Classical Reception for All? Performance Reception Pedagogy in the Twenty-First Century

• Published in: The Classical world Vol. 112; no. 1; pp. 615 - 626
• Main Author: Bakogianni, Anastasia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Johns Hopkins University Press 01.09.2018
• Subjects: Antiquity; Classrooms; Connotation; Cultural factors; Cultural instruction; Greek civilization; Language teaching methods; Pedagogy; Reception; Spectatorship; Students; Teaching; Traditions; Greece; New York; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 0009-8418; 1558-9234; 1558-9234
• DOI: 10.1353/clw.2018.0061

The very term, “tradition,” is burdened with unwelcome connotations of conservatism and elitism, and it is constrained by a rigid set of cultural hierarchies of influence.3 “Reception,” on the other hand, offers us a more inclusive and interactive model that emphasizes the depth and complexity of the relationship that has formed between the classics and their readers and spectators from antiquity until the present day.4 In the second decade of the new millennium, we already find ourselves at the “second generation” stage of teaching reception and/or using reception to teach traditional classical subjects.5 It is therefore an opportune moment to pause and evaluate where we stand and to share best practices with an eye towards the future. The author’s Socratic approach to a teaser-topic from modern Greek history and culture stems from long-standing teaching practice that crosses over between classics and modern Greek studies. [...]she invites students to view modern Greek culture as an engaged and often critical receiver of “its own” classics, thus lifting the otherwise heavy-handed demarcation barrier between ancient and modern Greece. [...]this special issue is by no means intended as the final word on the practice of teaching performance reception. [...]it is our sincerest hope that it will act as a stimulus to further debate and the development of online networks devoted to the discussion of classical reception pedagogy.