Greek and Latin ChangeMakers

In 2022 UCL Greek and Latin organised a speaker-series where students and staff gave mini lectures to aimed at improving the diversity and inclusivity of the current Greek and Latin courses.

Ancient Studies cover a wide geographical territory, which is culturally and politically diverse. As such, this subject provides an opportunity to explore a broad range of human experiences. The aim of this lecture series was twofold: first, we invited speakers to give talks on neglected figures and unresearched topics so as to create new teaching resources that would improve diversity in the Greek and Latin curriculum. Second, we created a platform where staff and students could reflect on the limits, approaches, methodological issues, and new challenges of decolonising the field. Finally, this was also meant as an opportunity for students to gain teaching, writing, and speaking experiences, and to receive constructive feedback on their work from their colleagues and peers.

We organised a three-session online lecture series, with a total of 3 staff speakers, 2 postgraduates, and 3 undergraduate speakers. Each session was attended by a large audience of students and staff members, and each talk was followed by a lively discussion on how to implement the neglected topic in the curriculum. The members of staff who attended the series were impressed by the high-level talks, engagement, and commitment by the student contributors.

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Collected materials prepared by the speaker for their mini lectures, including PowerPoints, handouts, and reading lists, have been made available to members of the Departmental teaching staff. These resources will be used in the future to implement such neglected topics in existing modules and improve the diversity of the Greek and Latin curriculum. 

Both by giving the talks and by participating in the discussion, students showed to be committed to increasing and improving diversity in the curriculum and made excellent and persuasive cases for why questions about gender, race, and sexuality should be included in the syllabi.