Rebecca Futo Kennedy is Associate Professor of

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Women's and Gender Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppressi ...

, and

Environmental Studies Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and social ...

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary and ...

, and the Director of the Denison Museum. Her research focuses on the political, social, and cultural history of

Classical Athens The city of Athens ( grc, Ἀθῆναι, ''Athênai'' .tʰɛ̂ː.nai̯ Modern Greek: Αθήναι, ''Athine'' or, more commonly and in singular, Αθήνα, ''Athina'' .'θi.na during the classical period of ancient Greece (480–323 BC) wa ...

, Athenian tragedy, ancient immigration, ancient theories of race and ethnicity, and the reception of those theories in modern race science.

Career

Kennedy completed her BA in Classical Studies at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

in 1997 and PhD at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 2003, with a thesis entitled ''

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

/Athens on Stage: Athena in the Tragedies of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

.'' Since 2009, she has taught at Denison University, first as an Assistant Professor (2009-2015) and now as an Associate Professor (2015–present). Previously she held appointments at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

(2008-9), the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

(2005-8), and

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

(2003-5). In 2019, Kennedy was teaching a wide range of courses on the ancient world, including both Greek and Latin language, Greek and Roman history and politics, ancient drama, and ancient identities. In 2016, Kennedy became the Director of the Denison Museum, a teaching museum which enhances the university's curriculum using cultural heritage materials and artworks.

Research publications

Kennedy is the author of two monographs. The first is '''Athena's Justice: Athena, Athens, and the Concept of Justice in

Greek Tragedy Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy. Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...

'.'' The second is '''Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City. Her current project, commissioned and under contract with

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

, is a book on race in classical antiquity and its contemporary legacy. Kennedy is the editor or co-editor of the following volumes, handbooks, and translations: * '''Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Hackett, 2013), co-edited with C.S. Roy and M.L. Goldham. * '''The Routledge Handbook to Identity and the Environment in the Classical and Medieval Worlds (Routledge, 2016), co-edited with Molly Jones-Lewis. * '''Brill's Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus (Brill, 2017). * '''Ancient Greek and Roman Women: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Hackett, in progress), co-editor, co-author, and translator with M.L. Goldham. Kennedy's research has been cited in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

, in an article on 'The Myth of Classical Whiteness', by Margaret Talbot.

Public engagement and media

Alongside her research and teaching, Kennedy also writes and publishes widely in non-traditional formats, including her personal blog entitled 'Classics at the Intersections

This blog is described by Kennedy herself as 'random thoughts of a Classicist on ancient Greek and Roman culture and contemporary America'. Other publications and media appearances of this kind included: * “We Condone it by Our Silence: Confronting Classics’ Complicity in White Supremacy”, ''Eidolon'', 2017. * “Why I Teach About Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World”, ''Eidolon'', 2017. * “Addressing Harassment in Academia at the SCS in Boston”, ''

Society for Classical Studies The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA) is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the preemine ...

'' ''Blog,'' 2018. * "A Day in the Life of a Classicist and Museum Director", ''Society for Classical Studies Blog'', 2018. * Special Guest Episode on 'The History of Ancient Greece' podcast, discussing Race and Ethnicity in antiquity, 201

* Interviewed for episodes of 'The Endless Knot' podcast (hosted by Mark Sundaram and Aven McMaster) on "Race and Racism in Ancient and Medieval Studies, Part 1: The Problem" and "Part 2: The Response", 2018. *Interviewed for "Classics Confidential Shorts!" with Elton Barker of the Open University, discussing work in progress on race and ethnicity and classics, 2019. *Interview with Itinera Podcast on how I became a classicist, being a first gen in academia, and issues of race/ethnicity in the ancient world. *"The Study of Classics in Changing" with Max L. Goldman, ''

Inside Higher Ed ''Inside Higher Ed'' is a media company and online publication that provides news, opinion, resources, events and jobs focused on college and university topics. In 2022, Quad Partners, a private equity firm, sold Inside Higher Education to Time ...

'', 2021. *"Classics is a part of Black intellectual history - Howard needs to keep it" with Jackie Murray, '' The Undefeated'', 2021. Kennedy was also a 'talking head' contributor to the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

's series '' Clash of the Gods'' (2009), in the episodes "Minotaur", "Hercules", and "Medusa".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Rebecca Futo American classical scholars Denison University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Scholars of Greek language Scholars of Roman history Scholars of ancient Greek history Women classical scholars