Join Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham University), Sarah Lawrence (UNE), and Andy Poe (ACU) as they discuss their work with inmates in Australian and British prisons.
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What happens when classics - the literature, language, history, and philosophy of the ancient mediterranean world - are taken out of the university and into prisons?
Tristan Bradshaw facilitates a discussion with three academics who have done just that in Australian and British prisons. Arlene Holmes-Henderson will discuss her experience in a pioneering project launched by Durham University that takes Aristotle’s philosophy, ethics, and rhetoric to people in English prisons. Andy Poe will discuss his experiences teaching ancient philosophy at the Parklea Correctional Centre, including how his work fits with the Clemente Humanities Protect, as well as his abolitionist pedagogy. Sarah Lawrence will talk about her experience of teaching a student in prison from first year Latin all the way through to a PhD, drawing on her reflections and those of her student.
Join us to learn the discoveries of these special guests and reflect with them on what it means to champion classical and other forms of uplifting education for the marginalised.
Tristan Bradshaw is Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Wollongong and founding co-director of the Critical Antiquities Network. His published work has appeared in outlets such as Classical Antiquity, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought, Public Humanities, and Philosophy, Politics and Critique. He is currently preparing an edited volume with Oxford University Press on antiquity in the critical theory of Karl Marx and his reception.
Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University where she is founder director of the Durham Centre for Classics Education Research and EngagementS (CERES). She was awarded an MBE for Services for Education by King Charles III in 2023 and was elected to fellowship of the Academia Europaea in 2024, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Classics research. In 2026 she is a Visiting Fellow at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government in Sydney, promoting the use of Arts and Humanities evidence in public policymaking.
Sarah Lawrence is the Charles Tesoriero Associate Professor in Latin at the University of New England, Armidale. Her research focuses on underloved Latin authors, particularly Valerius Maximus. Sarah is very interested in pedagogy, especially with a view to inclusion and accessibility.
Andrew Poe is Associate Professor of Social and Political Thought at Australian Catholic University, where his work in ancient philosophy and prison education is part of the Clemente Humanities Project. He is the author, most recently, of Political Enthusiasm and a co-director of the Critical Antiquities Network.
This event is brought to you by the Classical Association of NSW and Gleebooks.
Reading and Resources
Teaching Classics in UK prisons
What I've learned from teaching philosophy in prisons (The Conversation article)