Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
Refine search result
1 - 39 of 39
CiteExportLink to result list
Permanent link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Rows per page
  • 5
  • 10
  • 20
  • 50
  • 100
  • 250
Sort
  • Standard (Relevance)
  • Author A-Ö
  • Author Ö-A
  • Title A-Ö
  • Title Ö-A
  • Publication type A-Ö
  • Publication type Ö-A
  • Issued (Oldest first)
  • Issued (Newest first)
  • Created (Oldest first)
  • Created (Newest first)
  • Last updated (Oldest first)
  • Last updated (Newest first)
  • Disputation date (earliest first)
  • Disputation date (latest first)
  • Standard (Relevance)
  • Author A-Ö
  • Author Ö-A
  • Title A-Ö
  • Title Ö-A
  • Publication type A-Ö
  • Publication type Ö-A
  • Issued (Oldest first)
  • Issued (Newest first)
  • Created (Oldest first)
  • Created (Newest first)
  • Last updated (Oldest first)
  • Last updated (Newest first)
  • Disputation date (earliest first)
  • Disputation date (latest first)
Select
The maximal number of hits you can export is 250. When you want to export more records please use the Create feeds function.
  • 1.
    Arvidsson, Viktor
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Informatics. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS). Swedish Center for Digital Innovation.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Digital gender: perspective, phenomena, practice2015In: First Monday, E-ISSN 1396-0466, Vol. 20, no 4Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Past research on gender online has made important land gains but under-theorizes the Internet as a passive, fixed, and somewhat insubstantial space or context. By contrast, this special issue draws on new material thinking to put into questions the very notion of “cyberspace” as a distinct realm. In this vein, the contents of this issue critically examine how the Internet and related digital technologies actively “work” to maintain or transform systems of oppression, as displayed, for example, in the digital doing(s) of gender. They also show how digital technologies and related concepts can be used to challenge current understandings of race, class, and gender and to produce and provoke new forms of knowledge. While the contents of this issue are drawn from different fields and display great diversity, the individual contributions of each author helps to chart out three potent venues for future Internet research: namely digital gender as perspective, phenomena, and practice.

  • 2.
    Champion, Erik
    et al.
    Curtin University, Curtin Institute for Computation, Australia.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Department for Archives, Libraries, Museums and Cultural Heritage (ALM), Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Art history, heritage games, and virtual reality2020In: The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities and Art History / [ed] Kathryn Brown, Taylor & Francis, 2020, p. 238-253Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 3.
    Chapman, Adam
    et al.
    University of Gothenburg.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Centre for gender studies, University of Oslo.
    Westin, Jonathan
    What is historical game studies?2017In: Rethinking history, ISSN 1364-2529, E-ISSN 1470-1154, Vol. 21, no 3, p. 358-371Article in journal (Refereed)
  • 4.
    Dunn, Stuart
    et al.
    King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
    Earl, Graeme
    King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. DH Uppsala, Department of Archives, Museums and Libraries, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
    Wootton, Will
    King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
    Spatial narratives in museums and online: the birth of the digital object itinerary2019In: Museums and digital culture: new perspectives and research / [ed] Tula Giannini; Jonathan P. Bowen, Springer, 2019, , p. 19p. 253-271Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Museums represent complex layers of place. From carefully managed curatorial spaces, to exhibition environments, to the layout of display cases, to the representation of distant parts embodied in the collections of the great encyclopedic collections, the negotiation, representation and presentation of place has always been central to the mission of any museum. This chapter will examine the history of how museums (especially museum catalogues) present place, from early origins to the Internet. A set of case studies will be examined as a means of exploring how, where and in what form art objects and artefacts first began to be transported from non-Western to Western nations for display in the museums of Western capitals, thus representing the origins of what Cuno has called our "basic and inevitable cultural interrelatedness"; and what others have called "object itineraries" or "object biographies". A comparison will be made of the same museums' online representation of the same places today. It will thus be possible to present a framework for considering object itineraries—historic and modern—as a subject of both history and historiography.

  • 5.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Beauty and the Beast: Femininity, animals and humour in Greek Middle Comedy2011In: Classica et Mediaevalia, ISSN 0106-5815, E-ISSN 1604-9411, Vol. December, no 62, p. 51-80Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Approximating humans to animals is a common technique deployed in Greek Literature starting as early as the Epics. In early performances of drama, the topsy turvy nature of Old Comedy encouraged the use of animal characters; choruses of animals, anthropomorphized animals, and animalized humans are common strategies used among Old Comedy playwrights. In Middle Comedy their dramatic use appears limited, yet they are not completely excluded from the repertoire. A number of similes are built around references to animals for both male and female characters. This technique (which draws on epic stylistics) produces social comments in humorous form, especially by assimilating women to tamed and untamed animals. This article explores these animalized manifestations of feminity in selected fragments of Middle Comedy, focusing on Eubulus’ Procris, Alexis’ Isostasion, and The Chorus, and Antilais by Epicrates. The animal references impart occasional ‘otherness’ to several female entities (γυναῖκες and ἑταῖραι), reinforcing the sense of difference from the ‘norm’,  whereas on other occasions they reconfirm the importance of females in the civic environment. Across these fragments, I show how animal imagery outlines gendered alterities within the context of normative Athenian ideology. Ultimately, I compare the semantics of animality and how it is humorously interwoven into femininity in Old and Middle Comedy. 

