Cindy BENTON, John GRUBER-MILLER Through Others' Eyes: A Model for Making Greek Textbooks More Inclusive

Many teachers of Greek and Latin are frustrated with the level of inclusion of women and marginalized groups in language textbooks. Schmitz (Integrating Women's Studies into the Curriculum, 1985) identifies four categories for assessing the representation of women in foreign language textbooks: exclusion, subordination, distortion, and degradation. This paper uses these guidelines to provide a model for supplementing existing textbooks in order to help students and teachers see through others' eyes and redress the inherent biases of those texts. It also suggests some theoretical underpinnings for revising existing texts. Throughout the paper, we will use particular examples from our website that offers supplementary exercises for Athenaze (http://cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/ariadne).

When supplementing a textbook, we argue that there are several principles that one should follow. First, exercises should be integrated with specific chapters. Second, most assignments should be able to be completed in 20-30 minutes. Third, activities should integrate both language and culture. Fourth, they should provide opportunities for students not only to understand the roles of women and other marginalized groups in ancient Greece, but, as much as possible, to try to see the world from their perspective. Fifth, they should use their knowledge of ancient Greece to critique modern perceptions of gender and ethnicity.

Using these guidelines, we suggest a variety of exercises, reading passages, visual materials, and pedagogical methods that can be incorporated into the assignments in Athenaze. First, a text can be more inclusive by giving voice to women and outsiders already in a text, for example, by asking students to retell stories from other perspectives. Second, women and non-Greeks can be added to particular chapters where they are conspicuously absent by using simple inscriptions, images, and texts. Third, grammar and vocabulary exercises that expose biases in Greek society could also be used to expand students' understanding of marginalized groups in Athenian culture. In short, such supplementary exercises not only provide models for textbook revision, but also, in the interim, enrich the students' understanding of non-dominant groups by encouraging them to see through other's eyes.