SFD’s Curriculum Vitae

2018 Ph.D. in Classics, Yale University
2016 Visiting Researcher in Department of Greek and Latin, University College London
2010-2012 Graduate Program in Classics, City University of New York Graduate Center
2009 B.A. in Latin, Haverford College

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Research Interests

Race and skin color in Greek antiquity (tragedy, historiography, satire, novel, art); Performance studies; Museum studies; Nubia

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Teaching & Advising

Teaching

Stanford University
Current Courses:
• Greek Tragedy: Aeschylus and Euripides, 2024
• Decolonial Approaches to African Art in Nairobi (pre-trip seminar), 2024
• Decolonial Approaches to African Art in Nairobi (on-site seminar), 2024

Previous Courses:
• Classical Reception in the Black Diaspora, 2023
• Race, Blackness, Antiquity, 2022
• Greek Tragedy: Aeschylus and Euripides, 2022
• Greek Poetry: Aeschylus, 2021
• African Archive Beyond Colonization, 2023, 2022, 2021
• Race in Greco-Roman Antiquity, 2023, 2020

Yale University
• Ancient Greek Language and Grammar, 2018
• Conversations between Ancient Greece, Africa, and the Black Diaspora, 2017
• Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World, 2016
• Latin Prose: Cicero, 2015
• Latin Language and Grammar, 2015

New York City
• Latin Language and Grammar, Prep for Prep, 2011-2013
• Twentieth-Century Historical Activism, Horizons, Leadership Program, 2011

Advising

Stanford University
• Dissertation Advisor (Samuel Powell, Classics), 2022-
• Dissertation Committee Member (Paula Gaither, Classics), 2022-
• Orals Committee Member (Mpho Molefe, English), 2022


Yale University
• Sophomore Advisor, 2015-2016

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Talks & Panels

Talks

• “Doublespeak, Greece, Ethiopia,” Hill Museum and Manuscript Library Summer School (Ge’ez class lecture), July 2024.
• “Revamped Time Map of Classics,” Classical Association of Canada Annual Conference. May 2023.
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity Book Talk with Dr. Nicole Spigner and Dr. Alastair Blanshard,” Critical Antiquities Workshop (Australia). May 2023. [virtual]
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity Book Talk with Dr. Rachel Kousser,” City University of New York Graduate Center. April 2023.
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity Book Talk with Dr. Emily Greenwood,” Harvard University. April 2023.
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity Book Talk with Dr. Ifetayo Flannery,” Temple University. April 2023.
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity Book Talk with Dr. Patrice Rankine,” RaceB4Race Mentoring Network. December 2022. [virtual]
• “Untangling Aithiopia in Greek Antiquity,” Ethiopian Studies of North America working group. September 2022. [virtual]
• “Doublespeak in ancient Greek and modern Ethiopian satire,” Princeton University. September 2022. [virtual]
• “Range of Blackness in Greek Antiquity,” Yale Ethiopian and Eritrean Materials Workshop. March 2022. [virtual]
• “Blazing Blackness in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika,” Manchester Classical Association. May 2021. [virtual]
• “A Language for Blackness in Herodotus’ Aithiopian Logos,” University of Pennsylvania, April 2021. [virtual]
• “Probing the Construction of Blackness in Ancient Greek Art,” University of Michigan. March 2021. [virtual]
• “Sun-kissed Greeks: A Theorization of Blackness in Ancient Greek Literature,” Boston University. November 2019.
• “Parsing Blackness in Greek Antiquity,” University of North Carolina, Greensboro. September 2019.
• “Race in Herodotus’ Histories,” Harvard University. March 2019.
• “The Metatheater of Blackness: Danaids, Dunbar, and Ellison,” University of Warwick, Coventry (UK). October 2018.
• “Odysseus as a Mutable Black Hero: Romare Bearden’s Odysseus Suite,” Center for Hellenic Studies. October 2018.
• “Blazing with Blackness in Herodotus’ Histories,” Center for Hellenic Studies. October 2018.
• “Black Faces in Classical Greek Antiquity,” Concordia College, Moorhead. March 2018.
• “Black Egyptian Greeks,” Stanford University. February 2018.
• “Flexible Identities in Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women,” University of Massachusetts, Amherst, January 2018.
• “Masks of Blackness,” UCLA. November 2017.
• “Ebony and Ivory in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika,” University of Tennessee, Knoxville. September 2017.
• “Africlassics: Decolonizing Classical Literature,” Yale University. June, 2017.
• “Hidden Identities: Black Skin Color in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika,” Miami University, Oxford. April 2017.
• “Back to Back: Reading Iconographic Representations of Black People in Antiquity,” Haverford College. February 2017.
• “Through the Eyes of Fantastic Spies: Aithiopia in Herodotus’ Histories,” Brooklyn College. April 2016.
• “Black Greeks: An Intersectional Dilemma in Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women,” Yale University. November 2015.
• “Blackness in Antiquity,” Friends Seminary. May 2015.
• “Exploring Men’s Depiction of the ‘Other’ in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae and T.D. Rice’s The Original Jim Crow,” Yale University. November 2012.

