Ancient Pasts for the Whole Planet—S. J. Stubbs Lecture in Classics
When and Where
Speakers
Description
The 2024 S. J. Stubbs Lecture in Classics is being held in-person at University College, as well as streaming live online for home viewers. Faculty, students, staff, and the public are cordially invited to this hybrid lecture.
In the eighteenth century, at the time of the emergence of what is now known in north America as "Classics" or "Classical Studies," ancient Greece and Rome were understood as the source of the best of human aspiration and achievement and as the foundation of what was then defined as culture. Presented by Joy Connolly, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, this lecture will discuss the role of the still-potent construct "GreeceandRome" in the organization of knowledge in contemporary academia, and make the case for an alternative approach to organizing the study of the past that is responsive to the needs and interests of the twenty-first century. The proposal is a bet on the awareness in many of us that human collective life is facing conditions of emergency - and that scholars of the deep past have the capacity to extend mutual comprehension among human beings on a global scale.
The Stubbs Lectures were founded in 1988 by Helen Eunice Stubbs, a graduate of University College, in honour of her father, Samuel Stubbs, also a UC graduate. The lectures commemorate his love of Classics and English Literature.
Contact uc.rsvp@utoronto.ca for more information.