  • 6.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Beauty and the Beast: Femininity, Animals and Humour in Middle Comedy2011In: Classica et Mediaevalia, ISSN 0106-5815, E-ISSN 1604-9411, Vol. 62, p. 51-80Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Approximating humans to animals is a technique employed in Greek Literature, drawing on epic stylistics. The topsy-turvy nature of Old Comedy encouraged the use of animal choruses and characters. In Middle Comedy, their dramatic use appears limited: a number of similes are built around refernces to animals for both male and female characters, producing social comments in humorous form. This paper explores how animal semantics in selected fragments (Alexis and Epicrates)  impart occasional otherness to female entities (women and hetairai) reinforcing the sense of difference from the norm, whereas on other occasions they subtly underline the importance of females in the civic environment. 

  • 7.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Beyond deviant: Theodora as the other in Byzantine imperial historiography2015In: Deviant women: cultural, linguistic and literary approaches to narratives of femininity / [ed] Tiina Mäntymaki; Marinella Rodi-Risberg; Anna Foka, Oxford: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2015, p. 29-47Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Early Byzantine historiography offers two contradictory portrayals of Theodora  (Crowned Empress 427-458 CE). Whereas in Procopius' Wars of Justinian and Buildings she appears to be a courageous and influential empress, in his later work, Secret History, she is represented as a deviant female figure. Procopius' narrative of Theodora is overall disapproving of her character and actions. He discusses her early years as a 'shameless' performer and a prostitute, brought up in the social margins of Constantinople; Similarly, during her reign, he describes her exercise of power over the palace and her subjects as cruel and violent, driven by premeditated self-interest. In this chapter, I aim to discuss Theodora's portrayal by Procopius as a sociologically deviant female; it is a systematic study of what the author considers to be social norm violations that are subject to social sanction. I will specifically concentrate on Theodora's depiction as a sexually deviant young performer. I will then focus upon actions of cruelty and violence in her political and social career as an Empress.  I will show how the paradigm of Theodora, in Procopius' Secret History, can be read as both making visible coercive social, political and religious power structures, as well as, disenfranchising femininity in early Byzantium.

  • 8.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Deconstructing Oedipus: Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and the classical tradition2017In: The reception of ancient virtues and vices in modern popular culture: beauty, bravery, blood and glory / [ed] Eran Almagor and Lisa Maurice, Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2017, 11, p. 167-186Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The chapter examines the philosophical dichotomy between Hellenism and Hebraism in order to show how Mighty Aphrodite may be seen as a contemporary example of merging cultural identities, previously thought in contradiction to one another. Allen's reiteration of Oedipal references may be read as a dismantling of Classical Hellenic culture and a rearrangement intended for a 21st century New York setting. Allen constructs a fictional tragic space that is embedded in the main plot and that manifests itself in the form of tragic dramaturgy and scenic conventions.

    Against this backdrop, Allen's overall use of classical tradition may be considered self-referential: it points out to the director's own understanding of classical culture as a twenty first century Jewish New York film director. Ancient cultural forms mingle with contemporary film and mirror 'the two way relationship between the source text or culture and the new work and receiving elements'. Abort of their original context of antiquity, ritual, drama and myth, tragedy and the very figure of Oedipus are (paradoxically) cinematically deconstructed as humorous, and are granted a place within contemporaneity, finding a specific leeway of expression in classical Hollywood film narratives. The film is a commentary on the potentials of reinstating dominant structures of classical reception per se: Oedipus may become Anti-Oedipus, tragedy may turn into comedy and binary structures such as Hellenism and Hebraism may mingle together in perfect harmony.

  • 9.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS). Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    (Digital) Bread and Circuses: Reframing Ancient Spectacle for Different Screens2014In: Digital Humanities Australasia 2014: Expanding Horizons / [ed] Paul Arthur, The University of Western Sydney Linda Barwick, University of Sydney Craig Bellamy, University of Melbourne Katherine Bode, Australian National University Erik Champion, Curtin University Arianna Ciula, EADH, London, UK Hugh Craig, Newcastle University Jenni Harrison, University of Western Australia Brett D Hirsch, University of Western Australia Jane Hunter, University of Queensland John Hartley, Curtin University Jo Hawkins, The University of Western Australia Philip Mead, The University of Western Australia Renee Newman-­‐Storen, Edith Cowan University Ian Johnson, University of Sydney Nagasaki Kiyonori, The University of Tokyo, Japan Gavan McCarthy, University of Melbourne Sydney Shep, Victoria University Wellington, NZ Tim Sherratt, National Museum of Australia Harold Short, Kings College London, UK James Smithies, University of Canterbury, NZ Nick Thieberger, The University of Melbourne Deb Verhoeven, Deakin University, Perth, Western Australia, 2014Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    It is commonplace that screen-based communication – i.e. TV, cinema, computer screens and ubiquitous devices is continuously mediating cultures (Galloway 2004, Giaccardi et al. 2012). Digital reconstruction is the process of graphically representing ideas and objects (Wileman: 1993). This process, however, requires a conceptual picture to be transferred to in a graphical medium. This paper focuses on the potentials of a conceptual digital construction of a Roman Amphiteatre for multiple screens. I argue that while current ‘historically accurate’ digital depictions of Roman amphitheatres are limited to lifeless and sanitized aerial 3D models, a more innovative, multisensory and participatory reconstruction of entertainment sites for multiple screens can elucidate our understanding of historically and geographically remote social and cultural concepts.

