SANDRA BLAKELY
Office:
221F Candler Library
Phone:
404.727.6046
E-Mail:
sblakel@emory.edu
Education:
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
PhD, Classics and Anthropology, 1998
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
BA with High Honors, German and Humanities, 1982
Teaching Experience:
1999- Emory University: Assistant Professor (to 2005); Associate Professor (2005 to present) Intensive Latin; Greek (Herodotus); Ancient Mediterranean Studies (Archaeology); Greek and Roman Religion; Mythology; Greek Archaeology; Bronze Age Archaeology; Classics and Anthropology; Magic, Mysteries, and Festivals; Greek Death;
1992- 96 California State University, Long Beach: Assistant Lecturer. Greek Mythology; Intensive Latin
1989- 93 University of Southern California, Department of Classics: Teaching Assistant Roman Civilization; Classical Mythology; Psychoanalysis of Dream and Myth; Comedy
Publications:
2011 Conon (FGH 26), Brill’s New Jacoby: online publication of translation and commentary.
“Hephaistos”, “Vulcan”, and “Kouretes”, Wiley-Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Ancient History.
“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.
2010 “Kadmos, Jason, and the Great Gods of Samothrace: initiation as mediation in a Northern Aegean context”, Electronic Antiquity 11.1.
2009 “Ancient Mysteries, Modern Secrets”, proceedings of the Conference on the Mysteries, Electronic Antiquity 12.1 (2008): Introduction, and editing of articles.
Herodorus (FGH 31) Brill’s New Jacoby: online publication of translation and commentary.
2008 BMCR 2008.07.33: Review of E. Kyriakidis, The Archaeology of Ritual.
Classical Bulletin 84: 111-113, Review of F. Naiden, Ancient Supplication.
2007 “Pherekydes’ Daktyloi: ritual, technology, and the Presocratic Perspective”, Kernos 20: 43-67.
2006 Myth, Ritual and Metallurgy in Ancient Greece and Recent Africa, Cambridge University Press.
2000 “Madness in the Body Politic: Kouretes, Korybantes, and the Politics of Shamanism,” in J. Hubert, ed., The Archaeology and Anthropology of Madness, Disability and Social Exclusion, Part 2 of Mind and Body in Society.
“Smelting and Sacrifice,” in S. Young, Metals in Antiquity, Oxford Archaeopress.
Selected Papers presented:
2012 “Mapping the Mysteries: GIS as a Pedagogical Aid in the History of Religions’, paper in the panel, “New Mapping Resources for Instructors and Students”, Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
2011 “Modeling the mysteries: GIS technology, network models, and the cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace’, Digital Classicist Seminar Series, King’s College London (July).
“More than pilgrimage: Samothrace, GIS, and Safety at Sea”, Society for Biblical Literature conference, San Francisco (November).
“Mystery gods at the Circus Maximus: Samothracian rites at Rome’, Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
2010 “Beyond Silence: Soteriology, Samothrace, and the concept of secrecy”, paper in the panel, “Salvation in the Mystic Cults”, CAMWS March 24-26
Walsh lectures, University of Chicago, November
2009 Reponses to papers at Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions conference, Rome: G. Casadio, “From Eusebeia to Threskeia”, L. Gawlinski, “Finding the Sacred in Greek Sacred Law”
2007 “Samothrace: iron, indigenes, and the archaeology of secrecy,” University of
Cincinnati, Wooster College, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford
“From Kouretes to Kpelle: Rites of Passage and Comparative Studies,” Rites of
Passage of the Life Cycle in Antiquity Conference, Getty Museum, Malibu
2006 “Iron, Ritual, and the Archaeology of Secrecy,” Society for American Archaeology,
San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Samothracian Penates and the Colonial Project,” The Mythology and
Iconography of Colonization Conference, Cuma, Italy
“Samothrace: the mysteries in their Northern Aegean Context”, Ohio University
“Samothrace: from Pelasgians to Penates”, Austin University, Texas
“Iron, invention, and cosmology: Greek reflections on the technological past”,
Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference, Exeter, England
2005 “Gender, Magic and Metallurgy between Greece and Africa,” Langford
Conference, Greek Religion and the Orient, Florida State University
2003 “Samothracia Ferrea”International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston MA “Gernet and the Daimones“ AIA/APA annual meeting, San Diego, CA
“Black Hephaistos: Greek myth, African ritual, and the interdisciplinary prospect”
workshop on interdisciplinarity, Oxford University, UK
“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
2001 “Black Hephaistos: African Ironworking and Greek Daimones” Johns Hopkins University; Harvard University; University of Georgia at Athens
1999 “Kouretes, Korybantes, and the Politics of Shamanism”
World Archaeological Congress, Capetown, South Africa
“Welcomed Madness: Kouretes, Korybantes, and Mary Douglas” Rethinking the Irrational: Madness in the Ancient World conference, Newnham College, Cambridge
“Production, religion, and semiotics: on the uses of myth in archaeological
interpretation” American Schools of Oriental Research conference, Boston
1998 "The Scholars and the Demons," Conference of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies, Tel Aviv
1997 "Sacra Metallurgica," APA/AIA Annual Meeting, Chicago, December
"Myth and Models of Production," Trade and Production in Premonetary Greece conference, Swedish Institute of Archaeological Research, Athens
"Smelting and Sacrifice," Metals in Antiquity conference, Harvard University
Works in Progress:
“Magnetism, Mysteries, and the Aesthetics of Secrecy: Iron rings from the Sanctuary of the Great Gods of Samothrace”, historical and archaeometallurgical analysis, in cooperation with Dr. Yannis Maniatis, Laboratory of Archaeometry, Aghia Paraskevi, Greece, of 32 iron ringer rings from the site of Samothrace, article to be submitted to Hesperia.
