What does a global, self-critical, progressive discipline of Classics look like, and how can we build that? Answering this question requires transnational collaboration spanning different regions of the world.
Our project, founded on a partnership between Memorial University (Canada), the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the University of Ghana, Legon, confronts this challenge by developing an innovative model for global network-building that centres African perspectives on the Classics.
Our collaboration began in 2017, when Professor Folake Onayemi, Head of the Department of Classics at Ibadan, contacted the Head of Classics at Memorial University, Luke Roman, about possible future collaborations between the two Departments. These conversations resulted in a conference at Memorial University in March 2019 entitled Classical Antiquity and Local Identities: from Newfoundland to Nigeria and Ghana. The conference included classicists from Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, and the UK, and was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant (The Place of the Classics: Receptions of Greco-Roman Antiquity from Newfoundland to Nigeria, 2018-2020).
In 2023, Luke Roman (Memorial), Olakunbi Olasope (U. Ibadan), and Hasskei Majeed (U. Ghana) applied successfully for a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (Classics at the Crossroads: Partnership, Mobility, and Exchange Between Ghana, Nigeria, and Canada, 2024-7). This project features a series of activities, some planned and some already completed, including a conference at University College London (Classics and/in Africa, July 3-4, 2025), a project retreat at Harlow campus, a colloquium and performance at Cambridge University in collaboration with Frisbee Sheffield and Classics Beyond Borders, a theatrical performance in Ibadan, an international conference in Ghana, MA fellowships, and one-month residencies at Memorial University for Africa-based scholars and artists engaged with the Classics. In the future, we plan to expand our scope with the aim of developing a truly global network in Classics and pre-modern studies.
