SANDRA BLAKELY
Office:
221F Candler Library
Phone:
404.727.7939
E-Mail:
sblakel@emory.edu
Areas of Specialization
Greek religion and archaeology
Cultural Anthropology
Comparative Ethnography
Archaeological Theory
Education
PhD, Classics and Anthropology, University of Southern California
Dissertation: Daimones, Metallurgy, and Cult (director, R. Caldwell; committee members, T.
Habinek, J.S. Lansing, S.P. Morris) 1998
BA, German and Humanities, Brigham Young University 1982
Teaching experience
Emory University
Assistant Professor, 1999- 2005
Associate Professor, 2005 -
Winship Distinguished Associate Research Professor, 2007-2010
Associated Faculty, departments of Art History, Religion, and Middle Eastern and South
Asian Studies, 2005 -
Director, Ancient Mediterranean Studies, 2007-2010
California State University, Long Beach: Assistant Lecturer 1992-1996
University of Southern California, Teaching Assistant, 1989-1993
Courses taught
Language
Elementary Greek
Intensive and Elementary Latin
Archaeology
Introduction to Greek Archaeology
Bronze Age Greece
Introduction to Mediterranean Archaeology
Topical courses
Classics and Anthropology
Greek Death
Greek and Roman religion
Mythology
Magic, Mysteries and Festivals
Graduate advising, Ph.D. dissertations
Bullock, A.V. (Religion), “State Secrets: The Eleusinian Mysteries under Rome” (director)
Balthis, A.B. (Art History) “Monumental Built Altars in Western Asia Minor in the Hellenistic Period”
Palinkas, J. (Art History) “Eleusinian Gateways: Entrances to the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis and the City Eleusinion in Athens”
Munoz, K. (Religion) “How not to go out of the World: First Corinthians 14:13-25 and the Social Foundations of Early Christian Expansion”
Publications
“Toward an archaeology of secrecy: power, paradox, and the Great Gods of Samothrace”
in Beyond Belief: The Archaeology of Religion and Ritual, Archaeological Papers
of the American Anthropology Association, vol. 19. (2009)
Review of Naiden, Ancient Supplication, 2006: CB 84 (2008)
“Kadmos, Jason, and the Great Gods of Samothrace: initiation as mediation in a Northern
Aegean context,” Electronic Antiquity, Volume X, number 3 (2007)
“Pherekydes’ Daktyloi: ritual, technology, and the Presocratic Perspective”Kernos 20: 43-67 (2007)
Myth, Ritual and Metallurgy in Ancient Greece and Recent Africa, Cambridge University Press (2006)
“Madness in the Body Politic: Kouretes, Korybantes, and the Politics of Shamanism,” pp. 119-127 in J. Hubert, ed., Madness, Disability and Social Exclusion: The archaeology and
anthropology of ‘difference’, Routledge (2000)
"Smelting and Sacrifice: Comparative Analysis of Greek and Near Eastern Cult Sites from the Late Bronze through the Classical Periods," pp. 86-90 in S. Young, Metals in Antiquity, Oxford Archaeopress (1999)
Papers
“Samothrace: iron, indigenes, and the archaeology of secrecy,” University of Cincinnati,
Wooster College, American School of Classical Studies, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 2007
“From Kouretes to Kpelle: Rites of Passage and Comparative Studies,” Rites of Passage of the Life Cycle in Antiquity Conference, Getty Museum, Malibu, 2007
“Iron, Ritual, and the Archaeology of Secrecy,” Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006
“Samothracian Penates and the Colonial Project,” The Mythology and Iconography of Colonization Conference, Cuma, Italy, 2006
“Samothrace: the mysteries in their Northern Aegean Context”, Ohio University, 2006
“Samothrace: from Pelasgians to Penates”, University of Texas at Austin, 2006
“Iron, invention, and cosmology: Greek reflections on the technological past”,
Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference, Exeter, England, 2006
“Gender, Magic and Metallurgy between Greece and Africa,” Langford Conference,
Greek Religion and the Orient, Florida State University, 2005
“Samothracia Ferrea” International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston MA, 2003
“Gernet and the Daimones“ AIA/APA annual meeting, San Diego, CA, 2003“Black Hephaistos: Greek myth, African ritual, and the interdisciplinary prospect”
workshop on interdisciplinarity, Oxford University, UK, 2003
“Iron rings, inscriptions, and missing daimones: archaeology and texts at the sanctuary
of the Great Gods on Samothrace” Conference on Archaeology and Texts, Calgary, Canada, 2003
“Black Hephaistos: African Ironworking and Greek Daimones” Johns Hopkins
University; Harvard University; University of Georgia at Athens, 2001
“Kouretes, Korybantes, and the Politics of Shamanism”, World Archaeological Congress,
Capetown, South Africa, 1999
“Welcomed Madness: Kouretes, Korybantes, and Mary Douglas” Rethinking the
Irrational: Madness in the Ancient World conference, Newnham College,Cambridge, 1999
“Production, religion, and semiotics: on the uses of myth in archaeological interpretation”
American Schools of Oriental Research conference, Boston, MA 1999
"Telchines, Apkallu and Cultural Transfer," Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, 1998
"The Scholars and the Demons," Conference of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies, Tel Aviv, 1998
"Sacra Metallurgica," APA/AIA Annual Meeting, Chicago, December, 1997
"Myth and Models of Production," Trade and Production in Premonetary Greece conference, Swedish Institute of Archaeological Research, Athens, 1997
"Smelting and Sacrifice," Metals in Antiquity conference, Harvard University, 1997
Ongoing Projects:
Samothrace: Iron, Ritual, and the Archaeology of Secrecy, book manuscript
Translation and commentary of three ancient authors – Alexandros Polyhistor, Conon, and Herodorus - in Brill’s new edition of Jacoby’s Fragmenta der Griechischen Historik
Ancient Mysteries and Modern Secrets, edited collection of essays from 2002 Conference on the Mysteries, accepted as a special volume of Electronic Antiquity for 2008
Academic Awards:
Margo Tytus Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 2006-007
University Research Center grant, Emory University, 2006-2007
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, “Roman Religion in its Cultural Context”, 2005
Junior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington DC, 2000-2001
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, 1989-99
American Academy in Rome, Summer Program in Archaeology, 1998
George A. Barton Fellowship, Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem, 1997
Jacob Hirsch Fellowship, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, 1996-1997
Douglas Nelson travel award, Classics Department, University of Southern California, 1994
Outstanding Departmental Teaching Assistant, Classics Department, University of Southern California, 1992
Ellen N. Lawler Summer Session Fellowship, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, 1991
Dean's Graduate Fellowship, University of Southern California, 1989-1992
Spencer W. Kimball Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 1977-1981
Professional Activity
Committee on Admissions and Fellowships, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2007-2010
organizer, Ancient Song in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Ritual, Performance, and History, conference at Emory University, 2006
organizer, Conference on the Mysteries: Ancient Mystery Religions and the Anthropology of Secrecy, at Emory University, 2001
Managing committee representative for Emory University, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1999-
Chair, NEH committee, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2002-2003
Chair, Local Chapter, Archaeological Institute of America, 2001-2002