Panels & Moderated Conversations

• “Black Classicism: A Teacher’s Guide".” Kings College London. June 2024.
• “Classics from the Global South with Dr. Kelly Nguyen.” Kings College London. June 2024.
• “Metamorphoses Gallery Opening with Darryl Babatunde Smith.” Welancora Gallery. June 2024. [virtual]
• Aithiopians in Myth, Epic, and the Ancient Novel: Conversation with Dr. Mai Musíe, Dr. Awet Araya, and Dr. Yoseph Araya.” November 2023. [virtual]
• “Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity: Conversation with Dr. Nell Irvin Painter.” Prairie Lights Bookstore. September 2022. [virtual]
• “Permutations of Blackness,” Classical Association of the United Kingdom Annual Conference, Swansea. April 2022. [virtual]
• “Reading Iconography of Black People in Greek Antiquity,” Harvard Art Museums. December 2019.
• “Seeing Black,” Classical Association of the United Kingdom Annual Conference, London. July 2019.
• “A Black Odyssey,” University of New Hampshire. April 2019.
• “Bodies in Dissent,” Society for Classical Studies Annual Meeting, San Diego. January 2019.
• “Continents in Conversation: Bringing the African Diaspora into the Classical Classroom,” Classical Association of the Atlantic States Annual Meeting, Philadelphia. October 2018.
• “A Performance in Black,” African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Chicago. November 2017.
• “African and American Venus: Examining Female Agency Across Disciplines,” African Literature Association Annual Meeting, New Haven. June 2017.
• “Latin for Equality: Academic Activism,” Classical Association of the Atlantic States Annual Meeting, New York. October 2012.

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Academic Citizenship & Leadership

Stanford University

• Member, Center for African Studies Advisory Board, 2022-2023
• Affiliate, Center for African Studies, 2020-
• Affiliate, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, 2020-
• Faculty Mentor, Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Program, 2021-2022

Classics beyond Stanford

• Co-president, Eos (Africana Receptions of Ancient Greece and Rome), 2021-2022
• Lead Organizer, “Counter-classical Histories: Displacement, Resistance, and Critique,” Department of Classics Colloquium, Yale University, 2017-2018
• Co-convener, “Contested Receptions,” Department of Classics Reading Group, Yale University, 2016
• Lead Organizer, “Classica Africana: The African and African American Presence in the Classical Tradition,” Department of Classics Graduate Student Conference, CUNY Graduate Center, 2012

Leadership beyond Classics

• Haverford Corporation, Advisory Committee, Haverford College, 2023-
• Haverford Corporation, Board Member, Haverford College, 2020-
• Kesho Board Member, Arusha (Tanzania), 2020-
• Founder and Director, Continents in Conversation: A Literary Festival
(AFRICA SALON), New Haven, 2016
• Graduate Fellow, Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, Yale University, 2014-2016
• Graduate Representative, Assistant Dean Search Committee, Yale University, 2015
• Co-chair, Black Graduate Network, Yale University, 2012-2014

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Languages

• Advanced Ancient: Ancient Greek, Latin
• Intermediate Ancient: Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic)
• Intermediate Modern: Swahili, Amharic, French
• Basic Modern: Italian

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