Classical Antiquity in the Historiography of LGBTQ Movements’: It’s Greek to Whom?
Angeliki Sifaki
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal & Department of Classics, Ohio State University, USA
Abstract: While the legacy of classical antiquity was fading from public discussions in the last decades of the previous century, there is currently a proliferation of international discourses, images, symbols, and representations that draw on the classical era, the latter equated with the Greco-Roman world. It has been well documented by now that agents from across the political spectrum and in many parts of the world mobilize the classical past to construct shared meanings and identity narratives. At the same time, such classical discourses have been appropriated by nationalist political parties and white supremacists, anti-immigrant movements across the globe, sparking a new interest amongst scholars of nationalism and colonialism. Research has shown that the ideal of classical antiquity as racialized heritage has been deployed—historically as well as in the present—to support and reinforce the distinctiveness and superiority of the West over other cultural groups. It has thus legitimated Western colonial practices, cultural hegemony, and the civilizing mission. However, little attention has been paid to LGBTQ movements drawing on classical discourses, images, symbols, and representations.
Acknowledging historiography as a political practice, this talk will first outline the research questions and findings of my prior work, which has culminated to my current EU-funded project titled “Dangerous Liaisons: Classical Antiquity and LGBTQ Movements in Greece, the UK, and the US” (HomoClassicisms). Secondly, it will discuss the entanglements of sexual politics with issues of race and nationalism in the case of LGBTQ movements in Greece, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Last, it will present a sample of the archival material I gathered from archives in London (Hall-Carpenter Archive and Bishopsgate Institute's Special Collections and Archives), Los Angeles (ONE Archives at the USC Libraries and June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives) and New York (Lesbian Herstory Archives and LGBT Community Center National History Archive).
The questions that this talk will pose require an intersectional and interdisciplinary lens to examine how dominant Western-centric forms of historiography reinforce power dynamics that oppress and marginalise specific shares of LGBTQ populations (e.g. queers of colour).
Keywords: Classical Antiquity, LGBTQ Historiography, LGBTQ Movements, Archival Research
Bio:
Angeliki Sifaki is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (CES-UC). Her 3-year research project, titled HomoClassicisms – Dangerous Liaisons: Classical Antiquity and LGBTQ Movements in Greece, the UK, and the US, is a cooperation between CES-UC and the Department of Classics, Ohio State University, USA. Her previous 2-year research project, titled HomoPolitics - Greek Homonationalism: Entanglement of Sexual Politics with Issues of Race and Nationalism in the Case of Lesbian and Gay Movements and Queer Activist Groups in Greece, was again funded by the European Commission under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Scheme. Her most recent publication is the co-edited volume Homonationalism, Femonationalism and Ablenationalism: Critical Pedagogies Contextualised (Routledge, 2022).
