Antike Statue mit Handy
Please irritate me! Discussion series

Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann: Fake news and meat con­sump­ti­on in an­ti­qui­ty

Tu,
Oct 01

07:00 pm

Bricks Club Berlin, Mohrenstr. 30, 10117 Berlin

Co­vering the fresh per­spec­tive of a young ancient his­to­ri­an, new methods in ancient history, and the ability to be amazed. Peter-André Alt in con­ver­sa­ti­on with Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann.

Was fake news an issue in ancient Athens? Were the ancient Greeks better at dealing with un­con­fir­med in­for­ma­ti­on? Despite being at home in a rather tra­di­tio­nal di­sci­pli­ne, Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann’s re­se­arch in ancient history leans towards the un­con­ven­tio­nal, in­te­gra­ting con­tem­pora­ry debates and drawing on me­tho­do­lo­gi­cal ap­proa­ches from other di­sci­pli­nes.

For a long time, know­ledge about an­ti­qui­ty has been a mark of dis­tinc­tion worn by the edu­ca­ted bour­geoi­sie. Today, however, in­te­rest in the era is fading. With his re­se­arch, De­gel­mann is dusting off the ca­bi­nets of Greco-Roman history, en­ab­ling a fresh look at our antique he­ri­ta­ge. His most recent project takes con­tem­pora­ry debates on flight shaming, car bans, and meat con­sump­ti­on as a star­ting point to explore the notion of aus­teri­ty in an­ti­qui­ty.

To him, ir­ri­ta­ti­on is one of his most im­portant sources of in­spi­ra­ti­on, which he defines as the ability to be amazed. This ability does not ne­cessa­ri­ly raise new ques­ti­ons for re­se­arch. Rather, it in­spi­res Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann to ques­ti­on ir­re­con­cil­ab­le struc­tures in aca­de­mia, which will be one of the topics in his con­ver­sa­ti­on with Peter-André Alt. 

In col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Die Junge Aka­de­mie

Christopher Degelmann
©Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann

Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann

Chris­to­pher De­gel­mann studied history, re­li­gious studies and li­te­ra­tu­re. He com­ple­ted his PhD at the Max Weber Centre for Ad­van­ced Cul­tu­ral and Social Studies in 2016 and has been a vi­si­t­ing pro­fes­sor of ancient history at Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­si­tät zu Berlin since 2023. In April 2024, he was awarded the pres­ti­gious Heinz Maier-Leib­nitz Prize of the German Re­se­arch Foun­da­ti­on (DFG) for out­stan­ding early career re­se­ar­chers. He joined Die Junge Aka­de­mie in 2021.

Vi­deo­cast

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