ACE & Creativity: Talk To Me
I’ve always been interested in drama and write, act and direct in community theatre, including my own community theatre group, ‘Grass Roots’. In 1998 I gained an MA in Screenwriting from John Moores University. This year I gained my PhD at Liverpool University with the thesis ‘Classics, Empire and Didacticism, 1919-1939’. Prior to this, in 2013, I gained my MA in Classics with the dissertation ‘The Unheeded Voice: Receptions of Cassandra in Dramatic and Narrative Texts’.
Posted on: 10 May 2022
Introducing: ACE & Creativity
It is my pleasure and honour to write the first short post for our new blog, which aims to bring together academic and creative work in Ancient World Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology.
Posted on: 6 April 2022
Make Do and Mend: How to make your clothing consumption more sustainable
In the UK, every week, around 11 million items of clothing end up in landfill, which has a huge impact on the environment. There are lots of ways to reduce this waste, especially if what you are throwing away is still perfectly functional or just in need of some TLC. Here are some of my tips for how to prolong the life of your clothes and what to do with those you no longer want or aren’t usable.
Posted on: 31 March 2022
Normalising Queer Representation in Archaeology
Heteronormativity, the idea that heterosexual identity and desire is considered the norm, is being transformed by the use of Queer Theory in archaeology. Queer Theory is used to explore aspects of culture that is traditionally rejected as valid depictions of gender and sexuality. Commonly used for gender representation at burial sites, the identity of deceased individuals is being radically transformed through the consideration of Queer relationships; intersexual identities, and non-binary status. The requirements used to identify biological sex is typically constructed through heteronormative approaches, where intersexual identities are rarely considered. In order to fill the gap in knowledge that heteronormativity fails in, scholars have been using Queer Theory to challenge socially constructed views of gender. First used in the 1990’s to offer a more balanced approach to gender, Queer Theory was used by various different fields, during a time that Third-Wave Feminism was at its height. During the Third-Wave, the concept that a male-dominating society does have an impact on the value of women led to the rise of Queer minority voices currently underrepresented.
Posted on: 16 February 2022
Anacharsis Conference 2021
The conference centred upon the figure of Anacharsis, a Scythian philosopher travelling around the Greek world during the age of Solon’s reforms, killed for adopting alien (Greek) religious practices upon his return to Scythia and pursuing too strong an interest in alterity. His peripatetic presence combined with his penchant for intellectual exploration and questioning of ‘otherness’ will soon make Anacharsis a paradigm of enlightened independence. His legend was revived in the age of the Enlightenment, when his philosophy returned to intellectual discourse as an agent of dissonance and rupture fostering an emergent cultural relativism and cosmopolitanism. Today, Anacharsis helps us understand how ancient and modern reacted to religious conflicts, cultural diversity and political transformation.
Posted on: 5 November 2021
To rebury or not to rebury? That is the question...
Professor Harold Mytum shares his experience of working at the Castle Street burial ground in Hull.
Posted on: 19 August 2021
Our Favourite Places to Visit Outside of the City
Sometimes you just want to take a break from city life, escape for a few hours. We know the feeling! We've put together a few suggestions of where you could go, including some stops along the way. So get your comfy trainers ready because you're about to go on an adventure.
Posted on: 8 August 2021
Measuring the World Against the Body: Materialities and Meanings of Magnification and Miniaturization in Religious Communication in Antiquity and Modernity
At the end of February (24-26 Feb. 2021), four colleagues from ACE (Bruce Gibson, Georgia Petridou, Anthony Sinclair, and Alexei Zadorozhny) had the pleasure of collaborating with leading research experts from the Universities of Erfurt (Germany), Graz (Austria), and Aarhus (Denmark; the UrbNet project) at an international 3-day interdisciplinary conference entitled ‘Measuring the World against the Body: Materialities and Meanings of Magnification and Miniaturization in Religious Communication in Antiquity and Modernity’
Posted on: 26 March 2021
Sexuality in the Past: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep
Despite living in our modern age, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been and continue to be subjected to forms of prejudice and oppression, from insults, to suppressive laws and legislation. But did these prejudices and a lack of understanding for LGBTQ+ people occur in the ancient past? Within this blog I explore Egyptologists’ findings from the joint tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, and how examining the past can help to create a more inclusive present.
Posted on: 12 February 2021
Blog
ACE & Creativity: Talk To Me
I’ve always been interested in drama and write, act and direct in community theatre, including my own community theatre group, ‘Grass Roots’. In 1998 I gained an MA in Screenwriting from John Moores University. This year I gained my PhD at Liverpool University with the thesis ‘Classics, Empire and Didacticism, 1919-1939’. Prior to this, in 2013, I gained my MA in Classics with the dissertation ‘The Unheeded Voice: Receptions of Cassandra in Dramatic and Narrative Texts’.
Posted on: 10 May 2022