Unit 8 “Graffiti”and
Conducting Research for the Final Project
March 23-25, 2004

 

Tuesday, March 23

At our first meeting after break we will discuss research methodologies and you will present which Latin texts you intend to examine. I will call upon three of you in CC290, Research in Classics – Allison, Kris and Stacy – to instruct the rest of the class in the tools classicists use to conduct research. We will also listen to presentations by each of you on how the texts you have chosen will illustrate the research project you wish to undertake.

Thursday, March 25

          We read sexual, scatalogical, inane and heartfelt graffiti, both from ancient Pompeii and modern Saratoga Springs. We’ll divvy up the Latin texts before the break so that you are prepared to tackle them when we return. In addition, by this class meeting please have prepared a simple webpage that includes

• a photograph of a contemporary graffito - your image should be taken on a digital camera so that it can be downloaded onto a webpage. I have reserved three digital cameras for Wednesday and Thursday at Media Services, 2nd floor of Palamountain Hall behind Gannett Auditorium. You will work collaboratively on this project with other members of the class; in addition, avail yourselves of the Media Services staff on how to use the cameras, download the images onto webpages and publish the pages.
• a transcription of that graffito
• analysis of that graffito; ask yourselves
• where was it found?
• who is the author?
• who is the intended audience?
• is there any iconography / imagery included, and if so, is it related to the text or incidental?
• what methodologies did you need to employ to analyze this graffito, and what skills did you need to utilize to make sense of it?
• what do the answers to these questions reveal about the text’s various meanings?

Graffiti assignments: read Bodel pp. 95-117, on "The Family and Society," then prepare the first three pages of graffiti. We will examine both the graffiti you collect and analyze, as well as the graffiti from Pompeii. Feel free to divide the texts among yourselves if you so desire; you are each responsible, though, for all of the graffiti. This class project may continue on Tuesday, March 30th.