Contextualizing Classics: Renewal of Teaching Practices and Concepts

I. Rationale

The project is devoted to the advancement of teaching Classical civilization in the perspective of contemporary cultural and social context, and aims to promote renovation in Classics as a university discipline with inherent interdisciplinary nature and significant potential to contribute to strengthening the awareness of a common European cultural legacy. In order to understand and preserve this heritage in a relevant way, we have to undertake the task of situating the knowledge of the ancient world both into its historical context and into the wider cultural perspective of modern civilization. In this respect, collaboration among scholars from Eastern European and Western universities could be of great benefit to promoting critical rethinking of influential historical and current scholarship in Classics and related areas, and its state and position within the framework of academic institutions both in the target region countries and internationally.

The importance of the proposed project is determined by the great challenges faced by higher education in the process of European integration and in the context of a globalising world, and by the necessity of introducing relevant multi-disciplinary curricula in the higher education institutions of the countries in the target region.

During the Project period the participants will be involved in two-week summer sessions, in three consequent years, as well as in numerous inter-session activities. The Project's mission is to form a research and teaching network of scholars from Central and Southeastern Europe, for discussing theoretical approaches to the problems of classical legacy in the time of new European and World order, and developing a methodological framework for innovative teaching contents and techniques.

II. Justification

The Greco-Roman tradition is an essential element in the shaping of European civilization, both East and West. The creative reception of the classical tradition represents an intermediary space between times and places, ethnic and religious communities, and provinces of human artistic, intellectual and political activity. That shared heritage offers a unique bridge between different domains of institutionalized higher education and areas of academic investigation within the humanities and social sciences.

The topics and issues discussed within the Program framework will therefore be attractive as an intellectual challenge and rewarding with respect to their capacity to serve as a helpful stimulus to the development of innovative curricula in terms of academic content as well as teaching methods.
The principal questions concerning teaching methods and current state of the academic field that will be addressed and are expected to evoke vivid debate are:

• What are the essential components of a curriculum in Classics on the undergraduate level today? Are there considerable differences at a local and East-West level, by reason of different traditions, geo-political and cultural contexts? Does it need a critical revision and, if so, what should the overall scope and content of the curriculum be, with a view to the Twenty-first century trends and developments in higher education?
• Which new theoretical ideas and research approaches in the humanities and social sciences have proved to be or might be applicable to our academic field and beneficial to its advancement, and furthermore, how is the close linkage between university teaching and innovative scholarly activity to be pursued?
• How do we teach classics in the context of contemporary processes of European integration and World globalization? How do these on-going processes challenge traditional teaching practices and necessitate changes and innovations in the curricula in form and content?
• To what extent and through what ways and means can we collaborate with scholars from overlapping disciplines, such as history, anthropology, archaeology, art history, medieval and renaissance studies, philosophy, political studies, among others, in order to create a network of co-operation based on complementing expertise, and facilitate our students to obtain an outlook over the larger scope of contemporary humanities and social studies?