    I propose new methodological tools for generating discourses that add layers of understanding to our contemporary knowledge of the Roman spectacle. A participatory (embodied- tangible computing) and multisensory (sound and vision) digital recreation of a Roman amphitheatre (along the lines of Betts: 2009, Drucker: 2009, and Favro: 2006) can engineer deeper and constructive analyses of the dynamics and systemic operations regarding [ancient and current] popular entertainment. It can generate questions about the cultural and emotional context of ancient spectacle as well as the potentials and limitations set by our current technological grasp. It can further be applicable in research and education in order to anchor both ’traditional’ research questions, as well as the importance of multiplicity within institutional material infrastructure

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 10.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Foka, A. (2012) Classical Review, Cambridge: RUFFELL (I.A.) Politics and Anti-Realism in Athenian Old Comedy.  The Art of the Impossible. Oxford: Oxford  University Press2013In: Classical Review, ISSN 0009-840X, E-ISSN 1464-3561, Vol. 63, no 1, p. 37-39Article, book review (Refereed)
  • 11.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Gender subversion and the early Christian East: reconstructing the Byzantine comic mine2015In: Laughter, humor, and the (un)making of gender: historical and cultural perspectives / [ed] Anna Foka and Jonas Liliequist, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 66-83Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 12.
    Foka, Anna
    Liverpool University.
    Gods, Beasts, and Humans: Relations of Power in Greek Comedy2009Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic)
  • 13.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Half-Naked yet Empowered?:  Spartacus (2010-) (Ancient) Gender Equality in Contemporary Television2013In: 12th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences, Honolulu Hawaii, 2013Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Spartacus is attested in several ancient sources (Plutarch, Appian, and Florus) as the leader of a rebellion against the Roman Republic (73 to 71 BC). Despite that none of Spartacus' historical representations overtly suggest that he aimed at reforming Roman society by abolishing slavery and promoting equality, he has inspired a number of intellectuals across times and cultures as a egalitarian leader. Marx, in the Manchester letter to Engels (1861), considered him a real representative of the ancient 'proletariat’ and members of the German Spartacus League, a forerunner of the Communist Party of Germany. In contemporary popular culture, the most recent reception of the tale of Spartacus is the US Television series Spartacus: Blood and 

    Sand (premiered on Starz in: 2010- followed by a late prequel and a sequel), where he is also portrayed as a just and egalitarian leader.

    In this paper, I will discuss how Spartacus (2010-) promotes social and gender equality as an ancient virtue within a contemporary context. Unlike Spartacus’ historical and other cinematic representations, women play a major role in the 2010- TV series either as slaves that join the rebellion, inspired by the egalitarian Thracian slave-leader, or wealthy Romans who oppose him. Despite incidental nudity, scenes of a sexual and violent nature, a TV MA rating for graphic violence, and strong sexual content in overexposed video stylization, I will show that female characters evolve from the older sexualized and objectified females of gladiatorial Sword and Sandals (e.g. Warrior and the Slave Girl: 1958) to strong and brave action heroines. Finally, I will discuss how the 2010- TV series reflects upon the impact of equality and feminism in the portrayal of the ancient world in our contemporary popular culture. 

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 14.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Introduction: Part I : Laughter, humor, and misogyny : reconsiderations and new perspectives2015In: Laughter, humor, and the (un)making of gender: historical and cultural perspectives / [ed] Anna Foka and Jonas Liliequist, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 7-12Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 15.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Literary and performative portrayal of sex-workers in Greek antiquity2012In: Gender and Language, ISSN 1747-6321, E-ISSN 1747-633XArticle in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    From Classical antiquity to the late Roman Empire, courtesans (hetairai) and other sex-workers are considered an integral part of elite lifestyle. In reality, actual evidence about them is scattered and limited. As a result of this, recent scholarship and art represented them as more deliberated and charming than citizen wives  (eg Jung’s archetypes, Manet’s Olympias etc). However, their variability in textual representation resulted in their recent reconstruction as marginal in status with undefined agency and hierarchy (Davidson: 1997; McClure: 2003; Faraone and McClure: 2006). Most importantly, their textual and performative representation varies significantly. In early Attic Comedy for example (5th and 4th BCE) they feature as silent nudes pawed by men (Aristophanes) but they ‘evolve’ within 200 years to the stock character of New Greek Comedy (Menander). There, they are outspoken and somehow, romanticized.  

