Citizen Classicists Now

Dan Hughes‏ @danielrhughes11 21 godz.21 godzin temu

Dave, plumber from Milton Keynes, says Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge is wrong about Roman Britain. Ok.

  Mary Beard: A Don’s Life 'Roman Britain in Black and White' TLS August 3, 2017

There is a conundrum underlying this. I feel very strongly that talking about history isn’t just for professional historians, and I don’t much like the line which goes ‘I’ve read more than you on this topic so I am right’. But in this whole exchange I did resort sometimes to asking ‘Have you read any book on the history of Roman Britain?’. A few people had the grace to say they had not. And there were glimpses of some obvious ignorance and misunderstanding. [...] It also feels very sad to me that we cannot have a reasonable discussion on such a topic as the cultural ethnic composition of Roman Britain without resorting to unnecessary insult, abuse, misogyny and language of war not debate (and that includes one senior academic). It’s a bit of a bleak outlook for how we might talk about modern ethnic diversity. We should reflect, I think.