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As we enter autumn properly, there are lots of exciting AWAWS events to look forward to. Our annual research grant has been announced, so if you are eligible consider applying (for more details see below). This is one of the main ways that AWAWS supports new voices in the field. The second workshop in our Equality and Diversity series is coming up. If you are interested sign up below. There are also two amazing PhD opportunities to check out, part of the Night Vision in the Late Ancient Mediterranean project. Finally, AWAWS is gearing up for our AGM in July, so stay tuned for more information about this important event in our calendar. Enjoy your autumn and we look forward to seeing you on our events, both online and in person. Dr Anastasia Bakogianni AWAWS President Read on for more about:
AWAWS Research GrantThe annual AWAWS Research Grant is now open to all AWAWS members! The grant is worth AU$1750 and can be used towards research in a number of ways. Applications close on Friday, May 30 at 11:59 pm. For more information and to access the application form, please visit our research grant page. Please direct any questions to Estelle Strazdins at [email protected]. Equity and Diversity WorkshopThe next workshop in our Equality and Diversity series will be on Thursday 15th May at 5pm AEST, 7pm NZST. Our speaker will be Irene Salvo from the University of Verona, who will speak on gender, LGBT+, and queerness in ancient Greek and Roman Studies, with her talk entitled: Can Classicists be Queer? Abstract: One of the most traditional academic disciplines, Classics can also be one of the most disruptive. This short workshop aims to unpack how we can use Classics as a form of LGBT+ activism. It starts from my own experience as a scholar and activist. We will then collectively (and confidentially) share opinions and experiences on how our discipline can be more open to non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities. I will use some techniques from my Mindful Classics project, which exploits bibliotherapy and meditation to understand our troubled, queer lives. To register for the talk, please visit the Eventbrite page. For accessibility requirements or general enquiries about the event, please email [email protected]. AWAWS AGMThe Annual General Meeting of Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies will take place in mid-July this year. We are still finalising the date, but please keep your eyes open for emails from us about nominations, elections, reports, and the AGM talk. Theatre ProductionPlaying Diotima: 7-11 May, Flow Studios, Camperdown NSW Presented by wren wants a top hat, this premiere production features original music by Anna Rushmer (Undine) and Rick Butler (A Succulent Chinese Musical?!) All Diotima wants is for her music to be heard and understood. The flute is her expression, her connection to herself and her world, and she needs to share it. When she meets a young man named Aristocles, it seems she has found the perfect opportunity to free her voice. But Ancient Athens is an unwelcoming place for ambitious women. Thousands of years later, not enough has changed... In 2025, PhD student Aurora is navigating a messy personal and academic life in Greece. She searches for women's voices through history but finds only silence. With her academic future on the line, Aurora must do everything she can to uncover the true identity of the woman mentioned in Plato's Symposium. She finds herself facing three big questions: who was Diotima? Why was Plato so taken by her? And why is it so hard to rationalise love? This new theatre work takes a feminist approach to the study of history, exploring what is lost when the only words found in textbooks and research are those written by men. As a playwright, Rushmer is known for her inter-disciplinary approach to theatre, frequently using distortions of time and ethereal elements to explore the constancy of human experience. More details and tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/playing-diotima Seminar of InterestUniversity of Sydney Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar Series: May 12th (Monday, 12.15pm UTC+10: Zoom only) Tamara Lewit (University of Melbourne): “She must remain as little as possible in one place”: The work of a female overseer (vilica) on a Roman estate" Abstract: Although much historical and archaeological work has examined Roman farming, very little attention has been paid to the roles of the female overseer (vilica). Yet this important figure is attested across five centuries and is the subject of an entire book of the Roman agronomist Columella’s De re rustica. Less than half a dozen scholarly papers have been dedicated to the vilica, and all focus almost entirely on her relationship to the male overseer (the vilicus). Her roles on the farm have remained unexamined, and modern writers have characterised her work as confined to the supervision of the women and domestic labour inside the house, especially cleaning, the food eaten by the household, and textile making. My paper will challenge this characterisation, arguing that it arises from a misreading of Columella’s text. By combining textual, iconographic and archaeological evidence, we can in fact see that the vilica oversaw not the “house” or the “domestic sphere”, but rather a range of vital productive activities on the farm. In particular, she seems to have had charge of the oil and wine making and was responsible for carrying out important rituals linked to production. Dr Tamara Lewit is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London. She specializes in the study of the Roman to late antique countryside and her publications include ‘A child’s eye view: making Roman children visible in children’s literature’ Classicum 49.1 (2024); ‘Innovation in wine-making technologies: The role of local artisans and farmers’ in D. Van Limbergen, E. Dodd and M. S. Busana (eds) Vine-growing and winemaking in the Roman world (Peeters, 2025); and in press ‘Peopling the countryside: the everyday experience of rural life’, in G.W. Tol and A. Van Oyen (eds) Roman Rural Archaeology: Society, Economy, and Culture (Cambridge University Press). For further info contact: email: [email protected] or [email protected] PhD Scholarships: Night Vision in the Late Ancient MediterraneanAustralian Catholic University (ACU) is offering two full-time PhD scholarships to undertake research into the late ancient nighttime as part of an ARC-funded project.
Successful applicants will work on the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project, Night Vision in the Late Ancient Mediterranean. See details of the scholarships and the application process here. This project aims to create a new history of the wakeful nighttime in the late ancient Mediterranean world by combining study of material remains with literary descriptions of human nocturnal activities. Histories of the Night have focused on the classical world, the western medieval world, and especially the Industrial Revolution. The late ancient Mediterranean is a fascinating and hitherto overlooked period in studies of the night. Using this rich case study of a period and region of great technological, social, and religious upheaval, we aim to provide a better understanding of the sociality of nighttime and a new cultural history of the period that gives agency to marginalised groups. PhD candidates will develop thesis topics on project-related themes and will be integral to the project, working collaboratively with the research team. Possible disciplines for the PhD scholarship include:
Interested candidates should contact Dr Sarah Gador-Whyte before applying for the PhD program and scholarship: [email protected]
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