Teaching “Theory” in Topical Graduate Seminars*

This paper discusses a method of teaching theory to graduate students in the context of graduate seminars that are constructed around classical topics—particular ancient texts or authors, specifi c historical or art-historical or archaeological questions, and so forth. This method ties the necessary theory directly to the seminar’s topic, and thereby subordinates the exposition of theory to the overall problematic of the seminar. This approach contrasts with that of the dedicated theory survey course, which gives priority to the theory as such. Two examples of such seminar construction are provided, both from the Ph.D. program in classics at Johns Hopkins University. It is clear from this collection of papers, and from the panel at which several of them were fi rst presented, that fi nding intellectually appropriate and pedagogically effective ways of teaching theory to students of different levels is a challenging task. Yet this task admits of many different solutions, or at least approaches, depending on the level of student, the inclinations of the instructor, and the scale, resources, and structure of the institution. This paper discusses a method of teaching theory to graduate students in the context of graduate seminars that are constructed around classical topics—particular ancient texts or authors, specifi c historical or art-historical or archaeological questions, and the like. This method ties the necessary theory directly to the seminar’s topic. Such a presentation subordinates the exposition of theory to * I thank Nigel Nicholson for inviting me to participate in the 2013 APA panel from which this collection of papers arose. I am grateful to the other panelists, namely Nicholson himself, Leslie Kurke, and Christopher van den Berg, as well as to the large and engaged audience in attendance, for lively and fruitful discussion of these issues. Above all I thank Hérica Valladares for discussion of these matters from a departmental perspective, and for generously supplying information about her seminars.