Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Ancient and Modern Democracy: the Challenges of an Ancient Idea in the Modern world

In the autumn of 2017, the Swedish Institute at Athens, in collaboration with Uppsala University and Stockholm University, will organize an advanced level course about the concept of democracy. Democratic governance is something that is usually taken for granted in the Western world, but what does “democracy” really mean? What counted as democracy yesterday, what is democracy today, and how will we understand it tomorrow? Through a comparative perspective, relating the original Greek democracy to that of the modern world, students will approach ideas of democracy through the varied discourses of archaeology and ancient history, political science, history of ideas, philology and sociolinguistics. The course will work with four overarching themes that are suitable for comparative analysis: 1. Democratic institutions and procedures of the ancient and modern world; 2. Democratic citizenship as a means to inclusion/exclusion and equality/inequality; 3. The materiality of democracy; 4. Democracy and religion. Teaching will be in English. The first three weeks of the course takes place at Uppsala University, and the fourth week entails lectures, seminars and fieldwork in Athens. The students will then spend the fifth week in Sweden writing an essay.

Applicants must have a Bachelor degree and a good understanding of spoken and written English.

Application deadline is April 18, 2017 (www.antagning.se)

Attached files: Poster