    This paper attempts an overview and analysis of the courtesans’ portrayal from Old Greek comedy (Aristophanes) to comic texts of the early Roman Empire, namely Lucian’s comic mimes (Dialogues of the Courtesans) and Athenaeus’ proverbial quotations from famous comedies, now lost in extant form (Learned Banqueters 13). I will contextualize the evolution of character and linguistic abilities of the courtesan with reference to their agency, emotions and status.  I will finally demonstrate how courtesan-related humor informs us, modern readers, about the commercialization of sex, gender and agency in the ancient world.

  • 16. Foka, Anna
    Marília P.​ Futre Pinheiro, Marilyn B. Skinner, Froma I. Zeitlin (ed.), Narrating Desire: Eros, Sex, and Gender in the Ancient Novel: Trends in classics - supplementary volumes, 14.   Berlin; Boston:  De Gruyter, 2012.  Pp. xi, 289.  ISBN 9783110281828.  $154.002014In: Bryn Mawr Classical Review, ISSN 1055-7660, E-ISSN 1063-2948Article, book review (Refereed)
  • 17.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Material Girls: Humor and Female Professional Seduction in Greek Literature and Culture2014In: Eugesta: Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity, ISSN 2156-2253, Vol. 4Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Current scholarship typically views the ancient Greek prostitute/ courtesan figure as an artificially manipulated, sexualized body motivated by material profit. By examining fragments of Middle Comedy and their echoes in post-classical antiquity, this article proposes an alternative view of courtesans and prostitutes as professionals of emotional labor. Through narrative analysis, I show that the Greek comic portrayal of courtesans is multifaceted and not sufficiently illuminated by discussions of their subjectivity, aesthetic modifications, and greed but also extends to the realm of their emotions. Intersecting gender and humor theories with the concept of Emotional Labor (Hochschild 1983), I then argue that these figures can be seen to comically modify their appearance and behavior in order to reflect contemporary ideological and cultural standards of female sexual conduct. Viewing humor as a communicative tool for social hierarchies consequently facilitates a more complex analysis of attitudes towards the commercialization of bodies and emotions in Greek literature and culture.

    Download full text (pdf)
    material Foka
  • 18.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Queer heroes and action heroines: gender and sexuality in Spartacus2015In: Spartacus in the television arena: essays on the Starz Series / [ed] Michael G. Cornelius, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015, p. 1-220Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator turned rebel leader, endures as a near-mythic hero who fought for the oppressed against a Roman oligarchy built on the backs of slave labor. The image of Spartacus as a noble if doomed avenger is familiar and his story has been retold through history as a cautionary tale about social injustice.The television series Spartacus takes a different view, with a violent depiction of the man and his times and a focus on the archetype of the gladiator—powerful, courageous and righteous. This collection of new essays studies the series as an exploration of masculinity.In the world of Spartacus, men jockey for social position, question the nature of their lives, examine their relationships with women and with each other, and explore their roles in society and the universe. The series also offers a compelling study of the composite nature of historical narrative in television and film, where key facts from original sources are interwoven with period embellishments, presenting audiences with a history and a fiction whose lines remain blurred by a distant yet all-too-familiar past.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 19.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Redefining Gender in Sword and Sandal: The New Action Heroine in Spartacus (2010-13)2015In: The Journal of popular film and television, ISSN 0195-6051, E-ISSN 1930-6458, Vol. 43, no 1, p. 39-49Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Abstract: Spartacus (2010-13), although belonging to a genre comprised primarily of male-centered narratives about gladiators, redefines the genre's definition of heroism. Female characters in the TV series evolve from objectified females to strong and brave action heroines, thus marking the evolution of the perception of ancient female sexuality in popular culture.

  • 20.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Remixing Classics for the Screen: Woody Allen and the Classical Tradition2015In: Studia Oliveriana, ISSN 0562-2964, Vol. 1, p. 55-76Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Several films by Woody Allen (Interiors, Oedipus Wrecks, Match Point and Mighty Aphrodite) contain elements of classical tradition that have been neglected or oversimplified by film scholarship as references to the director’s personal engagement with psychoanalysis. Using Mighty Aphrodite (1995) as illustration, I argue that these films convey the expression of contemporary social issues through a complex and multi-layered reception of classical culture that goes beyond pure psychoanalysis. In Mighty Aphrodite, specifically, Allen deploys the strict formalism of tragedy and the myth of Oedipus as film mechanisms for contemporary societal discourse. Via evaluation of film and narrative, I demonstrate that Allen’s classical reception is self-reflexive as it refers back to the very processes of performative arts. Furthermore, Allen utilizes the classical tradition as a form of expression in contemporary classical Hollywood narratives and creates a rich cultural experience for his audience; a cinematic treatise on cultural remix, dramatic formalism and classical reception per se.  

