Cover reveal for 'Women in Classical Video Games'

I am absolutely thrilled to share the cover for the forthcoming volume, Women in Classical Video Games, edited by Jane Draycott and Kate Cook (published by Bloomsbury Classical Studies & Archaeology).

Every chapter sounds fascinating to me and I cannot wait to read through! It is also where my debut (scholarly) publication will appear, in a chapter entitled: 'Opening Pandora's Box: Aphrodite as the representation of women's sexuality in God of War III'. Once published, I will share details for ordering the book.

 

Sekhmet chapter re-introduced into the main thesis

A few months back I reluctantly decided to remove my Sekhmet chapter from the main thesis, owing to word count, resigning myself to publish it separately. However, this week my partner and fellow PhD student Thomas Husøy sat down with me and realised that I had miscounted and had plenty of room remaining! (I don't know how I had got it so wrong...). So, Sekhmet is back in the thesis and I am now plotting the course of my final chapter: Engagement with Heritage & Scholars. The discussions on tensions and mutually beneficial relationships will be partly featured here and in the thesis conclusions.

My revised thesis plan is now thus:

     1. Introduction (part-drafted)
     2. The Reception of Ancient Goddesses ✔
     3. Case Study: Aset-Isis ✔
     4. Case Study: Aphrodite (case study)✔
     5. Case Study: Sekhmet ✔
     6. Engagement with Heritage & Scholars (in process)
                                                                        7. Conclusions (not started)

Today I also officially sent off my final questionnaire for ethics review. Once it is accepted all 3 questionnaires will be available to participants, and I have created nice adverts for the occasion!

Updates so far

I have now submitted three/four thesis chapter drafts to my supervisors, with one more to write before I tackle my introduction and conclusion!

• 1. Introduction (part-drafted)
• 2. The Reception of Ancient Goddesses ✔
• 3. Isis (case study) ✔
• 4. Aphrodite (case study)✔
• 5. Towards a Mutually Beneficial Relationship (in process)
• 6. Conclusions (not started)
  

I have one more questionnaire to release for my upcoming section 5, where I am going to delve deeper into the sources of tension between Goddess devotees, scholars, and heritage professionals, and suggestions from each community for moving towards a more mutually beneficial relationship. This questionnaire will be focused on devotee engagement with heritage sites and museums.

My previous two questionnaires will remain open until the start of my final editing process (expected January 2023), so please do continue sharing them!

So far I have had the privilege to interview 21 devotees through video call and email, and have had around 200 questionnaire responses. I still welcome more interviewees, as well as photographic submissions of altars and GS material culture.

Isis at Marathon, Greece

 

Some of you may be wondering what has happened with my third case study on Sekhmet: owing to a limited word count, however, this will need to be published in the eventual thesis monograph (fingers crossed) and/or edited for submission to an academic journal. I very much enjoyed writing that chapter, and had some great responses from Sekhmet devotees - so I promise, this will still be published, though separate to the thesis.

In other news, I have just returned from a week in Greece, spent with my partner exploring as many heritage sites and museums as we could! I will endeavour to share some of my highlights on this blog in due course - especially those relating to Greek goddesses.

I have also signed for a training course this November, focused on Digital Heritage, which I am sure will be of benefit to my ethnographic research, as well as future career prospects.

For now, onto the next chapter!