Race and Citizen Identity in the Classical Athenian Democracy

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Cambridge University Press, Feb 15, 2010 - History
In Race and Citizen Identity in the Classical Athenian Democracy, Susan Lape demonstrates how a race ideology grounded citizen identity. Although this ideology did not manifest itself in a fully developed race myth, its study offers insight into the causes and conditions that can give rise to race and racisms in both modern and pre-modern cultures. In the Athenian context, racial citizenship emerged because it both defined and justified those who were entitled to share in the political, symbolic, and socioeconomic goods of Athenian citizenship. By investigating Athenian law, drama, and citizenship practices, this study shows how citizen identity worked in practice to consolidate national unity and to account for past Athenian achievements. It also considers how Athenian identity narratives fuelled Herodotus' and Thucydides' understanding of history and causation.
 

Contents

CHAPTER 1 Theorizing Citizen Identity
1
CHAPTER 2 The Rhetoric of Racial Citizenship
61
CHAPTER 3 Euripides Ion and the Family Romance of Athenian Racialism
95
CHAPTER 4 Athenian Identity in History and as History
137
Policing and Producing the Racial Frontier
186
CHAPTER 6 Myths and Realities of Racial Citizenship
240

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About the author (2010)

Susan Lape is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Reproducing Athens: Menander's Comedy, Democratic Culture and the Hellenistic City.

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