What’s it Like? – A Mini-Series that Dishes the Dirt on Archaeology and Classics!

At the beginning of the year, I started a mini-series during my role as Social Media Manager for the Classics Department, University of Reading. The aim was to produce a collection of short interviews which articulated what it was really like to work in the various areas of ancient history careers. These interviews discuss the stark reality of the pros, cons and expectations of working in both academia and humanities subjects. With candour, these interviews explore what humanities professions actually are by myth-busting long-held conceptions of academic professions and recognising what needs to change. The objective of this series is to provide an honest insight into the humanities world, to explain what we do and why anyone should care.

So jump into the ancient world and join us in using it to help develop and improve the modern one.

The interviews thus far have included specialists in Museum Studies, Ancient Greek Religion, Gender Studies, Roman Cultism and Ancient Linguistics and you can find each of the first 4 episodes here:

Episode 1: Prof. Eleanor Dickey – A Specialist in Ancient Languages and Education.
Episode 2: Dr James Lloyd-Jones – A Specialist in Ancient Music and Song.
Episode 3: Dr Claudina Romero Mayorga – A Specialist in Sensorial Archaeology in Museums and Classics.
Episode 4: Prof. Barbara Goff – A Specialist in Ancient Greek Literature, Language, Tragedy and their Later Reception.

Forthcoming episodes include those who work with Human Remains, who work in Field Archaeology, with Environmental Sciences, Ancient Mesopotamian History, Geophysical Survey, Decolonising the Curriculum, Egyptian Theology, Medieval Diseases and much more…