New Directions in Classics is launching its fifth season. This year’s nine-part series is promising interesting and engaging lectures, reviewing history, and bringing light to new and diverse areas of study on the ancient Mediterranean world. The series begins September 24, 2021 and runs to March 18, 2022.
Presented through Zoom in the fall and in person in the winter, New Directions in Classics brings speakers from around the world to downtown Winnipeg. The topics of conversation highlight the vibrancy and relevance of classics in the modern world, especially those that resonate in the classroom, in the field, and in the laboratory. Discussions include Roman frontiers and forts, classical sculptures in Winnipeg, the evolving topic of racism and white supremacist appropriations of the ancient world, and how the past is revealed in the present.
Our institution prides itself on teaching, research, and diversity, and our nine speakers show how classical studies touches on these three areas of excellence at UWinnipeg.
Peter J. Miller
Co-organizers Dr. Peter J. Miller (Associate Professor and Chair of Classics) and Ruth Dickinson (Honours BA ’18; Board of Regents Member) have organized the series since its inception.
“Once again, we’re proud to bring a series of speakers on diverse topics to the UWinnipeg campus,” said Miller. “Our institution prides itself on teaching, research, and diversity, and our nine speakers show how classical studies touches on these three areas of excellence at UWinnipeg.”
Dickinson believes this series greatly benefits the public and the study of classics. “Last year’s worldwide reach and engagement via Zoom proved that the topics related to the classical world are still relevant, interesting, and vital to understanding our world today,” she noted. “Not only does current research expand our cultural and historical knowledge, but it opens further study of classics by inspiring nuanced research not only here at the UWinnipeg, but globally. Our hybrid lecture series this year on Zoom and in person will continue our goal to inspire new directions in classical studies. I encourage everyone to tune in and support the series.”
New Directions in Classics has become one of UWinnipeg’s marquee public lecture series. The series’ goal is to find speakers who offer new methods in classical scholarship or new topics of contemporary relevance, especially to UWinnipeg’s place in an urban centre, its location on Treaty One land, and its institutional goal of decolonization and Indigenization.
To learn more about past and upcoming speakers, visit New Direction in Classics.
The series has been funded through the generosity of Classics alumni and The University of Winnipeg Foundation’s endowed New Directions in Classics Fund. To donate and support future lectures in this series, please go to New Directions in Classics or contact Dr. Peter Miller (pj.miller@uwinnipeg.ca) directly.
New Directions in Classics 2021-2022 Line-up
Friday, September 24, 2021, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
3D models and the Classics Classroom,
Bethany Hucks, Heidelberg University
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BOCJ2XaCQcyI_ZrQZ29EBA
Friday, October 22, 2021, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Crafting an Image of Sincerity: Autobiography by Letter,
Dr. Chris Lougheed, University of Toronto
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rzaxBwvFQSu4GfqvjQxXcg
Friday, November 5, 2021, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Building a Narrative: Use and Misuse of Antiquity at the Manitoba Legislature,
Dr. Melissa Funke, UWinnipeg
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fBiH47jyQyy4d2xwTJFWSg
Friday, November 12, 2021, 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Heracles, Plato, and Philosophical Immortality,
Dr. Warren Huard, UWinnipeg
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JTSiuZbLSy23VtR6GmX3Mw
Thursday, January 20, 2022, 4:00 – 5:30 pm in Room 1L13
New Visions of the Vindolanda Stylus Tablets,
Dr. Alex Meyer, Western University
Friday, January 21, 2022, 4:00 – 5:30 pm in Room 1L13
Local and Global Dynamics in a Roman Frontier Settlement: The Military Community at Vindolanda in the Early 2nd Century CE,
Dr. Elizabeth Greene, Western University
Part of the Bonnycastle Lecture Series
Friday, February 4, 2022, 4:00 – 5:30 pm in Room 1L13
Walls and Roads: Walking Around and Through Rome,
Dr. Melanie Racette-Campbell, UWinnipeg
Thursday, March 17, 2021, 4:00 – 5:30 pm in Room 1L13
New Research on the Eurysaces Monument,
Dr. Max Goldman, Denison University
Friday, March 18, 2021, 4:00 – 5:30 pm at Merchant’s Corner, 541 Selkirk Ave
Classics, Indigeneity, and Modern Scientific Race
Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Denison University
Sponsored by the Society for Classical Studies Classics Everywhere Initiative
*in-person lectures are subject to change based on UWinnipeg policies in effect in Winter 2022 and public health orders.
