Liberal Arts

Mathias Hanses elected president of Classical Association of the Atlantic States

Mathias Hanses, Melvin and Rosalind Jacobs Endowed Fellow in the Humanities and associate professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies and African studies at Penn State, pictured above teaching at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy, last summer, was recently elected to serve as the president of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States.  Credit: Clayton Lose All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Though still in the early part of his academic career, Mathias Hanses, Melvin and Rosalind Jacobs Endowed Fellow in the Humanities and associate professor of classics and ancient Mediterranean studies and African studies at Penn State, is about to take on a prominent new role within his field.

Hanses was recently elected to serve as the president of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS). His one-year term began Jan. 1.

Founded in 1907 and made up of more than 300 members, CAAS strives “to strengthen teaching and research and foster public support for the languages, civilizations, and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome in the mid-Atlantic region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania).” As part of its mission, the organization publishes the quarterly journal Classical World.

Hanses has been involved with CAAS since 2010, and most recently served as its first vice president.

“I am very honored to be trusted with the position. It’s an important moment for the field of classics and I’m hoping to be part of a generational shift within the organization,” he said. “Over the past couple years, there’s been a lot of looking inward within our field. We’re a traditionally white field, so we’ve been looking at how we can do better and be more inclusive. That includes trying to do more programming that addresses topics like racism and antisemitism. And now I can push that even further as president.”

Meanwhile, Hanses has a number of other goals for the coming year, including bringing more high school teachers into the organization to broaden its representation, and establishing additional grants for students who are interested in classics. In addition, he would like to convert the group’s current administrative system from paper to electronic.

As chair of CAAS’ executive committee, Hanses will preside at its annual meeting next fall at the University of Pennsylvania. For that, he hopes to find presenters among his Penn State colleagues.

“We’re hoping to get four or five of our faculty to submit their work, which will help our department in terms of recruitment and outreach,” he said.

Despite the new role, Hanses’ teaching and scholarship continues unabated. He’s currently working on his second book, “Black Cicero: W. E. B. Du Bois, the Ancient Romans, and the Future of Classical Scholarship.” Published by Oxford University Press, the book is due to come out in late 2023.

In the book, Hanses examines how the great African American scholar and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois developed a kinship to the life and works of the Roman orator Cicero during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“I hope to present fresh insights into both of their oeuvres and to elucidate important aspects of how Du Bois activated the literature of the ancient Mediterranean in his lifelong fight against anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and other manifestations of racism both personal and systemic,” Hanses said. “Du Bois was primarily a sociologist, an historian, and an activist, but I argue that it is as a result of his short-term employment as a professor of Greek and Latin, and against the backdrop of his long-term interactions with other Black classicists — a group whose publications their discipline has traditionally ignored — that we witness in Du Bois’s writings the solidification of a view of Cicero’s works as the joint intellectual possession of all people and peoples across the globe.

“To be honest, it’s a difficult topic to write on as a white person — a steep learning curve, but very enlightening. My worldview keeps evolving as I work on it,” added Hanses, who recently discussed his research on the Khameleon Classics podcast.

Looking back, Hanses finds it interesting how his career path took shape, considering that as an adolescent growing up outside of Cologne, Germany, classics held little interest for him.

“When I was a teenager, I rebelled against Latin. I wanted to study French instead,” he said with a laugh. “But when I got to college, I felt I had missed out on something. What I eventually noticed is it’s a fascinating subject that also gives you the chance to branch out into so many different topics. I find conversations across cultures and continents fascinating, and classics gave me a way into that. For many people, there is something mildly escapist about working in the ancient world. But I prefer to use those materials to think through modern issues, like race and gender. The ancient world really can help you to learn more about the present.”

And he loves the relationships he has forged with students and colleagues since joining the College of the Liberal Arts’ faculty.

“I love it here, honestly,” Hanses said. “Penn State had everything I was looking for — engaged and engaging students, a great library, accomplished colleagues. I think we have a very familial atmosphere in the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. The community is really what makes it for me, across the entire college.”

Last Updated January 10, 2023

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