Guest Lectures and Webinars

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a researcher is getting to share your research topic with interested listeners. Besides an academic audience, many others are also keen to hear about ancient history and past cultures, and researchers are often invited as guest speakers to various events. Over the past winter and spring, I have received unusually many invitations to give guest lectures and speak in webinars.

This past week, I visited Turun klassillinen lukio (upper secondary school) and their ancient history course to talk about Pompeian graffiti. Reija, whose Latin courses I attended during my own high school years, has invited me many times to lecture for her students. I spoke with them about what graffiti are, how and where they were made in antiquity, who made them, and the types of subjects written on walls as graffiti. The students asked smart questions, and we had a great discussion about ancient graffiti. I always enjoy such visits as this.

Lecturing at Turun klassillinen lukio
(photo: Reija Pentti-Tuomisto)

Earlier in the spring, on the eve of May Day, I had the opportunity to lecture at a meeting of the history club at Auralan kansalaisopisto (Aurala Adult Education Centre) in Turku. The topic of the lecture were the many forms of insults in ancient Rome. I talked about the rhetorical theories on invective and the various sources in which insults can be found, such as Roman comedy, political speeches, satirical poetry, and graffiti. The audience was very knowledgeable and asked some difficult questions. The discussion continued for a long time after the lecture over coffee. It was a pleasant way to begin May Day celebrations.

Lecturing at Aurala kansalaisopisto

In January this year, I participated in a webinar hosted by Villa Lanten Ystävät (Friends of Villa Lante association), which also focused on Pompeian graffiti. This was a refreshingly different event because it was conducted as an interview. We discussed the topic together with researcher Elina Pyy, whom I met a few years ago at the Finnish Institute in Rome, i.e. at Villa Lante. We had prepared some questions in advance, but during the webinar, the conversation flowed smoothly from one topic to another. Elina is an excellent interviewer, and it was nice to be a guest at a familiar association's webinar.

Webinar hosted by Villa Lanten Ystävät
(photo: Laura Nissin)

In March, I received an invitation to participate in another webinar. This webinar series is titled Kieli on avain (Language is the Key) and it's produced by the School of Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Turku. It features interviews with the department's researchers, students, and alumni. I was interviewed together with another PhD researcher from our department, Maria Jokela. The theme of the webinar, stereotypes, is common to both of our research topics. We talked about what stereotypes are, how various stereotypes are visible in historical sources, and what role stereotypes play in people's thinking. This was an exciting experience, especially since the webinar was filmed in the university's studio and broadcast live on the university's YouTube channel. The recording of the webinar can be viewed at this link (in Finnish).

"Kieli on avain" webinar
(screenshot from the university's YouTube channel)

It is nice to see that such a broad audience is interested in my research. Such experiences are very encouraging and motivate me to keep working on my research.