Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity: A Conversation with Sarah Derbew and Ifetayo Flannery

Join us for a conversation about Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity with Sarah Derbew. The program will be moderated by Ifetayo Flannery from Temple’s department of Africology and African American Studies. 

About the book:

How should articulations of blackness from the fifth century BCE to the twenty-first century be properly read and interpreted? This important and timely new book is the first concerted treatment of black skin color in the Greek literature and visual culture of antiquity. In charting representations in the Hellenic world of black Egyptians, Aithiopians, Indians, and Greeks, Sarah Derbew dexterously disentangles the complex and varied ways in which blackness has been co-produced by ancient authors and artists; their readers, audiences, and viewers; and contemporary scholars. Exploring the precarious hold that race has on skin coloration, the author uncovers the many silences, suppressions, and misappropriations of blackness within modern studies of Greek antiquity. Shaped by performance studies and critical race theory alike, her book maps out an authoritative archaeology of blackness that reappraises its significance. It offers a committedly anti-racist approach to depictions of black people while rejecting simplistic conflations or explanations. 

About the speakers:

Sarah F. Derbew is an assistant professor of Classics in affiliation with the Center for African Studies and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. She was previously a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. 

Ifetayo M. Flannery is assistant professor in Africology and African American Studies at Temple University. She is Temple Made, earning her PhD in Africology in 2016. Dr. Flannery previously served as assistant professor at the founding institution for Black Studies and the only College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University. She currently serves as the Undergraduate Chair for Africology.  

This program is presented in partnership with the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora at Penn State Special Collections Library. 
Our programs are geared toward a general audience and are open to all, including Temple students, faculty, staff, alumni, neighbors, and friends. Registration is encouraged.