Classics and Prison Education in the US
This volume focuses on teaching Classics in carceral contexts in the US and offers an overview of the range of incarcerated adults, their circumstances, and the ways in which they are approaching and reinterpreting Greek and Roman texts.
Classics and Prison Education in the US examines how different incarcerated adults male, female, or gender non-conforming; young or old; serving long sentences or about to be released are reading and discussing Classical texts, and what this may entail. Moreover, it provides a sophisticated examination of the best pedagogical practices for teaching in a prison setting and for preparing returning citizens, as well as a considered discussion of the possible dangers of engaging in such teaching whether because of the potential complicity with the carceral state, or because of the historical position of Classics in elitist education.
This edited volume will be a resource for those interested in Classics pedagogy, as well as the role that Classics can play in different areas of society and education, and the impact it can have.
Emilio Capettini is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His scholarly work has appeared in Materiali e discussioni per lanalisi dei testi classici, Classical Quarterly, Mnemosyne, and the American Journal of Philology.
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz is Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature at Hamilton College. Her publications include Anxiety Veiled: Euripides and the Traffic in Women (1993), Greek Tragedy (2008), and many co-edited volumes, including Sex in Antiquity (2014) and From Abortion to Pederasty: Addressing Difficult Topics in the Classics Classroom (2014).
Classics In and Out of the Academy
Classical Pedagogy in the Twenty-First Century
Series editors Fiona McHardy and Nancy Rabinowitz
This series of short volumes explores the ways in which the study of antiquity can enrich the lives of diverse populations in the twenty-first century. The series covers two distinct, but interrelated topics: (1) ways in which classicists can engage new audiences within the profession by embedding inclusivity and diversity in school and university teaching practices, curricula, and assessments and (2) the relevance of Classics to learners from the most marginalized social strata (e.g. the incarcerated, refugees, those suffering from mental illness).
Classics and Prison Education in the US
Edited by Emilio Capettini and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
Classics and Prison Education
in the US
Edited by
Emilio Capettini and
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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2021 selection and editorial matter, Emilio Capettini and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz; individual chapters, the contributors
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Capettini, Emilio, editor. | Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin, editor.
Title: Classics and prison education in the US / edited by Emilio Capettini and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz.
Other titles: Classics in and out of the academy.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Classics in and out of the academy : classical pedagogy in the twenty-first century | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020055406 (print) | LCCN 2020055407 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367820619 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032011943 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003018629 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: PrisonersEducationUnited States. | Classical literatureStudy and teachingUnited States.
Classification: LCC HV8883.3.U5 C53 2021 (print) | LCC HV8883.3.U5 (ebook) | DDC 374.1826/9270973dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055406
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055407
ISBN: 978-0-367-82061-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-01194-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01862-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
List of contributors
EMILIO CAPETTINI AND NANCY SORKIN RABINOWITZ
PART I
Old texts, new classrooms
1 Reading the emotions inside and outside: classical Greek texts in prison and beyond
EMILY ALLEN-HORNBLOWER
2 Because weve done bad things: understanding tim in prison
ELIZABETH BOBRICK
3 Dialogic pedagogy as a model for teaching classics in prison
NANCY FELSON AND NEBOJA TODOROVI
4 Surmises and surprises: notes on teaching ancient Greek literature in a correctional facility
AMY E. JOHNSON AND LAURA M. SLATKIN
5 Inside out: classical myth in a county jail
ALEXANDRA PAPPAS
6 From family violence to civic order: ancient myths and modern theory in a medium-security prison
STEPHEN SCULLY
PART II
Beyond the classroom
7 Teaching Ovid to incarcerated students: an experiential analysis
NICOLE DIB AND OLGA FACCANI
8 A poetics of performance liberation: a conversation about The Odyssey Project
MICHAEL MORGAN AND ZACHARY PRICE
PART III
Critical pedagogy and the academy
9 Returning citizens and the responsibilities of the academy: teaching for Columbia universitys justice-in-education initiative
DAN-EL PADILLA PERALTA
10 Racing and gendering classical mythology in the incarcerated classroom
ELENA DUGAN AND MATHURA UMACHANDRAN
11 Critical perspectives on prison pedagogy and classics
JESSICA WRIGHT
Index
Emily Allen-Hornblower is Associate Professor of Classics at Rutgers University. Her book (From Agent to Spectator: Witnessing the Aftermath in Ancient Greek Epic and Tragedy, 2016) and articles center on ancient (and modern) portrayals of the human condition, and factors of connection (and disconnection) between individuals and groups. Allen-Hornblower teaches in prisons through NJ-STEP.
Elizabeth Bobrick is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Classical Studies of Wesleyan University, where she has taught ancient Greek language and literature; she has also been Visiting Writer in the Department of English, where she taught creative nonfiction. She has published on Aristophanes, Theophrastus, and Sophocles, and her non-scholarly work has appeared in