The death of George Floyd was senseless. It was a case of police brutality that shone a light on how racism continues to exist within the United States. More widely, it galvanised the public to take a stand over decades of injustice for the Black community and protest with one simple motto: Black Lives Matter. Demonstrations have occurred across the world and it has forced individuals and companies to reconsider their attitudes, policies and behaviour. I agree that it is not enough just to be non-racist, we must strive to be anti-racist to support the black community and all those who face discrimination based on the colour of their skin.
Up and down the country, new conversations are being held about race and this made me reflect on my own situation. I am a brown, of Indian descent, graduate who studied a largely white subject. Classics throughout the 19th and 20th Century was a pastime of the white, rich and elite and was usually not accessible to those like me. The same Ancient History A-level exam I sat in 2017 by AQA at a state school was scrapped in 2018, perhaps repaving the way from Classics to be dominated by private schools.
Classics was a staple degree of Oxford and Cambridge, with each having their own museums, but only in the last fifty years has the teaching of the ancient world been adopted more widely. This legacy of exclusivity with limited accessibility is evidenced in the profession. Curators, lecturers and museum professionals are overwhelmingly white and fail to reflect the diversity of Britain today. This is also true for women and the LGBTQ community, Classics has long been a playground for the white elite male.
The whole creation of a history to focus on Greece and Rome is divisive and Eurocentric. Do you really believe that when the Greeks and Romans were knocking about that the rest of the world was filled with cavemen? Why don't we learn about the Indians under Ashoka or Han China or the history of Ethiopia? Instead we have a carved out a sub strata of history to perpetuate the glory of the Romans and Greeks - two white communities who are held as the root of European and western civilisation. It is a flawed approached, the Greeks and the Romans did not exist in isolation they interacted with the East and West and it is about time we appreciated those interactions.
I can't comment much about other universities but it does feel Warwick is diversifying
and decolonising the curriculum even when it comes to the antiquated classics. I studied a module titled Ancient Global History which prided itself on it's lack of focus on the Meditterean. We studied Central Asia, India and China and drew connections between these areas attesting an ancient globalisation. Further Warwick offers a module entitled Africa: The making of Classical literature, which focuses on the importance of Africa but also the simultaneous erasure in literature.
There is hope for Classics. I am proud in the way - at least at University level it is moving to increase accessibility and decolonize its curriculum. We're not there yet, but Classics does seem to be moving in the right direction.
Artwork by the Black Lives Matter Campaign. I've found this site really helpful for resources to educate yourself and push for change.