Classical Antiquity and LGBTQ Historiography: Introductory Remarks
January 24
13.00 (GMT)
Online (Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship (CISC), University of Essex, UK)
While the legacy of classical antiquity was fading from public discussions in the previous century, there is currently a proliferation of international discourses, images, symbols, and representations that draw on the classical era. Agents from across the political spectrum and in many parts of the world mobilise the classical past to construct shared meanings, identities, and narratives. At the same time, such classical discourses, images, symbols, and representations have been appropriated by nationalist political parties and white supremacists, anti-immigrant movements across the globe. Research has shown that racialised readings of classical antiquity abound in which Western civilisation is envisioned as a white-skinned, European-derived racial and cultural hentage anchored in the classical worlds of Greece and Rome. Focusing specifically on LGBTQ movements in Greece and the UK, this presentation will discuss the classical discourses, images, symbols, and representations the movements draw on in their attempt to build and articulate particular pasts.
