How did the ancient Greeks construct their ‘racial’ and ethnic identity? How important is a specific idea of ‘Ancient Greekness’ to the prevalence of racist theories in Western European construction of ‘racial’ and ethnic identities in the 18th,19th and 20th centuries? And why should ‘Ancient Greekness’ matter to us living in America today? These are the big questions student will explore in this course.

In addressing the first question, students study the problems involved in trying to understand the dynamics of race and ethnicity in antiquity. Students will be introduced to race theory and the difficulties and benefits of applying it to the study of ancient societies. Students will understand the distinction between ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ as socially constructed phenomena. We will examine the role of ancestry, language, religion, mythology, literature (including historiography) in the formation of ‘racial’ and ethnic identities among the ancient Greeks. Topics such as ancient racism, ancient cosmopolitanism, ‘barbarians’, and imperialism will be explored, especially in connection with slavery, trade, colonization and war. We will investigate the changing and conflicting ideas of what it meant to be Greek over time from the Archaic period through the Classical and Hellenistic periods to the Roman imperial period.

In addressing the second question, students will examine the central role of studying Classics, especially Ancient Greek, in the construction of Western European identity and the importance of ancient conceptions and theories of Greekness to modern theories of racial and ethnic superiority.

The final question will be addressed by examining the ‘explosive’ aspects of what the ancient Greeks mean in the racial politics of America today. Students will study the relationship between ‘Greekness’ and the construction of “Whiteness” and “Blackness” in American culture. Students will investigate some key issues in the “Black Athena” controversy and the debate among African American authors about the place of Classics in African American literature. 

It is my hope that students will come away from my course with an understanding of how important the ancient Greeks are to our own identity politics and why we as “Westerners” have looked to the ancient Greeks to for the sources of our racial and ethnic identities.

Course goals:

#1: Understand basic race theory and the terms used to discuss race and ethnicity generally.

#2: Understand the major issues and problems involved in applying race theory to the study of race and ethnicity in the ancient world.

#3: Understand the shifting formulations over time of what it meant to be Greek in the ancient world.

#4: Understand the theories of the ancient Greeks about race and ethnicity and their influence on modern racist theories.

#5: Understand how Greekness and the study of Classics, especially Ancient Greek, fits into debates about “White”-American vs African-American identity.