Bringing the Classics into Modernity
The Lannisters, Starks, and Targaryans huddle around the table in a debate: who should be the next heir to the throne?
The Lannisters support monarchy and their blood claim to the throne. The Starks claim meritocracy is the answer and offer Jon Snow as the best choice. Strangely enough, the Targaryans advocate for a peasants’ rebellion and support democracy.
This is not your typical Game of Thrones story — this is Ayelet Haimson Lushkov’s Classics and Modern Fantasy course.
Every potential dramatic possibility is employed during the debate. Costumes, sound effects, banners, and a theatrical balloon popping — representing the death of an innocent commoner — are used to support each team’s argument. And in each argument, intertwined with the Game of Thrones story, are references to classical literature: Herodotus, Caesar, the Mandate of Heaven, etc.
Professor Haimson Lushkov, an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics, uses Game of Thrones to engage students with classical literature. “Game of Thrones is part of a tradition of story-telling that starts with classical antiquity, through medieval chivalry, and goes all the way up to modern fantasy,” she says. The course currently carries the Writing Flag, and starting in the spring, will also carry a Global Cultures Flag.
Professor Haimson Lushkov wants students to “build confidence in their own abilities as readers of text,” she says. In line with Writing Flag learning objectives, this confidence requires “having the skills to ask interesting questions, and being able to answer them using good evidence in a well-constructed argument.” Throughout the semester students write papers to analyze themes in classical literature. Although the debates may appear as chaotic fun, they result in thoughtful written reflections, a glimpse of which is visible during clear conclusion rebuttals offered by each team.
Alex Bellon, a first-year student in the course, says, “Even with all of these fun elements, the discussions and arguments we have are more thoughtful and engaging than any debates I’ve had in other classes. Rather than reading arguments straight from their paper, the students are genuinely invested in their positions and use their prepared material as a way to start the conversation instead of making it their entire argument.”
As they argue politics in the fictional world of Game of Thrones, the students reflect on the real historical cultural context and perspectives of ancient Greece and Rome. This in-depth examination and exploration is an objective of the Global Cultures Flag.
Professor Haimson Lushkov envisions that students will think “more productively about some of the themes that run through the course: the way we idolize certain types of masculinity; the veneration of violence; problems in political legitimacy;… and so on.” She says, “these are all common themes to the ancient world, Martin’s fantasy world of Westeros, and our own culture today — and that’s just a sample.”
Bellon agrees that classical literature includes pertinent themes: “We discuss how the passages represent and address much deeper issues that still are relevant today — things like masculinity and femininity, death and loss, and the glorification of war.” Although she was already interested in classical literature and Ancient Greece and Rome, this class showed her “how applicable [classical literature is] to today’s society... the issues that existed a thousand years ago are just as relevant today,” she says.
Professor Haimson Lushkov recognizes that works of classical antiquity can be intimidating because of their length, complexity, and historical setting. She overcomes this intimidation by tapping into students’ interest in Game of Thrones. “If you can read a thousand pages of GoT and work out who all of House Stark’s bannermen are, well, then you can read the Aeneid,” she says.
Throughout the years Professor Haimson Lushkov has tried a variety of ways to incorporate student presentations. She chose to use debates in this course to ensure the whole class is engaged, a common challenge with traditional student presentations. The debates “tap into their creativity and competitiveness — and I think it’s worked well, especially for this group, who’ve really taken it to heart,” she says.
Interested in learning about what happens during the debates? Professor Haimson Lushkov live-tweets the arguments, claims, and antics of each debate on her personal Twitter account.
The Skills and Experience Flags are a unique and innovative feature of all undergraduate degrees at The University of Texas at Austin. The Flags are designed to provide the enriched education that all students will need to become effective future leaders in our society and a constantly evolving workplace.
For more information about the Flags, contact the Center for Skills & Experience Flags office
By Laura Robinson, Graduate Assistant for CSEF