     

  • 21.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    The digital aesthetic in 'Atlantis: the evidence' (2010)2018In: Ancient Greece on British television / [ed] Fiona Hobden and Amanda Wringley, Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2018, p. 187-202Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 22.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Arvidsson, Viktor
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Informatics. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Digital gender: a manifesto: report on the research workshop: digital gender: theory, methodology, and practice2014Report (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    While early day Internet research often hailed “Cyberspace” as an arena where individuals would be liberated from the social shackles of their biological gender, a growing body of research makes evident the exaggerations present within these romanticized claims. Though the online gender divide is rapidly eroding, the Internet remains rooted in society at large. While digital technologies can challenge normative views, they therefore often maintain status quo. Consequently, there is a need to revisit old claims and challenge traditional notions of ”Digital Gender”. In this vein, this manifesto reports and synthesizes findings and discussions from an international workshop titled ”Digital Gender: Theory, Methodology and Practice”, held at Umeå University, Sweden, in early 2014. Against this backdrop, we chart out a new agenda for research on how the digital intermingle with the social in the production of gender. In particular, we argue that scholars must move past the idea of Internet as a separate – virtual – realm and direct attention to the increasingly complex ways that digital technologies permeate social practices, altering the very fabric of society itself. On the one hand, we stress the need for research that focuses on how particular Internet technologies help maintain as well as challenge normative views of gender. On the other hand, we stress the need to uncover how particular material properties of digital technology affect the (un)making of such views. Overall, we also stress the need for scholars of gender to move beyond binary oppositions and to be appreciative of intersectionality in their analyses of digital gender construction.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 23.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    Arvidsson, Viktor
    Swedish Center for Digital Innovation. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo.
    Experiential Analogies: A Sonic Digital Ekphrasis as a Digital Humanities Project2016In: Digital Humanities Quarterly, E-ISSN 1938-4122, Vol. 10, no 2, article id 24Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Humanistic uses of digital technologies have opened up new ways to think about, communicate, and discuss historical research. The common use of digital tools to visually represent ancient cultures and sites, however, has also introduced new issues. For example, critics have argued that digital visualisations, largely synonymous with reconstruction in 3D models, often attempt to represent a photorealistic-artificial vision of the past, and may often prove to be a way to communicate history to a large(r) audience [Forte and Siliotti 1997]. Against this backdrop, this article will discuss precisely how technology may help immerse researchers into historically situated life, and radically advance historical research. Adding to related criticisms of ocularcentric traditions of knowledge production, we contribute to this stream of research by arguing that contemporary visual representations of the past often concentrate on visual representations and seemingly maintain antiquity as a sanitised historio-cultural ideal [Westin 2012] [Tziovas 2014]. More specifically, this article seeks to demonstrate the potential of digital humanities to move beyond mere representations on screen and to mobilize other senses (specifically sound) as a historically situated component for research. For this purpose, we focus on the abstract principles and overall methodology for a recreation of the experience of sounds in the Roman amphitheatre.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 24.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Department of ALM, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Barker, Elton
    Konstantinidou, Kyriaki
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Mostofian, Nasrin
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Department of Computational Linguistics, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Demiroglu, O. Cenk
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Geography.
    Kiesling, Brady
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. ToposText, Athens, Greece.
    Talatas, Linda
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France.
    Semantically geo-annotating an ancient Greek "travel guide": Itineraries, Chronotopes, Networks, and Linked Data2020In: GeoHumanities'20: Proceedings of the 4th ACM SIGSPATIAL Workshop on Geospatial Humanities / [ed] Ludovic Moncla, Patricia Murrieta-Flores, Carmen Brando, ACM Digital Library, 2020Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Pausanias's second-century CE Periegesis Hellados presents a ten-volume grand tour of the Greek mainland. After the post-enlightenment rediscovery of ancient Greek literature, his Description of Greece proved highly influential as a guidebook to Greece's antiquities, directing travellers and archaeologists alike to uncovering and interpreting major sites, notably at Athens, Corinth and Olympia. Recent studies focusing on his Description as a narrative, however, have drawn attention to the textual construction of space, and the different ways in which space and place are conceptualised and related to each other. This paper outlines the initial work of the Digital Periegesis project, which is using semantic geo-annotation to capture and analyse the forms of space within and the spatial form of this narrative. In particular, it discusses the challenges and affordances of using geo-parsing, spatio-temporal analysis, network analysis, and Linked Open Data (LOD) for rethinking the geographies of a non-modern literary text as based more on topological connections than topographic proximity.

  • 25.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Cocq, Coppélie
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Buckland, Philip I.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies, Environmental Archaeology Lab.
    Gelfgren, Stefan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    Mapping socio-ecological landscapes: geovisualization as method2021In: Routledge international handbook of research methods in digital humanities / [ed] Kristen Schuster and Stuart Dunn, Oxon & New York: Routledge, 2021, p. 203-217Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Geovisualization, here perceived broadly as a representation of data on a digital map, has been used within a number of disciplines for different purposes: from creating new knowledge to sharing existing scholarly ideas. This chapter focuses on how building maps conceptually and with specific research questions in mind often requires a set of fresh methodologies. Methodologies ought to be tailored to conceptual research questions and existing limitations set by data, as well as aggregation, and visualization software. Through an analysis of three case studies spanning the disciplines of archaeology, linguistics and ethnology, classics and media studies, we identify a number of methodological choices and limitations for geovisualization set by available fragmented historical data, digital platforms for data aggregation, and visualization software. We then highlight two issues that are open for further development, more specifically 1) the complexities of representing multiple temporal data in one single mapping interface, as well as 2) the need for common global vocabularies and ontologies that provide us with the possibilities of linking common references.

