Recent Guests
Dr. Joseph “Joe” Manning
Joe Manning is the William K. and Marilyn M. Simpson Professor of Classics and History at Yale University. He has two primary research focuses, the Economic and legal History of the Hellenistic world, and Egyptian history in the long run. His main concern has been the historical interpretation of the Greek and demotic documentary texts of the Ptolemaic period, the role of archaeology in the context of Ptolemaic economic history, and the applicability of social science theory, particularly New Institutional Economics and Social Network Analysis, towards an understanding the contextualization of the historical developments in the Ptolemaic empire. His work now takes him in some new and exciting directions, including working on the modeling of Egyptian history using cultural evolutionary theory for the Seshat Project, the study of comparative bureaucratic developments in the Mediterranean and China, the history of property in the context of ancient law, and a new major project exploring and specifying the underlying links between short-term climate change, war, rebellion and economic performance in the Hellenistic world.
Afiya Augustine
Afiya Augustine is an eternal student and lifelong dreamer with aspirations of finding her true calling. When the Trinidadian born isn't working as a Director in education, the Brooklyn-based content creator is crafting for her online accessories shop, Pretty Poet Ink, she is working on her podcast, Adult-ish, or writing on her blog, Alja The Writer. In her spare time, she enjoys a cocktail while trolling IG for funny memes. Check her out and get to know her!
John Haberstroh
John Haberstroh is a Ph.D. Candidate in History (Ancient Mediterranean) at the University of California, Riverside. His dissertation examines the intersections between local and Panhellenic cultures, identities, and politics at the major extraurban sanctuaries of the northeast Peloponnese (Nemea, Isthmia, the Argive Heraion, and the Asclepieion). His primary research interests focus on the deconstruction of Panhellenism (i.e., collective Greek identity), Greek athletics, festivals, and sanctuaries, and Greco-Persian interactions. John volunteers with the Save Ancient Studies Alliance as the leader of the "Access Team" which is creating an open-access online database of resources for the study of the ancient world. John was the Fowler Merle-Smith fellow at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 2017-2018 and is one of ten Mellon-Council for European Studies Dissertation Completion Fellows for 2021-2022. When John is not thinking, reading, or writing about the ancient Mediterranean, he is probably dreaming about training for his next marathon, listening to heavy metal, or making snacks for his two kids. You can read about John's travels to Greece, thoughts on teaching, and long-distance running on his blog: https://arunthroughtime.com/.
Dr. Brooke Holmes
Brooke Holmes teaches at Princeton University. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University, a D.E.A. from the Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. She works on ancient Greek medicine and life science, ancient philosophy, Greek literature—especially Homer and tragedy—Lucretius, reception studies, literary theory, medical humanities and bioethics, environmental humanities, gender and sexuality studies, twentieth-century French philosophy, and contemporary art. She is the author of The Symptom and the Subject: The Emergence of the Physical Body in Ancient Greece (2010) and Gender: Antiquity and its Legacy (2012), as well as a co-editor of, most recently, Liquid Antiquity (2017) and Antiquities beyond Humanism (2019). She’s currently finishing up a book entitled The Tissue of the World: Sympathy between Life, Kinship, and Nature in the Ancient Greco-Roman World and a book co-edited with Nida Ghouse based on the public program they co-curated, “Coming to Know,” for Ghouse’s 2020 exhibition at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, “A Slightly Curving Place.”
Rachel Finnell
Rachel Finnell is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas. She specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations with a concentration on Authoritarian Regimes. Her dissertation explores whether authoritarian regimes follow their constitutions and its impact on overall governance. Rachel also researches institutions within authoritarian regimes, authoritarian attitudes and its impact on democratic regimes, and overall confidence and trust in institutions within authoritarian regimes. She received her B.S.B.A. in Economics from the University of Central Missouri in 2015 and her M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kansas in 2018. You can learn more about Rachel, her research, and upcoming projects through her website: https://rachelfinnell.com/.