Troubling Classical Bodies, Remarque Institute, New York University, 11 April 2025, 12.30pm and online – Brooke Holmes, Anurima Banerji and Stuart Elden

Through three short talks and a moderated conversation, we consider the relationship between idealized bodies and processes of classicization in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, drawing on our respective research on classical Indian dance, the reception of ancient Greek medicine, and the modern study of Indo-European languages.  We ask more broadly how the body is imagined as a bridge between an ancient past and the present, sustaining fantasies of continuity while also inviting practices that unsettle stable antiquities.

Lunch will be served at 12pm
Event will begin at 12:30pm

This event is part of an ongoing series concerning Legacies of Classical Ideas and their Recasting in the 20th Century, generously supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and co-sponsored by the Center for Ballet and the Arts.

Please RSVP here to attend in person. Advance registration is strictly required, or join us via Zoom.

I’ll be speaking about an aspect of my Indo-European project, on an early text by Émile Benveniste about the Sogdian language, and a puzzle of corporeal vocabulary which he explains through a comparative approach.