ETHNICITY, RACE, &POWER IN ANCT MEDITERR

This course explores the intersections of identity and power in the ancient Mediterranean, with a focus on how race and ethnicity were constructed in the art, literature, and material culture of Greece and Rome. We will consider a broad range of texts including epic, ethnographies, medical texts, dramas, novels, and material evidence to examine how ancient Mediterranean peoples articulated and conceived of foreignness and difference. In our considerations of these texts we will discuss ancient theories of ethnic and racial superiority, narratives of belonging and exclusion and how these intersected with political and social control, as well as linguistic, religious and cultural differentiation as a basis for ethnic differentiation. We will also analyze ancient racism through the prism of a variety of social processes in antiquity, such as slavery, trade and colonization, migrations, imperialism, assimilation, and native revolts. By the end of the course, students will have gained a richer understanding of the intellectual and cultural history of the ancient Mediterranean world and will be able to engage in discussions of identity construction in a comparative manner.