  • 26.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Department of Archives, Library, Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Demiroglu, O. Cenk
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Geography. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Barker, Elton
    Faculty of Arts and Humanities, The Open University, UK.
    Mostofian, Nasrin
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Konstantinidou, Kyriaki
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Kiesling, Brady
    ToposText.org, Greece.
    Talatas, Linda
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.
    Palm, Kajsa
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Visualizing Pausanias’s description of Greece with contemporary GIS2022In: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, ISSN 2055-7671, E-ISSN 2055-768X, Vol. 37, no 3, p. 716-724Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This progress article focuses on an overview of the potential and challenges of using contemporary Geographic Information System (GIS) applications for the visual rendering and analysis of textual spatial data. The case study is an ancient traveling narrative, Pausanias’s Description of Greece (Periegesis Hellados) which was written in the second century CE. First, we describe the process of converting the volumes to spatial data using a customized version of the open-source digital semantic annotation platform Recogito. Then the focus shifts to the implementation of collected and organized spatial data to a number of GIS applications: namely Google Maps, DARIAH Geo-Browser, Gephi, Palladio and ArcGIS. Through empirical experimentation with spatial data and their implementation in different platforms, our paper charts the ways in which contemporary GIS applications may be implemented to cast new light on ancient understandings of identity, space, and place.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 27.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Katerelou, Amalia
    Kelaidis, Katherine
    Xekalaki, Georgia
    Digital Archaeology? Greece on Focus: Tools, methodologies and trends2017Other (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Archaeology is an interdisciplinary science, as it is a scholarly study of past processes that often combines space, place, natural science, materials and texts in its interpretation. Presently, the majority of practicing archaeologists include digital tools in their work (e.g. data keeping, digital mapping, visualization tools). And recently, digital visualization is trending beyond 3D modelling and landscape reconstruction and into the interactive, scientific visualization of data in order to render relations between geographies and cultures, sensory properties (Betts 2011, Betts 2017, Foka and Arvidsson 2016), external /internal networks and aerial visualizations. On an international level, we have come to speak of the notion of “cyber-archaeology” (Forte 2015): archaeological methods that utilize participatory technology to interact with past artefacts and spaces and to understand the past through reflection and cooperative efforts. Current digital tools and methodologies help capture and display knowledge about the past. While there is considerable room for improvement, both in terms of tools and of methodologies, from composing plain databases to visualizations intended for wider museum audiences, we address here the current progress within Greek archaeological practice and emphasize the importance of sustainable and updated digital research infrastructures in order to enhance access to materials for researchers and laypeople alike.

  • 28.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Department of Archives, Library and Information Science and Museum and Heritage Studies, Sweden; Centre for Digital Humanities, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Konstantinidou, Kyriaki
    Mostofian, Naarin
    Talatas, Linda
    Kiesling, J. Brady
    Barker, Elton
    Demiroglu, O. Cenk
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Geography. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Palm, Kajsa
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    McMeekin, David A.
    Vekselius, Johan
    Heritage metadata: a digital periegesis2022In: Information and knowledge organisation in digital humanities: global perspectives / [ed] Koraljka Golub; Ying-Hsang Liu, Abingdon: Routledge, 2022, p. 227-242Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Over the past decades the extraordinary growth of new technologies has made it possible to extract data from literary texts and analyse them using digital tools. This chapter focuses on the process of creating an enriched digital edition of Pausanias's Periegesis Hellados or Description of Greece. The purpose of this research is twofold: to identify 'heritage data' in Pausanias and to describe the technical and epistemological parameters of their aggregation and organisation. In answering the essentially digital humanities research question "how Pausanias's literary heritage information can be best organised and connected to the archaeological record on the ground", the Digital Periegesis project is charting and analysing the relevant digital tools and methods by which extensive semantic annotation and Linked Open Data (LOD) can facilitate the organisation of heritage information in Pausanias's text and its connection to actual archaeological finds. This chapter discusses the potential application of Geographic Information Science (GISc) and Geographic Information System (GIS) for such complex pre-cartesian narrative analysis. Finally, it emphasises the importance of building geo-spatially enriched digital editions collaboratively, involving discipline specialist researchers and information organisation experts, with the aim of interpreting histories of "place".

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 29.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Liliequist, JonasUmeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS).
    Laughter, humor and the (un)making of gender: historical and cultural perspectives2015Collection (editor) (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    A fresh look at longstanding questions, across a temporal range (classical antiquity to the early modern) and a geographical range (Asia to Europe, Islam to Christendom). The optimistic investigators find gender subversion, women's agency, and men's self-criticism in comic forms from high (Homer) to low (folklore, burlesque, jokes, cartoons), imagining a complex audience.

    Humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Throughout history, it has played a crucial role in defining gender roles and identities. This collection offers an in-depth thematic examination of this relationship between humor and gender, spanning a variety of historical and cultural backdrops. Bringing together a medley of case studies diachronically and across cultures, the book examines gendered humorous expressions from classical antiquity to the late eighteenth century and across visual culture, literature and performance in both European and Asian premodern contexts.

  • 30.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Pufendorf Institute, Lund University, Sweden.
    Misharina, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Arvidsson, Viktor
    Gelfgren, Stefan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Beyond humanities qua digital: Spatial and material development for digital research infrastructures2018In: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, ISSN 2055-7671, E-ISSN 2055-768X, Vol. 33, no 2, p. 264-278Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Universities around the world have increasingly turned to digital infrastructures as a way to revamp the arts and humanities. This article contributes a fresh understanding by examining the material development of HumlabX, a research laboratory for digital humanities at Umeå University, Sweden. Specifically, we approach the empirical case as a timeline of research funding, projects, events, and deliverables to examine how the research laboratory as an organizational and material space developed and evolved in relation to new technology investments. Based on our analysis, we argue that while digital research infrastructures can, indeed, stimulate innovation in and around research, aimed to produce new knowledge, digital technologies carry social and material implications that affect organizational processes. We show that while knowledge production processes at HumlabX were highly influenced by the infrastructural legacy of the past, they indeed directed scholars toward innovation. By discussing these implications in detail, we move beyond the debate of humanities qua digital, and demonstrate the need for scholars of digital humanities to engage in the development of policies for digital research infrastructures. Using a Swedish case study, we argue that research laboratories for the digital humanities must be scrutinized and should be fully exposed as socio-material organizations that develop, and should develop, over time. In particular, we stress the need to ensure that digital humanities laboratories are sustainable and open for redevelopment.

  • 31.
    Foka, Anna
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Westin, Jonathan
    University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
    Chapman, Adam
    University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
    Introduction to the dhq special issue: digital technology in the study of the past2018In: Digital Humanities Quarterly, E-ISSN 1938-4122, Vol. 12, no 3Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This is the guest editors' introduction to the Digital Humanities Quarterly special issue on Digital Technology in the Study of the Past.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 32.
    Gelfgren, Stefan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Visualisering som verktyg och metod för historieforskning2017In: Digital humaniora: humaniora i en digital tid / [ed] Per Olov Erixon & Julia Pennlert, Göteborg: Daidalos, 2017, p. 147-164Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 33. Golub, Koraljka
    et al.
    Göransson, Elisabet
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Digital Humanities Uppsala (DH Uppsala), Department of ALM, Faculty of Arts, Uppsala University, Sweden.
    Huvila, Isto
    Digital humanities in Sweden and its infrastructure: status quo and the sine qua non2020In: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, ISSN 2055-7671, E-ISSN 2055-768X, Vol. 35, no 3, p. 547-556Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The article offers a state-of-the-art overview of a number of Digital Humanities (DH) initiatives that have emerged in Sweden over the past decade. We identify two major developments that seem to be taking place within DH, with a specific focus on the infrastructural aspects of the development: (1) a strive to open up and broaden the research output and (2) multi-disciplinary collaboration and its effects. The two major components accentuate the new infrastructural patterns that are developing and the challenges these infer on universities. While current research is at large multi-disciplinary, developing infrastructures also enable the move towards post-disciplinarity, bringing the universities closer to the surrounding society. At five universities in Sweden, individual-sited infrastructures supporting DH research have been built today. They are complemented by national and international infrastructures, thus supporting developments and tackling some of the major challenges. In the article, the relations between individual disciplines, the question of multi- and post-disciplinarity, and the field of Digital Humanities are discussed, while stressing the factors necessary - sine qua non - for a fruitful development of the scholarly infrastructures.

  • 34.
    Liliequist, Jonas
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    General introduction2015In: Laughter, humor, and the (un)making of gender: historical and cultural perspectives / [ed] Foka, A., Liliequist, J., New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 1-3Chapter in book (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Laughter, its meaning, and propriety have occupied the minds of philosophers, moralists, and dramatists as far back as Antiquity. In a modern context, laughter is typically associated with humor and joy, but not all laughter is the fruit of the former and even less so the latter. On the contrary, laughter has been associated with ridicule, degradation, and the vulgarity of the lower classes. As such, laughter’s rebellious and disciplining impact has been both acknowledged and feared. The notion of laughter as a positive, involuntary physical reaction associated with harmless joy is, at least in the Western world, a modern construct with a short history.1 On a more theoretical level, laughter may be defined as a fundamental human behavior with a strong social aspect that is often but not necessarily related to humor. It is a particular kind of facial and vocal expression that can be inviting and repelling, inclusive and exclusive, evoke sympathy, and mobilize derision. Thus, we can both laugh at and laugh with others.2 Depending on who is laughed at and from which social position, laughter can be disciplining and rebellious, repressive and subversive, or self-ironic and self-degrading.

