On Classic Pieces in Museums: Who Has The Right to Them?

A gutsy and unsettling piece from Clare -- thanks! -- which she'll bring to the meeting tonight.  The author argues that the artifacts from other cultures in the British Museum -- even ones really important to the 'home' country -- should stay in Britain.  An unpopular (defending the imperialists!!!) and interesting position.

Article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/arts/09abroad.html?_r=2&ref=elginmarbles

(This gets into the whole archeology / museum set of questions that we were planning on tackling later but is also relevant to classic narratives -- to whom do they belong?  Is there any continuity -- culturally or otherwise -- between that ancient people and the modern people taking on the same name?  Gourmet food for thought, whether or not we get to it tonight.)

Teaching History

Hi Everyone. I hope this isn't too off-topic but I read an article by a Cambridge historian recently about history teaching in France and Britain and I thought it was tops!
http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/68/1/199.abstract
You can read it with your raven account. Comparing it with Simon Schama's recent article in the Guardian about reforming the history curriculum might also be helpful!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/09/future-history-schools

Thoughts on Classics and on Museum presentation...

Lucy posted a comment but the comments don't show up on the main page so they are easy to miss -- so i'm reposting it here -- something for us to think about when pondering the merit of studying/funding classics/ancient studies.  Below it I've posted a GREAT link from Clare which will be more relevant later on but I think it would be great for us to go ahead and read it / think about it!  (Thanks, you two!)

Lucy:  "Cool post, Paula Rosine!

I've had a few cluster-related thoughts (sounds cheeky!), and thought I'd just share:

1) Open University's list of reasons to study the Classics: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/classical-studies/10-reasons.shtml

2) A friend told me that the Classics department at Cambridge is dwindling--at least in the way of undergrad enrollment. I haven't been able to find confirmation of this, and was wondering if anyone knew this to be so . . . In spite of that, my friend and I reached the conclusion that the Classics department at Cambridge will never vanish because it used to be THE thing to study (citation needed). Wish I knew more about the history of the Classics dept. here! Back to the internet!"

Clare:  " while this doesn't really relate to ancient history (and therefore not
super pertinent to our current discussion) there was just an article
in the Time today about the new African American History Museum that
is being set up on the National Mall.  It's about how the current
director is deciding the facets of the black american experience to
portray and how a national museum becomes an attempt to frame a
historical narrative.  I found it pretty interesting and it might be a
neat jumping off point for future discussions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/us/23smithsonian.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
" 

A Crumb of Food for Thought

**Feel free to go ahead and post thoughts, questions, etc!**

On myths, from an interview with the poet Carl Phillips --

KP:  So many of your poems seem to engage classical myth and history on such a deeply personal, lyrical level—“Roman Glass,” for example. How do you see yourself bridging the gap between ancient and the contemporary worlds? Do you see your poems transforming classical mythology and history?
CP:  I don’t think my poems really transform or contemporize existing myths. Rather, it seems to me that the myths that exist do so because they arose out of experiences common to being human, and that makes them timeless, given that there are still humans on earth. (emphasis mine)

This is not to say that our discussion will focus on myths; it is just a thought about the potential timelessness of human narratives as demonstrated by myths.  Whether myths have timeless value or resonance is another matter...

Interview at:  http://books.missouri.org/node/730

And a sample poem of his for fun -- much of his poetry draws explicitly and directly on Classics/ ancient Greek and Latin (which he taught for years) -- http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/leda-after-the-swan/

Welcome!

Dear all,
After each meeting of our group, I will post a summary of our discussion so that you can catch up in case you missed the meeting. I hope that you will consider contributing your thoughts and reflections to this blog, so that it can be an avenue of further questioning, discussion, and interaction.  And feel free to share this with friends to get them in on the discussion, too!


First meeting topic:  Why study the ancient past, and why fund study of the ancient past?

Second meeting topic (FIELD TRIP!):  How do archaeological projects and museum exhibits shape our public heritage?

Third meeting topic:  How do narratives about the past affect our ideas about the present (such as our identities) and how can we reconcile competing narratives of a conflict? 

Next meeting:  Thursday the 27th, 5:00-7:00 pm (12:00-19:00 hours), Gates room.