| 1. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Beauty and the Beast : Femininity, Animals and Humour in Middle Comedy
- 2011
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Ingår i: Classica et Mediaevalia. - Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen. - 0106-5815 .- 1604-9411. ; 62, s. 51-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Approximating humans to animals is a technique employed in Greek Literature, drawing on epic stylistics. The topsy-turvy nature of Old Comedy encouraged the use of animal choruses and characters. In Middle Comedy, their dramatic use appears limited: a number of similes are built around refernces to animals for both male and female characters, producing social comments in humorous form. This paper explores how animal semantics in selected fragments (Alexis and Epicrates) impart occasional otherness to female entities (women and hetairai) reinforcing the sense of difference from the norm, whereas on other occasions they subtly underline the importance of females in the civic environment.
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| 2. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Beauty and the Beast : Femininity, animals and humour in Greek Middle Comedy
- 2011
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Ingår i: Classica et Mediaevalia. - Århus, Copenhagen, Denmark : Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen. - 0106-5815 .- 1604-9411. ; December:62, s. 51-80
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Approximating humans to animals is a common technique deployed in Greek Literature starting as early as the Epics. In early performances of drama, the topsy turvy nature of Old Comedy encouraged the use of animal characters; choruses of animals, anthropomorphized animals, and animalized humans are common strategies used among Old Comedy playwrights. In Middle Comedy their dramatic use appears limited, yet they are not completely excluded from the repertoire. A number of similes are built around references to animals for both male and female characters. This technique (which draws on epic stylistics) produces social comments in humorous form, especially by assimilating women to tamed and untamed animals. This article explores these animalized manifestations of feminity in selected fragments of Middle Comedy, focusing on Eubulus’ Procris, Alexis’ Isostasion, and The Chorus, and Antilais by Epicrates. The animal references impart occasional ‘otherness’ to several female entities (γυναῖκες and ἑταῖραι), reinforcing the sense of difference from the ‘norm’, whereas on other occasions they reconfirm the importance of females in the civic environment. Across these fragments, I show how animal imagery outlines gendered alterities within the context of normative Athenian ideology. Ultimately, I compare the semantics of animality and how it is humorously interwoven into femininity in Old and Middle Comedy.
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| 3. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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(Digital) Bread and Circuses : Reframing Ancient Spectacle for Different Screens
- 2014
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Ingår i: Digital Humanities Australasia 2014. - Perth, Western Australia.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is commonplace that screen-based communication – i.e. TV, cinema, computer screens and ubiquitous devices is continuously mediating cultures (Galloway 2004, Giaccardi et al. 2012). Digital reconstruction is the process of graphically representing ideas and objects (Wileman: 1993). This process, however, requires a conceptual picture to be transferred to in a graphical medium. This paper focuses on the potentials of a conceptual digital construction of a Roman Amphiteatre for multiple screens. I argue that while current ‘historically accurate’ digital depictions of Roman amphitheatres are limited to lifeless and sanitized aerial 3D models, a more innovative, multisensory and participatory reconstruction of entertainment sites for multiple screens can elucidate our understanding of historically and geographically remote social and cultural concepts.I propose new methodological tools for generating discourses that add layers of understanding to our contemporary knowledge of the Roman spectacle. A participatory (embodied- tangible computing) and multisensory (sound and vision) digital recreation of a Roman amphitheatre (along the lines of Betts: 2009, Drucker: 2009, and Favro: 2006) can engineer deeper and constructive analyses of the dynamics and systemic operations regarding [ancient and current] popular entertainment. It can generate questions about the cultural and emotional context of ancient spectacle as well as the potentials and limitations set by our current technological grasp. It can further be applicable in research and education in order to anchor both ’traditional’ research questions, as well as the importance of multiplicity within institutional material infrastructure
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| 4. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Digital gender: a manifesto : report on the research workshop: digital gender: theory, methodology, and practice
