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Joel Gordon 2022 imageTeaching Fellow

Contact

Office 5N3, Arts Building
Email joel.gordon@otago.ac.nz

Academic qualifications

2019: PhD, University of Otago
2015: MA (Distinction), Victoria University of Wellington
2015: Graduate Diploma of Applied Theology, Carey Baptist College
2012: BA(Hons)(First Class), Victoria University of Wellington
2009: BMus, New Zealand School of Music

Background and research interests

A PhD graduate of Otago, Joel's thesis argued for a new methodology regarding the development of eschatological thought, in particular the inherent fluidity of topography (in both literary and real-world examples). Joel considers himself a socio-cultural historian who is interested in asking how ideas circulated in ancient Greece and how ordinary people made sense of the world around them.

Joel's other primary research area is reception studies: in particular, the presentation of heroes/gods in popular culture (with a specialisation in the media of film, television, comics, video and table-top games). He is also interested in exploring receptions of Hercules in New Zealand socio-cultural contexts (especially Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena:Warrior Princess).

Joel is also on the editorial team of New Classicists (an open access, peer-reviewed journal, affiliated with the Institute of Classical Studies) which specializes in working alongside postgraduate and early career researchers to get their work published for the first time.

New Classicists

Teaching

2023

Areas of research supervision

  • Greek socio-cultural history (death & dying, eschatology, landscape studies, memory studies)
  • Homeric epic/Greek literature
  • Reception studies (film, television, comics, video games and table-top games; Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Publications

Paprocki, M., & Gordon, J. (2024). “Ars deicidium”: God-killing objects in modern audiovisual receptions of Greek mythology. Proceedings of the Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) Virtual Conference: Technology and Technē in Receptions of the Ancient World. Retrieved from https://antiquityinmediastudies.wordpress.com/aims-conference-2024 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Gordon, J. (2024). Hercules’ video game debut(s)? How technology defeated antiquity’s mightiest hero. Proceedings of the Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) Virtual Conference: Technology and Technē in Receptions of the Ancient World. Retrieved from https://antiquityinmediastudies.wordpress.com/aims-conference-2024 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Gordon, J. (2024, July). Exploring Homer's Grove of Persephone via the off-beaten path: A recontextualization of the locus horridus tradition and (re-)consideration of comparative eschatological landscapes. Keynote presentation at the Worlds Above and Below Interdisciplinary Conference, [Hybrid]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Gordon, J. (2024). 'Solving' the paradox of the Odyssean Ethiopians' twin dual localization: The narrative significance of literary spatiality. Mnemosyne, 77, 177-196. doi: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10194 Journal - Research Article

Gordon, J. A. (2024). Geographical reality or literary fantasy: The Tainaron nekuomanteion as a natural deathscape. Preternature, 13(1), 33-54. doi: 10.5325/preternature.13.1.0033 Journal - Research Article

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