"Unearthing Gender and Performance in the Archive of Hellenism"

Artemis Leontis, University of Michigan

This talk explores how feminist archival practices challenge conventional histories and open new ground for understanding Hellenism and Classicism. By placing Eva Palmer Sikelianos’ radical practice of alternative archaeologies and her complex archival legacy into conversation with the life and work of Margarete Bieber, the presentation asks: what becomes possible when the margins of the archive are excavated? Through acts of recovery, reinterpretation, and disruption, the archive shifts from a site of passive preservation to a dynamic space where gender, memory, and authority are actively contested and remade. Focusing on the politics and procedures of recovering hidden queer sources, the talk shows how such work destabilizes—and should expand—the frameworks of classical scholarship and reception.

This event is hosted by the Department of the History of Art and Visual Studies and generously co-sponsored by Classics, Cornell Institute for Archaeology and Material Studies, German Studies, Institute for European Studies, Jewish Studies, Performing and Media Arts, and the Society for the Humanities.