Erin Bell is a Senior Lecturer in History with expertise in early modern history, especially gender, religion and culture; North Sea cultures, in particular C19th Norwegian links to the UK; and the representation of the past on television in the UK and/or overseas
The Disability History Month event, In conversation with the author of Disability in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Hellenistic World, hosted on 28 November 2024 at the University of Lincoln by the School of Heritage and Humanities (SHH) EDI in collaboration with the College of Arts, Social Science and Humanities (CoASSH) EDI and the Staff Disability Forum, brought a diverse audience in person and online together to appreciate the insights of Dr Alexandra Morris, Lecturer in Classical Studies and scholar of disability history. Dr Morris’ work highlights the rich and varied lives of disabled people in the past, as well as the need to recognise often greater prejudice amongst scholars in later years when writing about disability. As the first event at the University ever to mark DHM, it is heartening that there were around 25 people in attendance online and in the seminar room, including undergraduates and postgrads as well as staff from LIBS, Journalism and Art History.
One of the core messages of the afternoon related to Dr Morris’ ongoing work on a guide to disability terminology, initially shared online (Blog: A Brief Guide to Disability Terminology and Theory in Ancient World Studies | Society for Classical Studies) and aimed at scholars of Ancient World Studies, although it will be shared more widely in the university via CoASSH EDI; its publication is also forthcoming. The guide outlines best practice when talking about disabled people, and also highlights the way in which some C19th and later descriptions are highly problematic, and revealing of earlier prejudices of archaeologists and other scholars.
Questions addressed to Dr Morris included discussion of stereotyping, by white archaeologists, of the treatment of disabled infants in Ancient Egypt, and also the immense value of visual sources in the analysis. The event started and concluded with refreshments, a welcome addition for a lunchtime event and also signalling the potential of the event for networking; even at the very end of the session Dr Morris was sharing her insights with enthusiastic students and colleagues, one of whom noted how happy she was that she had seen the university-wide advertisement for the event as she was based in the wider institution. This certainly underlined the benefit to the whole university of such events, including those originating in SHH and more broadly, CoASSH.