Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity

CSAAD Africa~Diaspora Forum Series
Dr. Sarah Derbew
Stanford University

Thursday, September 10, 2026
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
20 Cooper SQ, Room 503
New York City, NY 10003
Zoom link: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/97904117116

Sarah F. Derbew, Assistant Professor of Classics at Stanford University, writes, teaches, and speaks widely about ancient Greece’s representations of black people that nimbly provoke – and cut through – hierarchies. In conversation with Dr. Michael Gomez, Derbew will highlight the key interventions of her recent book, Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity (2022), an anti-racist study of blackness in the ancient Greek world. More broadly, she will discuss the benefits of studying Classics alongside Black Studies and African Studies.

For accommodations, please contact the Assistant Director for the Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora at ac8829@nyu.edu.

This event is co-sponsored by:
NYU Center for Ancient Studies
NYU Department of Art History
NYU Department of Classics

Register Here

Bio:

About Dr. Sarah Derbew:

I am a writer, teacher, and advocate for ancient African Studies.

In my work, I explore literary representations of black people in ancient Greece across genres such as ancient Greek tragedy, historiography, satire, and the novel. I also examine artistic renderings of black people in Greek antiquity—considering the objects themselves and the museums in which they live. My interests extend all the way to the twenty-first century; I’ve written about the reception of Greco-Roman antiquity in Africa and the African diaspora.

I earned my PhD in Classics from Yale University and was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Now, I am an Assistant Professor of Classics at Stanford University, affiliated with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Center for African Studies.

In 2022, I published my first book, titled Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity (Cambridge University Press). In this book, I traced the role of black people in ancient Greek literature and art while critiquing contemporary prejudicial thinking about Greek antiquity. I recently co-edited a volume entitled Classics and Race: A Historical Reader with Dr. Daniel Orrells and Dr. Phiroze Vasunia (UCL Press, 2025). I am currently exploring the intersections between Greek and African antiquity, focusing on the ancient empire of Aksum. My expertise also includes teaching courses about Black Classics and decolonial African archives in the United States and Kenya.