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"W.E.B. Du Bois and the Citationality of Ancient Greece & Rome"
Description: Du Bois’ interest in and use of sources from ancient Greece and Rome has been a hot topic in recent years, evidenced by a special volume of the International Journal
of the Classical Tradition (2019) and a conference at Penn State (2021). In the concluding essay of the former, Patrice Rankine noted “the need to postpone the word citation, given the difficulty of locating Du Bois’ exact sources of influence” and the accompanying
turn to Gates’s theory of “Signifyin(g).” In this lecture, I use archival resources to survey Du Bois’ citations of ancient Greece and Rome. While citations of Greek and Roman sources are minimal features within Du Bois’ enormous oeuvre, they are prominent
in his understanding of history and humanism in education. At the same time, Du Bois’ classical references suggest an ironic relationship to the citationality of Greece and Rome in mainstream white media, one that is supported by more acerbic writings by Du
Bois’ NAACP colleague (and Yale classics major) William Pickens. Du Bois and Pickens’ particular brand of citation adds breadth to our understanding of exclusionary practices of the past.
Sponsors: Boston University Department of Classical Studies, Core Curriculum, Department of African American & Black Diaspora Studies, and the Boston University Center for Humanities
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