  • 35.
    Mäntymäki, Tiina
    et al.
    Vaasa University.
    Rodi-Risberg, MarinellaVaasa University.Foka, AnnaUmeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Deviant women: cultural, linguistic and literary approaches to narratives of femininity2015Collection (editor) (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This multidisciplinary collection of articles illuminates the ways in which the concept of female deviance is represented, appropriated, re-inscribed and refigured in a wide range of texts across time, cultures and genres. Such a choice of variety shows that representations of deviance accommodate meaning-making spaces and possibilities for resistance in different socio-cultural and literary contexts. The construct of the deviant woman is analysed from literary, sociolinguistic and historical-cultural perspectives, revealing insights about cultures and societies. Furthermore, the studies recognise and explain the significance of the concept of deviance in relation to gender that bespeaks a contemporary cultural concern about narratives of femininity.

  • 36.
    Mäntymäki, Tiina
    et al.
    Vaasa University.
    Rodi-Risberg, Marinella
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Introduction2015In: Deviant women: cultural, linguistic and literary approaches to narratives of femininity / [ed] Tiina Mäntymaki; Marinella Rodi-Risberg; Anna Foka, Oxford: Peter Lang Publishing Group, 2015, p. 9-25Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The construct of the deviant woman is analysed from literary, sociolinguistic and historical-cultural perspectives, revealing insights about cultures and societies. Furthermore, the studies recognise and explain the significance of the concept of deviance in relation to gender that bespeaks a contemporary cultural concern about narratives of femininity.

  • 37.
    Nygren, Thomas
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab. Department of Education, Uppsala University and Department of History, Stanford University.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Buckland, Phillip I.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    The status quo of digital humanities in Sweden: past, present and future of digital history2014In: H-Soz-Kult: Communication and information services for historical research, E-ISSN 2196-5307Article in journal (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    A current Swedish review of digital history claims that research in digital history in Sweden is almost absent.[1] This statement must naturally be considered in the light of how the field is defined, and in this article we choose a broad definition consisting of the aggregate domain of studies in which digital material and tools are used to study the past. Digital history is without a doubt a more active field in English-speaking academic settings, but there are a number of well-established projects and initiatives in Sweden. The case studies presented in this article are cross-disciplinary and might therefore not define themselves as strictly (or solely) digital history. This may, however, be irrelevant in the post-disciplinary context.

    The digitization of historical source material has increasingly compelled Swedish historians to navigate in digital environments. This increased accessibility and the capacity for digitally processing historical material hold great potential for empowering research. While on the one hand, considerable growth can be expected in the coming years as technology becomes more accessible, user-friendly and domain science orientated [2], on the other hand, the expansion of digital archives and the development of digital tools are already posing new challenges for historians. Knowledge and understanding of digital media needs to be augmented considerably in order to fully take advantage of contemporary research opportunities and challenges. This essay will discuss how the creation of data and the use of new digital tools might support a variety of types of historical research, primarily by looking at developments in digital humanities (hereon DH) and digital archaeology. The variegated realm of DH practices, with their background in humanities computing and computing linguistics, will be used as a point of departure. Internationally, DH often uses the concept of labs to describe environments designed for the use of data and tools in interdisciplinary research.[3] Centres of DH have primarily been created in the USA and, more recently, in Europe.

    While on-going research in multiple fields, using digital data and tools, is contributing important new knowledge and developing infrastructures which are advancing the study of history; there is, of course, considerable room for improvement, both in terms of the efficiency of the tools and the scope of their application. This article will present two Swedish examples of interdisciplinary and collaborative lab spaces which are currently involved in research on the past. The more disciplinary practices of digital archaeology and digital history will also be examined in order to flag out current historically orientated research which may fall under the umbrella of DH. The essay will conclude by discussing some potential future directions.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 38.
    Westin, Jonathan
    et al.
    University of Gothenburg.
    Foka, AnnaHUMlab, University of Umeå.Chapman, AdamUniversity of Gothenburg.
    Challenge the past / diversify the future: Proceedings of the International Conference: Centre for Digital Humanities at Gothenburg University2015Conference proceedings (editor) (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Challenge the Past / Diversify the Future is a multidisciplinary conference for scholars and practitioners who study the implementation and potential of visual and multi-sensory representations to challenge and diversify our understanding of history and culture. This volume contains an overview of all the presentations.

    Download full text (pdf)
    fulltext
  • 39. Westin, Jonathan
    et al.
    Foka, Anna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Humlab.
    Chapman, Adam
    Humanising places: exposing histories of the disenfranchised through augmented reality2018In: International Journal of Heritage Studies (IJHS), ISSN 1352-7258, E-ISSN 1470-3610, Vol. 24, no 3, p. 283-286Article in journal (Other academic)
1 - 39 of 39
CiteExportLink to result list
Permanent link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf