The Department of History offers warmest congratulations to all the York PhD History students involved in COLPAH for organizing a very successful 1st COLPAH Graduate Conference in Ancient History held Friday and Saturday (April 27-28, 2012) in Toronto.

“From the Inside Looking Out: Alterity and Creating the Other in Ancient History” was the theme, and it attracted speakers from Canada, the U.S., Italy and the U.K.   Graduate students from the following universities gave papers: York University (2), University of Toronto (3), University of Ottawa (1), University of Chicago (2), Harvard University (1), University of Minnesota (1), University of Cincinnati (1), University of Arizona (1), Università degli Studi di Torino (1),  Università degli Studi di Trento (1), and the University of Aberdeen (1). The keynote speaker was Professor Sara Forsdyke of the University of Michigan, who gave a very interesting talk on “Slaves in Ancient Greece: The Ultimate Other?”, which triggered very animated debate not just in the session but at the reception that followed.

All in all, it was a very stimulating occasion, with excellent papers and lively discussion. Special thanks are due to Richard Aronson and William Den Hollander, who formed part of the organizing committee with Meghan Campbell and Alex Cushing of the University of Toronto.