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Justin Arft

Justin Arft

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ADDRESS
Department of Classics 1119 McClung Tower University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-0413
Phone
(865) 974-0559

Justin Arft

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Homer and Archaic Greek Poetry; Comparative Oral Tradition; The Ancient Greek Epic Cycle; Manuscript Traditions and Textual Transmission

Education

  • Ph.D. Classical Studies, University of Missouri, 2015
  • M.A. Religious Studies, University of Missouri, 2003
  • A.B. Religious Studies, University of Missouri, 2000

Honors

  • 2022 SARIF EPPE Subvention Grant
  • 2020 College of Arts & Sciences Junior Teaching Award
  • 2020 University of Tennessee Humanities Center Manuscript Review Program Grant
  • Visiting Scholar Grant, Center for Hellenic Studies, Spring 2018.
  • University of Tennessee Humanities Center Fellowship, 2017-18.

Presentations

  • July 2022. “Those Who Made the Odyssey: The Odyssey as Traditional Art.” Nashville Parthenon Symposium. (In conjunction with the opening of Lisa Bachman Jones’ exhibit, “The Odyssey: A Retelling.”
  • “Not Cool, Man: Why the Romans Really Didn’t Like Odysseus.” Latin Day XXXVI, October 5, 2017, University of Tennessee.
  • “From Homer to Hip-Hop: Comparative Verbal Arts and the Classical Muse.” Presentation for the 2017 Mic/Nite hosted by the Office of the Provost. University of Tennessee.
  • “Hyginus, Statius, and Other Great Nerds of the Roman Empire.” Latin Day XXXV, October 6, 2016, University of Tennessee.
  • “Not Cool, Man: Why the Romans Really Didn’t Like Odysseus.” Latin Day XXXIV, October 15, 2015, University of Tennessee.
  • “The Myths Surrounding the Trojan War.” April 2015, Invited Lecture for the Missouri Junior Classical League
  • “Whose plan is this? Divine Plans and Poetic Narrative in the Iliad and the Odyssey.” October 2014. With Effimia Karakantza. Hour 25 “Open House” presentation and discussion for members of HeroesX, Center for Hellenic Studies. http://hour25.heroesx.chs.harvard.edu/?p=8742
  • “CHS Open House, with Justin Arft and Guests.” October 2014. Hour 25 discussion for members of HeroesX, Center for Hellenic Studies.  http://hour25.heroesx.chs.harvard.edu/?p=9159

Papers

  • March 2022. “Suspiciously Intertextual: Homer’s “Double Cup” between the Iliad and Odyssey.” Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 118th Annual Meeting. Winston-Salem, NC.
  • January 2021. “Stay at Home: Impossible Isolation in Homer.” Paper given on the panel “The Powers and Perils of Solitude in Greek Literature.” Society for Classical Studies 2021 Annual Meeting. (Virtual).
  • March 2019. “Repetition or Recurrence? A Traditional Use for ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει in Archaic Greek Poetry.” Orality and Literacy XIII: Repetition. Hosted at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • January 2019. “A Question of Memory: Who and Whose are You?” Society for Classical Studies 2019 Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.
  • April 2018. “You’ve Got the Wrong Guy: Alkinoos and the ‘Wondrous Deeds’ of Odysseus.” Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 114th Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, NM.
  • November 2017. “A Cyclic Odysseus is a Dead Odysseus: Homer and the Epic Cycle on (Mis)Recognition.” Open House presentation for the Kosmos Society. Center for Hellenic Studies. https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/?p=35619
  • April 2017. (Co-organizer and Presider.) “Introduction” for “Finding a New Beat: Teaching Latin Poetry with Popular Music,” a panel at the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 113th Annual Meeting. Kitchener, Ontario.
  • January 2017. “Odysseus’ Success and Demise: Recognition in the Odyssey and Telegony.” Paper given on the panel “Nostoi/Odyssey/Telegony: New Perspectives on the Ends of the Epic Cycle.” Society for Classical Studies 2017 Annual Meeting, Toronto.
  • March 2016. “Theoklymenos and the Long Arc of the Odyssey. Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 112th Annual Meeting. Williamsburg, VA. Read by Joel Christensen.
  • November 2015. “No Single Story: How to Meaningfully Complicate Myth.” Invited Lecture. Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association/Tennessee Classical Association Annual Meeting. Franklin, TN.
  • March 2015. “Danger and Deferral: The Concealed Threat of Odysseus to the Phaeacians” Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 111th Annual Meeting. Boulder, CO.
  • February 2015. “The Odyssey’s Traditional Poetics: Shaping ‘the Man’ of the Epic.” Public Lecture hosted by the Department of Classics at the University of Tennessee.
  • June 2014. “Micro-multiformity and Tradition: Clues to the Odyssey‘s Composition.” Center for Hellenic Studies. 2nd Annual International Kyklos Teleconference.
  • January 2014. “Question and Answer: Truth, Lies, and Narrative Innovation in the Odyssey.” American Philological Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL.
  • April 2013. “Putting Odysseus on the Spot: Arete’s Poetic Function in the Odyssey.” Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) 109th Annual Meeting. Iowa City, IA.
  • October 2012. “Arete’s Determination of Odysseus’ nostos.” Classical Studies Workshop. University of Missouri.

Employment

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 2015-Present
  • Visiting Instructor, University of Missouri, Department of Religious Studies, 2007-15
  • Visiting Instructor, Westminster College in Fulton, MO, Classics Philosophy and Religion, 2005, 2008-09, 2012-15

Editorial

  • Managing Editor, Oral Tradition, 2011-2015 (Issues 26.1-29.2), Center for Studies in Oral Tradition
  • Editorial Assistant, Oral Tradition,2010-2011 (Issue 25.2),Center for Studies in Oral Tradition