This evening, two eminent scholars of race in the past will give short lectures and then discuss their work on race and racialization in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In contemporary society, both in the USA and elsewhere, matters of race shape politics, governance, economies, and social demography. The concepts of race we use, however, are those which emerged in the 19th century. How might the concept of race have emerged in the past, and how might it have shaped past societies? A growing body of scholarship explores the contexts in which we see the application of social distinctions around identities in dress, physiognomy, language, and other traits, to categorize each other. These contexts are each different from the other, and the applications of these categories also changed over time and space. 

Patrice Rankine and Geraldine Heng are pioneering scholars in the field of race and its pasts. Each has authored major publications which set the frameworks for research in Race in antiquity (Rankine) and the Middle Ages (Heng). We will hear from each of them a short presentation on their research and the formation of this field, and then a conversation between them about their work.

Speakers

Patrice Rankine, Professor in the Department of Classics and the College, University of Chicago, researches the Greco-Roman classics and their afterlife, particularly as they pertain to literature, theater, and the history and performance of race. Prof. Rankine is the Lucy Shoe Meritt Resident in Ancient Studies, 2025.

Geraldine Heng holds the Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Chair in English and Comparative Literature, University of Texas. Her research focuses on literary, cultural, and social encounters between worlds, and webs of exchange and negotiation between communities and cultures, particularly when transacted through issues of race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion. She is especially interested in medieval Europe’s discoveries and rediscoveries of Asia and Africa. Prof. Heng is the Lester K. Little Resident in Medieval Studies, 2025.