"equality" blog posts
Your Wellbeing: Top Tips
Being at university is often a really stressful time, even when you don’t have exams or deadlines coming up. The change in routines and environment can feel very difficult and it is easy to feel like you’re in a sink or swim situation. I know that when I first came to university, I thought I would have to change everything about my routine and hobbies. That was not good for my wellbeing, so here are some of my tips from my experiences that I hope will help some of you.
Posted on: 10 May 2022
ACE & Creativity: Talk To Me
I’ve always been interested in drama and write, act and direct in community theatre, including my own community theatre group, ‘Grass Roots’. In 1998 I gained an MA in Screenwriting from John Moores University. This year I gained my PhD at Liverpool University with the thesis ‘Classics, Empire and Didacticism, 1919-1939’. Prior to this, in 2013, I gained my MA in Classics with the dissertation ‘The Unheeded Voice: Receptions of Cassandra in Dramatic and Narrative Texts’.
Posted on: 10 May 2022
Normalising Queer Representation in Archaeology
Heteronormativity, the idea that heterosexual identity and desire is considered the norm, is being transformed by the use of Queer Theory in archaeology. Queer Theory is used to explore aspects of culture that is traditionally rejected as valid depictions of gender and sexuality. Commonly used for gender representation at burial sites, the identity of deceased individuals is being radically transformed through the consideration of Queer relationships; intersexual identities, and non-binary status. The requirements used to identify biological sex is typically constructed through heteronormative approaches, where intersexual identities are rarely considered. In order to fill the gap in knowledge that heteronormativity fails in, scholars have been using Queer Theory to challenge socially constructed views of gender. First used in the 1990’s to offer a more balanced approach to gender, Queer Theory was used by various different fields, during a time that Third-Wave Feminism was at its height. During the Third-Wave, the concept that a male-dominating society does have an impact on the value of women led to the rise of Queer minority voices currently underrepresented.
Posted on: 16 February 2022
Sexuality in the Past: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep
Despite living in our modern age, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been and continue to be subjected to forms of prejudice and oppression, from insults, to suppressive laws and legislation. But did these prejudices and a lack of understanding for LGBTQ+ people occur in the ancient past? Within this blog I explore Egyptologists’ findings from the joint tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, and how examining the past can help to create a more inclusive present.
Posted on: 12 February 2021
Stone Age memories
Professor Larry Barham visits Ormskirk West End Primary School to teach pupils about the Stone Age and the development of early tools.
Posted on: 7 April 2020
Understanding gender and sexuality through Dionysus
Ancient History and International Politics and Policy student Kian Goodsell illustrates how the figure of Dionysus serves as an example of sexual and gender fluidity in the ancient world.
Posted on: 23 March 2020
Talking mental health on your year abroad
Third year Classical Civilisations and Egyptology student Charlotte Wylie discusses managing mental health issues during her semester abroad in Copenhagen.
Posted on: 11 March 2020
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Amelia Edwards: An International Women's Day Special
Amelia Edwards was a prominent travel writer and Egyptologist. On her travels throughout Egypt she famously wrote the travel text 'A Thousand Miles up the Nile' which provided a vivid and detailed account of the environment, monuments and local customs seen all over Egypt. In particular, Edwards' illustrations in this text opened up to new audiences the wonders and splendours of this little known country.
Posted on: 6 March 2020
Vindaloo, Victorians, and Ancient Greek Colonisation Part 2: Intermarriage
While studying Ancient Greek Colonisation and British Imperial Thought (ALGY 336) we examined the theme of intermarriage between Greek settlers and the ‘Barbarians’ they met. Archaeologist Anthony Snodgrass examined parallels between this and the British Empire, arguing that marriage between British officers and local women as positively encouraged in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Burma (now Myanmar) during the early British Empire but it was later outlawed when Victorian pseudo-scientific ideas about race appeared. The same was true of the ancient Greeks. According to Aristotle, the founder of Massalia (now Marseilles) married a local Celtic princess but after the Persian Wars Greek attitudes to ‘Barbarians’ solidified and became negative.
Posted on: 21 February 2020
Managing and interpreting Maori heritage: Pā today
Professor Harold Mytum concludes the blog series from his visit to New Zealand by exploring the relationship between the hill forts and contemporary Maori culture.
Posted on: 18 February 2020
The Maori and Colonial contact: Pā in their landscape context
The more pā sites Harold Mytum has visited as part of the Hill Fort Study Group (HFSG) visit, and we learn of the early relationships with the British, the more it is clear that the indigenous groups wielded considerable influence in the early decades of contact. The ways in which the Maori leaders of iwi (the largest kinship grouping) used interactions with foreigners for their own social advantage are clear.
Posted on: 6 February 2020
Maori Pā: Hillforts from Prehistory to the Present
Harold Mytum has joined the Hill Fort Study Group (HFSG) study tour of sites in the North Island of New Zealand, home to the greatest concentration of Maori at the time of Captain Cook and indeed still so today.
Posted on: 31 January 2020
Local Primary School Learns All Things Ancient History with IntoUni
Children from local schools in Anfield took part in a special week-long focus on Ancient History. Kristian Boote, PhD Student in Evolutionary Anthropology, provides an overview of the week.
Posted on: 16 December 2019
Brownies Dig the Dirt on Archaeology
Our Archaeology students welcomed a local Brownie group to learn all things Archaeology for the Science Jamboree with Merseyside Scouts.
Posted on: 4 December 2019
Achilles and Patroclus — more than friends?
Charlotte Wylie (BA Classical Studies with Egyptology), Eleanor Fussell (BA Classical Studies) and Christian Shrier (BA Ancient History) ask whether there is more to the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus than meets the eye.
Posted on: 25 October 2019
Before Egypt app launch — bringing the Garstang collection to life
Dr Ardern Hulme-Beaman and the ACE photogrammetry team introduce the Before Egypt app — a new augmented reality app from the University of Liverpool's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology created to bring objects from the Garstang Museum's collection to life.
Posted on: 9 October 2019
Local school pupils explore the past at the Ancient Worlds Taster Day
The Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology was delighted to welcome Key Stage 3 students from Weatherhead High School to an Ancient Worlds Taster Day on 15 July 2019. Organised by the Liverpool Schools Classics Project and hosted by Dr Ross Clare, the students enjoyed a series of sessions themed around the ancient past before getting the opportunity to ask the speakers any questions they wished about the University experience.
Posted on: 9 August 2019
Sappho: a strong and modern female voice
For Women's History Month, ancient history student Kian Goodsell explores the work of Greek poet, Sappho.
Posted on: 28 March 2019
LGBT History Month - Homosexuality in Ancient Greece
This February in the department we have been reflecting about LGBT history, not least following the wonderful lecture by Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on Alexander the Great. In this post, Dr Ben Cartlidge dwells on a puzzling feature of the ancient Greek evidence for male homosexuality.
Posted on: 27 February 2019
Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?
For LGBT history month, guest blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff University) asks: 'Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?' before his talk this week, exploring Alexander's sexuality and popular culture.
Posted on: 19 February 2019
University Archaeology Day and London Anthropology Day 2018
This year, the University of Liverpool's Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology was represented at the British Museum as part of University Archaeology Day 2018 and London Anthropology Day 2018.
Posted on: 10 August 2018
Chasing Rainbows: The Search for Gay Material Culture
After thinking about LGBT+ History Month 2018 last month, I thought it would be interesting to take a look how much archaeology can contribute to our understanding of gay history.
Posted on: 1 March 2018