Keynote AIAC2018

Dear organization committee of AIAC 2018,

I write this letter to challenge the unequal make-up of your keynote panel at this year’s congress of Classical Archaeology (http://www.aiac2018.de/programme/keynote/) . There are no less than 9 keynote lectures, and the speakers are exclusively male, as is the membership of AIAC’s scientific committee. This is highly problematic for a number of reasons. An all-male keynote panel reflects badly on the discipline, one that already suffers so much in the public eye from the stigma of being predominantly male and white. Putting forward an all-male panel sustains the idea of classical archaeology as a conservative ivory tower, and an outdated field of study. I think that we as the international community of Greek and Roman archaeology should actively engage in discussing and in changing this. Since the last AIAC 5 years ago a lot has happened, in the world and in the scientific community. In a world in which we discuss inclusiveness on multiple levels in academia and beyond, in which the denomination ‘Classical’ has become untenable for many, and in one in which a narrow reading of Classical Antiquity yet again becomes adopted by a growing number of alt-right movements, we have to act.

Solving the bigger issues of ‘Classical’ nomenclature and the lack of diversity in the field in general is beyond your responsibility as organizers, as they are our responsibility as a group. I believe there are however, two small things that can be done at this stage. One is to include a discussion on how to allow more diversity in our field and the AIAC, the second is to correct the gender imbalance in the keynote panel. Since the conference will take place in May, there is still ample time to correct this. First by making the keynote into a more gender diverse platform, and second by discussing how we can be more structurally diverse in the future.

I want to stipulate that I do not directly accuse you of discrimination in any sense, nor the speakers involved. However now that the wider community’s reaction has created an awareness of the issue of gender imbalance I believe you do have the responsibility to adjust this. In order to help you I have included a short and non-exhaustive list of people you could invite to replace a number of the male speakers. I urge you to do this now, and not wait 5 years to correct this inequality, as waiting may damage the field considerably. Some of the speakers I suggest are not yet at the career stage that might be considered appropriate for keynote-speakers, however this shows again the imbalance that the field suffers from. All these scholars have excellent track-records, large national and international funding and research projects: even without elite titles, their scholarship suggests they perhaps deserve higher positions than they currently hold. These scholars can serve as an example for students, PhDs and early career-researchers. Gender is not the sole issue here. I think it is absolutely essential for the viability and continuation of what is deemed an international conference that an intersectional policy is pursued. The scientific committee moving forward should consist of a diverse group of scholars reflecting the diversity already present in the field, and moving towards greater diversity which will enrich our study of the Greco-Roman past.

I am confident that a number of the currently invited keynote speakers would be very willing to give up their place in order to help correct the current imbalance, and show that our beautiful and challenging discipline of Greco-Roman archaeology is indeed moving forward and can be progressive.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Kind regards,

Eva Mol

Dr. Eva Mol Postdoctoral research Fellow Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Brown University

a few suggestions for the keynote- there are many more: -Rubina Raja -Janet DeLaine -Rhiannon Stevens -Penelope Allison -Eleftheria Paliou -Sue Alcock -Marta Prevosti -Lucy Audley-Miller -Natasha Sojc -Josephine Quinn -Gunnel Ekroth -Sheila Dillon -Simonetta Stopponi -Lisa Nevett -Susan Sherrat -Sarah Yeomans -Olga Palagia -Jane Carter -Arja Karivieri -Gilda Bartoloni -Maureen Carroll -Monika Trümper -Lin Foxhall -Stella Drougou -Maja Miše