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While early day Internet research often hailed “Cyberspace” as an arena where individuals would be liberated from the social shackles of their biological gender, a growing body of research makes evident the exaggerations present within these romanticized claims. Though the online gender divide is rapidly eroding, the Internet remains rooted in society at large. While digital technologies can challenge normative views, they therefore often maintain status quo. Consequently, there is a need to revisit old claims and challenge traditional notions of ”Digital Gender”. In this vein, this manifesto reports and synthesizes findings and discussions from an international workshop titled ”Digital Gender: Theory, Methodology and Practice”, held at Umeå University, Sweden, in early 2014. Against this backdrop, we chart out a new agenda for research on how the digital intermingle with the social in the production of gender. In particular, we argue that scholars must move past the idea of Internet as a separate – virtual – realm and direct attention to the increasingly complex ways that digital technologies permeate social practices, altering the very fabric of society itself. On the one hand, we stress the need for research that focuses on how particular Internet technologies help maintain as well as challenge normative views of gender. On the other hand, we stress the need to uncover how particular material properties of digital technology affect the (un)making of such views. Overall, we also stress the need for scholars of gender to move beyond binary oppositions and to be appreciative of intersectionality in their analyses of digital gender construction.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Half-Naked yet Empowered? : Spartacus (2010-) (Ancient) Gender Equality in Contemporary Television
- 2013
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Ingår i: 12th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences. - Honolulu Hawaii.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spartacus is attested in several ancient sources (Plutarch, Appian, and Florus) as the leader of a rebellion against the Roman Republic (73 to 71 BC). Despite that none of Spartacus' historical representations overtly suggest that he aimed at reforming Roman society by abolishing slavery and promoting equality, he has inspired a number of intellectuals across times and cultures as a egalitarian leader. Marx, in the Manchester letter to Engels (1861), considered him a real representative of the ancient 'proletariat’ and members of the German Spartacus League, a forerunner of the Communist Party of Germany. In contemporary popular culture, the most recent reception of the tale of Spartacus is the US Television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand (premiered on Starz in: 2010- followed by a late prequel and a sequel), where he is also portrayed as a just and egalitarian leader.In this paper, I will discuss how Spartacus (2010-) promotes social and gender equality as an ancient virtue within a contemporary context. Unlike Spartacus’ historical and other cinematic representations, women play a major role in the 2010- TV series either as slaves that join the rebellion, inspired by the egalitarian Thracian slave-leader, or wealthy Romans who oppose him. Despite incidental nudity, scenes of a sexual and violent nature, a TV MA rating for graphic violence, and strong sexual content in overexposed video stylization, I will show that female characters evolve from the older sexualized and objectified females of gladiatorial Sword and Sandals (e.g. Warrior and the Slave Girl: 1958) to strong and brave action heroines. Finally, I will discuss how the 2010- TV series reflects upon the impact of equality and feminism in the portrayal of the ancient world in our contemporary popular culture.
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| 7. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Literary and performative portrayal of sex-workers in Greek antiquity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Gender and Language. - : iGala‐ Association for the Study of Language and Gender 2012, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sino, Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. - 1747-6321 .- 1747-633X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From Classical antiquity to the late Roman Empire, courtesans (hetairai) and other sex-workers are considered an integral part of elite lifestyle. In reality, actual evidence about them is scattered and limited. As a result of this, recent scholarship and art represented them as more deliberated and charming than citizen wives (eg Jung’s archetypes, Manet’s Olympias etc). However, their variability in textual representation resulted in their recent reconstruction as marginal in status with undefined agency and hierarchy (Davidson: 1997; McClure: 2003; Faraone and McClure: 2006). Most importantly, their textual and performative representation varies significantly. In early Attic Comedy for example (5th and 4th BCE) they feature as silent nudes pawed by men (Aristophanes) but they ‘evolve’ within 200 years to the stock character of New Greek Comedy (Menander). There, they are outspoken and somehow, romanticized. This paper attempts an overview and analysis of the courtesans’ portrayal from Old Greek comedy (Aristophanes) to comic texts of the early Roman Empire, namely Lucian’s comic mimes (Dialogues of the Courtesans) and Athenaeus’ proverbial quotations from famous comedies, now lost in extant form (Learned Banqueters 13). I will contextualize the evolution of character and linguistic abilities of the courtesan with reference to their agency, emotions and status. I will finally demonstrate how courtesan-related humor informs us, modern readers, about the commercialization of sex, gender and agency in the ancient world.
