Classical Studies Presentations
Title
Unlocking the Provinces: Defining and Prioritizing Roman Provincial Studies
Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
1-4-2017
Abstract
Despite the fact that the Roman provinces constituted the vast majority of territory of the Roman Empire, research and teaching in North America has focused predominantly on a Roman imperialist perspective borne out of Italy with Rome at the centre. This North American landscape, however, has changed dramatically. Researchers and students in Canada and the US more readily look to the provinces for new modes of research to answer questions about the past. Now, most Canadian universities employ a Roman archaeologist whose research focuses on the provinces rather than on the imperial core. This conference seeks to harness the surge of research interest in Canada and to set that research into an international framework with a globalized perspective. The very nature of the Roman Empire, as a vast multicultural endeavour, favours an approach that foregrounds the provinces, and which requires the insights of a globalized scholarly community.