Amit Shilo
About:
“How do individuals and societies create and sustain values? Can these values be made more equitable?”
I have been preoccupied with versions of these ethical and political, but also literary questions for decades. They have led me to work on the societally disruptive aspects of Athenian tragedy (especially Aeschylus), Plato, Homer, and Greek political thinkers. Other research topics include Seneca, the Hebrew Bible, and Kafka. In each field I bring to bear modern debates over ethical philosophy in literature, political philosophy, and the work of a wide range of theorists and critics. In the current era of immense violence and oppression, I have been working on responsible activism with stakeholders as well as scholarship that seeks new ways of addressing problems and living in mutual flourishing.
Having traveled, worked, and studied, mostly around NYC and Europe after college (NYU, English Lit./History), I received my Ph.D. in Classics (also from NYU, 2012). There I worked as a Language Lecturer (2012-13) before a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard’s Mahindra Humanities Center (2013-14), from which I joined UCSB.
My first book is Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2022). It analyzes the multitude of views on the afterlife in the trilogy, ranging from oblivion to ghostly returns to one of the earliest examples in Western thought of postmortem judgment. Among the book’s central arguments is that specific ideas about the afterlife function as ethical checks for the living against political violence.
An article on the afterlife in Greek tragedy and Plato has appeared in ThéoRèmes (2013). Another, on the Ghost of Clytemnestra and ethical thought appeared in the American Journal of Philology (2018). In it, I take the Ghost’s claims seriously, as the Erinyes do. I find that crediting this undead, lying, murdering character entails a literary-philosophical provocation past normative ethical assumptions. [links to each article below]. I have published a book chapter in Wiley’s Companion to Aeschylus (2022), entitled “Ghosts, Demons, and Gods: Supernatural Challenges.” A third article, “The Chained Demons of Creation: Literalism and Unetymology in Genesis 1” (in press at ThéoRèmes) combines biblical Hebrew philology, literary criticism, and religious studies. It argues that the first creation story structures its own “literal” reception through simultaneously stripping the dangerous names of nature divinities and drawing attention to its technique. A recent article at Arethusa, “Unanimous Gods, Unanimous Athens: The Oresteia’s Challenge to Democracy,” engages more directly with modern political-theological theories and political philosophy. I am co-editing two books, Reconciliation in the Greco-Roman World and Cathartic History. My next monograph is provisionally entitled “Polytheism and Democracy: Ancient and Modern.” In it I compare the plural theologies, values, and practices of Greek polytheism and the theories, institutions, and processes of Athenian Democracy.
My research has recently also expanded in diverse directions: In environmental humanities I am writing on ancient views of life and the modern search for life in space; as well as on the materiality, religious and political dimensions of classical bone-reburials. Following a long-standing interest in digital humanities and NLP and collective translation projects in graduate school, I have joined our brilliant Professor Annie Lamar and the LOREL lab on several projects related to testimonies of displacement, arising from the Nakba. In comparative work I have been privileged to work with colleagues and students on projects related to Indian and Japanese mythology and religion. I am an affiliate of UCSB Religious Studies and of the Centre de Recherche Écritures, Université de Lorraine, France [https://ecritures.univ-lorraine.fr/].
I have been fortunate that my teaching has often furthered my research, including graduate seminars on “Greek Democracy and Its Critics” and “Classical Tyranny,” as well as graduate and undergraduate courses on Greek tragedy, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, the ancient afterlife, Greek intellectual revolutions, and mythology.
In 2016 I co-founded Classics and Social Justice (CSJ) with Prof. Nancy Rabinowitz (Hamilton College). Its mandate is to connect all aspects of the discipline with self-critical, positive social change. This includes amplifying the remarkable activism of scholars and teachers, as well as helping the profession become more equitable. It has grown into an SCS affiliated group with meetings across the US and in Europe. I have co-organized a number of CSJ events at SCS/AIA annual meetings, including the three-part workshop “Classics and Civic Activism” (2020) and the panel “Activisms Ancient and Modern” (2022). Recently I have been working on multiple fundraisers for reproductive justice and trans wellness, and an upcoming panel on economic inequality, ancient and modern.
At UCSB I am involved with a variety of mentoring and social justice projects, such as the Promise Scholars, the Gaucho Underground Scholars, and the Odyssey Project. To address ongoing atrocities I have also worked to support internationally and bring to our campus real dialogue with stakeholders from “the Land,” Israel-Palestine, such as Salt of the Earth.
A year studying Ancient Greek material culture, art history, and excavation as the Phillip Lockhart Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (2007-08) has greatly benefited my teaching and research.
I warmly welcome inquiries from all students (including prospective ones) concerning the above or related topics.
Publications:
Book
- Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics, (Cambridge University Press 2022) [link below]
Articles, Book Chapters, and Reviews
- “Ghosts, Demons, and Gods: Supernatural Challenges,” (in A Companion to Aeschylus, 2022, Wiley Press) [link below]
- “The Chained Demons of Creation: Literalism and Unetymology in Genesis 1,” (forthcoming, ThéoRèmes)
- Review: The Mortal Voice in the Tragedies of Aeschylus by Sarah Nooter,” Classical World, Vol. 112, Num. 2, Winter 2019 [link below]
- “The Ghost of Clytemnestra in the Eumenides: Ethical Claims Beyond Human Limits,” American Journal of Philology, Vol. 139, Num. 4, Winter 2018 [link below]
- “From Oblivion to Judgment: Afterlives, Ethics, and Unbeliefs in Greek Tragedy and Plato,” ThéoRèmes, Vol. 5, 2013 [link below]
Beyond Death in the Oresteia (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Ghosts Demons and Gods (Wiley, A Companion to Aeschylus, 2022)
Review of Nooter, The Mortal Voice (Classical World, 2019)
“The Ghost of Clytemnestra in the Eumenides: Ethical Claims Beyond Human Limits” (American Journal of Philology, 2018)
“From Oblivion to Judgment: Afterlives, Ethics, and Unbeliefs in Greek Tragedy and Plato” (ThéoRèmes, 2013)