Postclassicisms

Made up of nine prominent scholars, The Postclassicisms Collective aims to map a space for theorizing and reflecting on the values attributed to antiquity. The product of these reflections, Postclassicisms takes up a set of questions about what it means to know and care about Greco-Roman antiquity in our turbulent world and offers suggestions for a discipline in transformation, as new communities are being built around the study of the ancient Greco-Roman world. Structured around three primary concepts – value, time, and responsibility – and nine additional concepts, "Postclassicisms" asks scholars to reflect upon why they choose to work in classics, to examine how proximity to and distance from antiquity has been – and continues to be – figured, and to consider what they seek to accomplish within their own scholarly practices. Together, the authors argue that a stronger critical self-awareness, an enhanced sense of the intellectual history of the methods of classics, and a greater understanding of the ethical and political implications of the decisions that the discipline makes will lead to a more engaged intellectual life, both for classicists and, ultimately, for society. A timely intervention into the present and future of the discipline, "Postclassicisms" will be required reading for professional classicists and students alike and a model for collaborative disciplinary intervention by scholars in other fields.