Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences : Public Scholarship and the Mediterranean World

Abstract

This volume brings together specialists from a broad demographic and professional range – academics, museum curators, students, and content creators – to discuss case studies, challenges, and potential future avenues for public scholarship on the history, archaeology, and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, North Africa and Western Asia. Together, the contributions promote the creation of inclusive methods of knowledge mobilisation and communication in public spheres across three main areas: cultural heritage, pedagogy and public-facing scholarship. These areas have all been directly affected by Eurocentric structures that have claimed ownership of ancient Mediterranean cultural heritage and have dictated how it has been taught in schools and communicated to the broader public. The volume is divided into three sections – Museums, Teaching and Learning, and Global and Local Projects – each addressing pressing challenges faced within these interrelated fields and offering ways for us to overcome the exclusionary narratives that plague them. Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences provides an invaluable resource for those interested in public history, from academics to lay audiences, in the fields of Ancient Mediterranean, North African, and Western Asian Studies. The book also appeals to professionals and researchers whose interests lie in public-facing scholarship, pedagogy, digital humanities, decolonisation studies, museum studies and popular media.