Final Exam - CLAS 199 - S24

Final Oral Exam

 

Details

  • Due: May 13
  • Length: 20 minutes
  • Format: In-person!

Assignment

 

The final requirement for the course will be an in-person conversation between the two of us in which you will demonstrate your learning this semester and your engagement with the key themes, ideas, and readings over the course of the semester. I have chosen to make this an oral assignment because it will allow it to be a conversation in which we can share ideas and practice curiosity, and in which I can offer feedback or ask follow-up questions. This conversation is an opportunity for learning for all of us during the completion of an assignment, and I hope it will provide a satisfying and invigorating way to end the semester—that is the spirit of the assignment.

Requirements

 

  • You will sign up for a 20-minute appointment with us in class on Monday, April 29. Appointments will be from 12:30 - 3:30 pm on Monday, May 7, 11:30 am - 3:30 pm on May 8-10 and May 13.
  • During the course of the exam you will talk about two topics of your choice from the topics below, in the order in which you want to talk about them. I am giving you the topics ahead of time so that you can prepare for the conversation: for each one you will define more precisely how you want to talk about them and what examples to use as your textual evidence.
  • You must connect each theme that you discuss to at least three other passages (two ancient; one modern) that we have discussed in class. You must bring your copies of these passages with you so that we can refer to them directly.
  • You will meet the requirements for a satisfactory by demonstrating your learning about the key themes and topics of the class, such as knowing the different authors and their cultural contexts; by demonstrating your knowledge of aspects and theories of race (both ancient and modern) as they have been introduced in our readings; by employing close reading skills, and by demonstrating your personal engagement with the texts that we have used in class across the two topics.

Possible Topics (choose 2)

 

  • Race in Ancient Rome
  • Race in Ancient Athens
  • Race and Immigration
  • Race and Politics
  • Race and Gender
  • Race and Violence
  • Race and Mythology
  • Race and “Blood”
  • Skin Color and Race in Antiquity
  • Race in Ancient and Modern Thinking
  • Misappropriations of Ancient Racial Thinking