What Makes a Monster Horrible? Exploring the Sensory Experience of Monstrosity in Myth through Disgusting and Aversive Language
Seminar
CCS Research Seminar 6Ancient Greek and Roman myths abound with vivid descriptions of giant, supernaturally powerful creatures with horrifying composite bodies and a taste for mortal destruction – monsters. Across Greek and Roman literature, monsters are most commonly portrayed as horrible…
The role of wild food plants on the well-being of local communities in Cambodia
Seminar
Globally, there is a commitment to protect 30% of marine and terrestrial areas by 2030 (the “30×30” target), alongside the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by the same year. In alignment with these commitments, Cambodia expanded its protected areas to over 40% in 2023.…
PossumLab: Tim McLellan reads King of Bangkok by Sopranzetti et al
Seminar
Presented in person and online; details below.PossumLab is a space to explore creative ethnographic work. Every semester, we read two comics and use them as a way to explore anthropological concepts. In this instalment, Tim McClellan invites you to read and discuss the anthropological graphic…
The Scar, the Bow, and the Bed: Embodied Engagements in—and with—Key Moments of the Odyssey
Seminar
CCS Research Seminar 5The 4E approach to cognition—according to which our cognitive processes are thought to be embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive--allows classicists to investigate from an empirical standpoint the experientiality and the impact of narrative texts, as we follow…
The evolution of the olive: domestication pathways and prehistoric human-environment dynamics
Seminar
Presented in person and online, Zoom details below.Olive (Olea europaea ssp. europaea L.) is a cornerstone of Mediterranean cultural and ecological history, yet the timing and nature of its earliest exploitation and domestication continue to be debated. These questions are further complicated by…
Staging Social Change
Panel discussion
Theatre spaces as sites for transformative civic dialogueAt a time of increasing polarisation, how can we create better civic discourse? Could the theatre be a useful place for hard conversations? Historically and today, theatre serves as a rare space where people from different social,…
Regional Isotopic Perspectives on Diet in Metal Age Central Thailand (c. 1100 BCE–CE 500)
Seminar
Human dietary patterns provide important insights into past agricultural practices, foodways, and other human–environment interactions. This study presents stable isotope data from four Metal Age sites in central Thailand to examine diet during a formative period of regional prehistory. The results…