Anna Foka

Redefining Gender in Sword and Sandal: The New Action Heroine in Spartacus (2010-13).

Abstract: Spartacus (2010–13), although belonging to a genre comprised primarily of male-centered narratives about gladiators, redefines the genres definition of heroism. Female characters in the TV series evolve from objectified females to strong and brave action heroines, thus marking the evolution of the perception of ancient female sexuality in popular culture.

Humanising places: exposing histories of the disenfranchised through augmented reality

The conference Challenge the Past/Diversify the Future, hosted by the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies at the University of Gothenburg in March 2015, addressed the importance of thinking critically when documenting or expressing the past using digital technologies.1 This themed section’s aim is to grant a selection of papers from the conference a deservingly wider readership, focusing specifically on Augmented Reality as a means through which to both diversify established ideas about space and its people, and challenge perceptions of the past. The ultimate purpose is to stress the importance of devising an ontology to document the process of enhancing reality on site in a transparent and inclusive manner so as to account for diversity (see Vitale 2016). As demonstrated by the many insightful studies on the effect of representational practices on historical and cultural studies (see Smiles and Moser 2005; Russel 2006; Waterton and Watson 2010; Bonde and Houston 2013), when cultures, history, peoples and their performative practices and lifestyles are solidified through elaborate acts of representation, reconstruction or description, there is often little initiative to diversify and question. Through the representation thereof, the past is being globalised as an assemblage of agreed upon symbols that becomes our heritage rather than reflecting it. An understanding of the processes that make up these modes of documentation through which we communicate those places, events and performative practices that are part of our cultural heritage is crucial, since the communicative traditions these make use of constitute a large part of the public’s apprehension of past cultures and people. As have been shown on numerous occasions (see James 1997; Moser 2001; Westin 2014), the representations we are creating of the past often follows well established conventions that are outdated, homogenous, and highly problematic, and may feed into contemporary political conflict. It takes great effort to break free from these conventions, to diversify and tell new stories.

Deconstructing Oedipus : Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and the classical tradition

The chapter examines the philosophical dichotomy between Hellenism and Hebraism in order to showxa0how Mighty Aphrodite may be seen as a contemporary example of mergingxa0cultural identities, previousl ...

Laughter, Humor, and the (Un)Making of Gender

A fresh look at longstanding questions, across a temporal range (classical antiquity to the early modern) and a geographical range (Asia to Europe, Islam to Christendom). The optimistic investigato ...

Digital Gender: A Manifesto - Report on the Research Workshop Digital Gender, Theory, Methodology, and Practice

While early day Internet research often hailed “Cyberspace” as an arena where individuals would be liberated from the social shackles of their biological gender, a growing body of research makes evident the exaggerations present within these romanticized claims. Though the online gender divide is rapidly eroding, the Internet remains rooted in society at large. While digital technologies can challenge normative views, they therefore often maintain status quo. Consequently, there is a need to revisit old claims and challenge traditional notions of ”Digital Gender”. In this vein, this manifesto reports and synthesizes findings and discussions from an international workshop titled ”Digital Gender: Theory, Methodology and Practice”, held at Umea University, Sweden, in early 2014. Against this backdrop, we chart out a new agenda for research on how the digital intermingle with the social in the production of gender. In particular, we argue that scholars must move past the idea of Internet as a separate – virtual – realm and direct attention to the increasingly complex ways that digital technologies permeate social practices, altering the very fabric of society itself. On the one hand, we stress the need for research that focuses on how particular Internet technologies help maintain as well as challenge normative views of gender. On the other hand, we stress the need to uncover how particular material properties of digital technology affect the (un)making of such views. Overall, we also stress the need for scholars of gender to move beyond binary oppositions and to be appreciative of intersectionality in their analyses of digital gender construction.