Seafaring and the Sacred: Mediterranean Networks and the Cult of the Great Gods of Samothrace, book manuscript, GIS database.
Translation and commentary, Alexandros Polyhistor (FGH 273), Brill’s New Jacoby.
“Varro and the mysteries: from ritual to philosophy in Roman Samothrace”, to be published in Classical Philology
“Cabiri”, “Samothrace”, and “Superstition”, Cambridge Dictionary of Ancient Mediterranean Religion
“The archaeology of Greek religion”, Springer Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology
Service to Emory University :
2010 Chair, Humanities Subcommittee, URC
2008- Member, Humanities Subcommittee, URC
2007- Director, Program in Ancient Mediterranean Studies
2005-6 Initiative for Reinvigorating the Humanities at Emory
2002-4 Faculty Advisory Board, Michael C. Carlos Museum
2001-4 Curriculum Committee, Humanities Subdivision
1999-2000 Gustavson seminar, Emory University
Service to the Profession:
2010- Editor for Greek Religion section, Wiley-Blackwell Religion Compass
2007-11 Committee on Admissions and Fellowships, American School of Classical Studies
2006 Organizer, Ancient Song in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Ritual, Performance, and History, conference at Emory University
2002 Organizer, Conference on the Mysteries: Ancient Mystery Religions and the Anthropology of Secrecy, at Emory University
Academic Awards:
2010-11 Fellow, Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Emory University
2007-10 Winship Distinguished Associate Research Professorship, Emory University
2006-07 Margot Tytus Fellowship, University of Cincinnati
University Research Center grant, Emory University
2003 NEH Summer Seminar, “Roman Religion in its Cultural Context”
2000-01 Junior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington DC
1998-99 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Albright Institute, Jerusalem
1998 American Academy in Rome, Summer Program in Archaeology
1997 George A. Barton Fellowship, Albright Institute, Jerusalem
1996-97 Jacob Hirsch Fellowship, American School of Classical Studies, Athens
1994 Douglas Nelson travel award, Classics Department, USC
1991 Ellen N. Lawler Summer Session Fellowship, American School of Classical Studies, Athens
1989-92 Dean’s Graduate Fellowship, University of Southern California
1977-81 Spencer W. Kimball Scholarship, Brigham Young University
Outreach Activities:
2012 Homer’s Odyssey: NEH Great Works Seminar, Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Atlanta.
Carlos Museum Reads: Hesiod
2011 Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Journeys, Lecturer
2010 “Heroes, Horses, and Hoplites of Unusual Size: Ghostly apparitions at Marathon”, Marathon 2500 Celebration, Michael C. Carlos Museum
2007 ‘Olympic Games in the Elementary School Classroom’, presentation for Georgia Educators, Michael C. Carlos Museum
2006 “Argonauts and papyri: Minoan Gold Ornaments in the Michael C. Carlos Museum”, public lecture, AntiquiTea series, Emory University and La Grange College, Georgia
“Introduction to the Aegean Bronze Age”, Docent lecture, Michael C. Carlos Museum
Outside reviewer for archaeology syllabus, International Baccalaureate Organization
2005 Gallery tour for undergraduate students and faculty from the University of Alabama, Michael C. Carlos Museum
2003 “Bed, Bath, and the Minoan Beyond: A Late Minoan Larnax”, public lecture, Michael C. Carlos Museum
1999-2011 Archaeological Institute of America, Local representative, Atlanta chapter
1996-7 Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Journeys, Lecturer