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| 8. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Marília P. Futre Pinheiro, Marilyn B. Skinner, Froma I. Zeitlin (ed.), Narrating Desire: Eros, Sex, and Gender in the Ancient Novel : Trends in classics - supplementary volumes, 14. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2012. Pp. xi, 289. ISBN 9783110281828. $154.00
- 2014
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Ingår i: Bryn Mawr Classical Review. - Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. - 1055-7660 .- 1063-2948.
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Recension (refereegranskat)
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| 9. |
- Foka, Anna, 1981-
(författare)
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Material Girls : Humor and Female Professional Seduction in Greek Literature and Culture
- 2014
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Ingår i: Eugesta: Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity. - Lille, France : Lille Université. - 2156-2253 .- 2265-8777. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current scholarship typically views the ancient Greek prostitute/ courtesan figure as an artificially manipulated, sexualized body motivated by material profit. By examining fragments of Middle Comedy and their echoes in post-classical antiquity, this article proposes an alternative view of courtesans and prostitutes as professionals of emotional labor. Through narrative analysis, I show that the Greek comic portrayal of courtesans is multifaceted and not sufficiently illuminated by discussions of their subjectivity, aesthetic modifications, and greed but also extends to the realm of their emotions. Intersecting gender and humor theories with the concept of Emotional Labor (Hochschild 1983), I then argue that these figures can be seen to comically modify their appearance and behavior in order to reflect contemporary ideological and cultural standards of female sexual conduct. Viewing humor as a communicative tool for social hierarchies consequently facilitates a more complex analysis of attitudes towards the commercialization of bodies and emotions in Greek literature and culture.
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| 10. |
- Nygren, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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The status quo of digital humanities in Sweden : past, present and future of digital history
- 2014
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Ingår i: H-Soz-Kult. - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. - 2196-5307.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A current Swedish review of digital history claims that research in digital history in Sweden is almost absent.[1] This statement must naturally be considered in the light of how the field is defined, and in this article we choose a broad definition consisting of the aggregate domain of studies in which digital material and tools are used to study the past. Digital history is without a doubt a more active field in English-speaking academic settings, but there are a number of well-established projects and initiatives in Sweden. The case studies presented in this article are cross-disciplinary and might therefore not define themselves as strictly (or solely) digital history. This may, however, be irrelevant in the post-disciplinary context.The digitization of historical source material has increasingly compelled Swedish historians to navigate in digital environments. This increased accessibility and the capacity for digitally processing historical material hold great potential for empowering research. While on the one hand, considerable growth can be expected in the coming years as technology becomes more accessible, user-friendly and domain science orientated [2], on the other hand, the expansion of digital archives and the development of digital tools are already posing new challenges for historians. Knowledge and understanding of digital media needs to be augmented considerably in order to fully take advantage of contemporary research opportunities and challenges. This essay will discuss how the creation of data and the use of new digital tools might support a variety of types of historical research, primarily by looking at developments in digital humanities (hereon DH) and digital archaeology. The variegated realm of DH practices, with their background in humanities computing and computing linguistics, will be used as a point of departure. Internationally, DH often uses the concept of labs to describe environments designed for the use of data and tools in interdisciplinary research.[3] Centres of DH have primarily been created in the USA and, more recently, in Europe.While on-going research in multiple fields, using digital data and tools, is contributing important new knowledge and developing infrastructures which are advancing the study of history; there is, of course, considerable room for improvement, both in terms of the efficiency of the tools and the scope of their application. This article will present two Swedish examples of interdisciplinary and collaborative lab spaces which are currently involved in research on the past. The more disciplinary practices of digital archaeology and digital history will also be examined in order to flag out current historically orientated research which may fall under the umbrella of DH. The essay will conclude by discussing some potential future directions.
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| 11. |
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