Description:

Shepherds and Heroes: Myth and Racecraft in the Odyssey and Argonautica:

Although products of a different time and place, the ancient epic poems, Homer’s Odyssey and Apollonius’ Argonautica, can help us think about the logic and practices that establish and naturalize ideas of racial supremacy and the role of authoritative storytelling in inculcating and acceptance of hierarchical domination in ancient Greek cultures.

This talk offers readings of these texts that uncover the mythical basis of ancient racial supremacist ideology and the ways that ancient epic storytelling reinforced and naturalized it.

Dr. Jackie Murray will expose how ancient epic depictions of enslavement and collective extermination reinforce the oppressive hierarchies of colonialism and imperialism linked to heroic action.