The Project’s main objective is to explore the reception of Classical Antiquity in the contemporary culture of children and young adults in terms of the vital intersection space where the development of human identity takes place. We challenge the concept of the Graeco-Roman tradition as a petrified legacy of the past, on the one hand, and the vision of young people’s culture as an interim sphere of activities necessary only for maturation to “serious”, that is adult culture, on the other. In relation to these phenomena, we propose a novel approach based on the following two premises. First, we treat Classical Antiquity as a living cultural experience ever in the process of imaginative and meaningful transformations the world over. Second, we study the works for young audiences with a particular focus on their dual impact of a seemingly contradictory character that, however, is perfectly consistent with the objective to prepare young people for the challenges of life today. Mainly, these works endow the new generations with the traditional packages of ideas and values considered constant and universal and at the same time they take a position on contemporary agendas and become important vehicles of often revolutionary insights into the most current problems wracking society, like social inequality and environmental issues.
In our research, we also take into consideration the potential of the global influence of popular culture that has given a new dynamic life to the heritage of Classical Antiquity nearly all over the world, incl. the most distant regions, thus compensating for a significant reduction of the role of the Classics in education. In this context, the further major innovation of our studies consists in the application, next to the global, of regional perspectives. Previously often discarded as parochial and inferior, these perspectives are crucial when juxtaposed to the globalized reception of the Classics. For only then can the hidden trajectories of identity development be revealed and can the Greek and Roman heritage, as it is processed in children’s and young adults’ culture, manifest its potential for serving as a precious research marker of social, ideological, and cultural changes both within local societies and in a global context, as well.
To analyze these issues to the fullest, the international team of scholars from Australia, Cameroon, Israel, Poland (HI), and the UK, with consultants from other European countries, New Zealand, and the USA, carry out comparative studies of differing reception models in youth culture through three chosen aspects (filters) that facilitate a comparative approach: the classical myths, the reception of Greek and Roman history, and environmental issues. Moreover, we engage in numerous dissemination activities to make optimum use of the potential of the Project and the universal appeal of Classical Antiquity along with the natural connection that the educated public feels towards the theme of childhood, in the aim of encouraging novel approaches to inclusive education, esp. in regard to autistic children, and to citizen science by engaging young people in research via school projects and innovative tools, such as ancient Greek vase animations. By means of all this, we strive for a new model of work in the Humanities on the frontiers of research, education and culture.
