2017.
Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Department of Classics & Ancient History at Manchester, this event is free to attend. Lunch and coffee will be provided. Places are limited, so it is essential to register as early as possible. Participants with disabilities are welcome; if you need particular support to enable you to take part, please let us know. Some additional places are available for attendance via Skype – if you would like to register for one of these, please indicate this in your email.
For registration, please email the organisers, Lili Agri (dalida.agri AT manchester.ac.uk) and Kate Cook (kate.cook AT manchester.ac.uk) by September 10, 2017.
Child-friendly policy
The Women’s Classical Committee UK is committed to making our events as inclusive as possible, and recognises that the financial and practical challenges of childcare often impede people from participating in workshops and conferences. Anyone who needs to bring a dependent child or children with them in order to participate in one of our events is usually welcome to do so, but we ask you to inform of us this in advance so that we can take them into account in our event planning and risk assessment. The safety and well-being of any children brought to our events remain at all times the responsibility of the parent or carer. While we do our best to ensure that rest and changing facilities are available for those who may need them, this will depend on the individual venue we are using. Again, please contact us in advance to discuss your needs, and we will do our best to accommodate them.
If you would like to bring a child or children to this event, please contact Kate Cook (see email address above) as soon as possible to discuss possible arrangements.
BULLYING AND HARASSMENT IN THE UK CLASSICAL WORKSHOP: FINDING SOLUTIONS
Women’s Classical Committee Workshop
Monday September 11th 1-5 p.m.
University of Roehampton, London
Organised by Susan Deacy, Fiona McHardy and Katerina Volioti
Deadline for abstracts: Friday 10 August 2017
This event takes place at a time when various groups are coming together in the UK and internationally to discuss workplace bullying and harassment and to seek solutions. The issue is high on the agenda of the Women’s Classical Committee UK, which conducted a survey in 2016 asking for feedback on experiences of gendered bullying and sexual harassment. A paper in Cloelia in 2016 by two of the current event’s organisers explored the responses to this survey while also presenting the experiences of other classicists.
One goal of this workshop is to look in further depth at some of the *problems* in Classics. For example, we should like to look at where issues of gender intersect with mental health, age, disability and status. We also anticipate a discussion around whether the perpetuation of ‘traditional’ views of Classics might be fostering a culture where bullying and harassment can endure.
But: our key goal is to move from identifying problems to finding *solutions*. We take inspiration, here, from the ongoing moves in Classical women’s networks in North America and Australasia to tackle issues in the discipline by cooperation, including by those who have themselves suffered unpleasant experiences in the workplace. Our quest will also be informed by initiatives beyond Classics, including the 1752 Group, which is developing strategies for combatting sexual misconduct at UK HEIs.
The Women’s Classical Committee UK invites proposals for brief papers (15-20 minutes) on any aspect relating to the topic. We warmly encourage Classicists at any career stage and of any gender to submit abstracts.
Please send abstracts of 200 words max to Susan Deacy – s.deacy AT roehampton.ac.uk – by 10 August 2017.
Supported by the Women’s Classical Committee UK and by the award money from a National Teaching Fellowship 2015. The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme is funded by the three funding councils for England, Northern Ireland, and Wales and administered by the Higher Education Academy.
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