Teaching “Theory” in Topical Graduate Seminars

This paper discusses a method of teaching theory to graduate students in the context of graduate seminars that are constructed around classical topics—particular ancient texts or authors, specific historical or art-historical or archaeological questions, and so forth. This method ties the necessary theory directly to the seminar’s topic, and thereby subordinates the exposition of theory to the overall problematic of the seminar. This approach contrasts with that of the dedicated theory survey course, which gives priority to the theory as such. Two examples of such seminar construction are provided, both from the Ph.D. program in classics at Johns Hopkins University.