How might the field of Classics address the unique concerns and questions posed by its students from diverse backgrounds? One valuable way to answer this question is to privilege approaches to the ancient world traditionally eclipsed by literary studies: that is, studying the legacy of ancient works, ideas and associations in other contexts, especially via the study of material culture and classical reception. A complementary approach to the above question is to turn to the classical literary canon itself and consider the potential limits of the texts that are traditionally offered to students as the best of what the ancient world has to offer. It is often by moving outside of these boundaries that students can encounter voices that corroborate their own findings in ancient texts: voices that reject many of the traditional hierarchies still upheld in Classics today and that suggest a classical antiquity already pushing back against its self-valorisation. In this episode, Shivaike Shah speaks to Dr Kathleen Cruz from the University of California at Davis about these very issues.

To find out more about this topic, check out the reading list on our website: https://www.khameleonproductions.org/khameleon-classics/expanding-the-classical-canon