Journal Articles by Anna Foka
Semantically geo-annotating an ancient Greek "travel guide" Itineraries, Chronotopes, Networks, and Linked Data. In Proceedings of the 4th ACM SIGSPATIAL Workshop on Geospatial Humanities (GeoHumanities'20). , 2020
Pausanias's second-century CE Periegesis Hellados presents a tenvolume grand tour of the Greek ma... more Pausanias's second-century CE Periegesis Hellados presents a tenvolume 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.
Scandia: University of Lund , 2019
The word Periegesis derives from periēgeisthai, “to lead or show around”. This double sense of mo... more The word Periegesis derives from periēgeisthai, “to lead or show around”. This double sense of movement (through space) and description (of place) is to identify and reflect on not only how Pausanias describes and contemplates places and objects within them, but also the spatial organisation of his narrative theoria—how he relates places to each other and contemplates on their relation. While Pausanias represents a theoria of ‘Hellenism’ in the auspices of the Roman Empire, the books are especially informative in relation to space and cultural diversity. Pausanias, ‘inhabited an era when the notion of ethnic identity, particularly that of the Greeks, was in a state of ambiguity’,[5] as Greece was under Roman rule at the time. For our project (www.periegesis.org, funded for three years by the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation) we aim to digitally annotate the text in order to trace, map, analyse and visualise Pausanias’s spatial theoria: his (re)imagining of Greece.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities: Oxford University Press
The article offers a state-of-the-art overview of a number of Digital Humanities (DH) initiatives... more 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.
Digital Humanities Quarterly, Boston: Alliance for Digital Humanities Organisations. 12(3), 2018
This is the guest editors' introduction to the Digital Humanities Quarterly special issue on Digi... more This is the guest editors' introduction to the Digital Humanities Quarterly special issue on Digital Technology in the Study of the Past.
Digital Humanities Quarterly, Boston: Alliance of digital humanities organisations. 12(3), 2018
Digital reconstructions of classical antiquity are generally ocularcentric, appealing only to the... more Digital reconstructions of classical antiquity are generally ocularcentric, appealing only to the sense of vision. We propose that new technologies may be used to engage the other senses in the act of reception, and specifically here we focus on kinaesthesia, or the sense of self-movement. This paper analyses a phase of the project Ancient Dance in Modern Dancers in which participants created performance pieces in a genre of Graeco-Roman dance for use in a motion-capture system. It was necessary for the performers to develop a range of translational strategies in order to communicate their movement to the system, entailing what we term "distributed reception", in which the ultimate recipient of ancient source-material is not a human actor but rather the machine with which s/he is in collaboration. Digital reconstructions of classical antiquity tend typically to use visualization as their primary sensory vehicle. As the "sensory turn" in historical scholarship moves beyond vision, however (e.g. [Butler and Purves 2013]; [Toner 2014]; [Betts 2017]), the question also arises of how alternative sense-experiences may be re-imagined, and how this re-imagining might be facilitated using digital media. Different forms of sensory engagement generate different forms of knowledge, creating what Foka and Arvidsson have termed the "experiential analogy", whereby the ephemeral cultural practices of another era are translated into present-day sense experience [Foka 2016]. Foka and Arvidsson concentrate on sound, but equally crucial to knowledge-production is kinaesthesia, or the sense of self-movement. The vital contributions made by kinaesthesia to comprehending physical potentialities and spatial relationships as well as the abstract concepts derived from them have been widely demonstrated in the domain of cognitive science [Sheets-Johnstone 2011] (see also [Gallese and Lakoff 2005], [Gallagher 2005], [Noë 2004]). It is our contention that kinaesthetic engagement can also contribute to formulating conceptions of the ancient past, and that digital technology is an ideal tool for fashioning this analogical relationship. Even as self-movement offers the impression of immersive bodily contact with antiquity, virtuality presents a simultaneous reminder of its otherness. Technology has opened up new ways to examine antiquity. [1] Digital technologies are used to relate detailed topographic data to primary sources in order to visualize place and space distant in time [Schreibman, Siemens, and Unsworth 2004] [Mahony and Bodard 2010, 1-14] [Barker et al. 2010] [Barker et al. 2012, 185-200]. Digital prototypes in the form of 3D visualisations have found prominent use within humanities research [Drucker 2011] [Frischer et al. 2006, 163-82] [Forte 2010] [Nygren, Foka, and Buckland 2014] [Foka 2017] [Vitale 2016]. As argued by Foka and Arvidsson, the vast majority of scholarly attempts to digitally reconstruct ancient urban sites for entertainment or otherwise indeed rely on the visual representation of (physical) materiality such as buildings, bridges or roads through 3D and virtual reality models. 3D models thus make evident how existing digital tools carry assumptions of knowledge as primarily visual, neglecting other sensory detail and thereby sustaining the ocularcentric tradition within humanities research (e.g. [Howes 2005, 14]; [Classen 1997, 401-12]), as well as idealised representations of antiquity. Western intellectual traditions have indeed shown a marked preference for vision as the figure of knowledge [Evens 2005, ix]. The excuse is often that elements of intangible cultural heritage such as dance and motion (see definition by UNESCO) leave no traces or evidence, so we cannot represent them
International Journal for Cultural Heritage Studies, 2018
s demonstrated by the many insightful studies on the effect of representational practices on hist... more s demonstrated by the many insightful studies on the effect of representational practices on historical and cultural studies (see Smiles and Moser 2005; Russel 2006; Waterton and Watson 2010; Bonde and Houston 2013), when cultures, history, peoples and their performative practices and life- styles are solidified through elaborate acts of representation, reconstruction or description, there is often little initiative to diversify and question. Through the representation thereof, the past is being globalised as an assemblage of agreed upon symbols that becomes our heritage rather than reflecting it. An understanding of the processes that make up these modes of documentation through which we communicate those places, events and performative practices that are part of our cultural heritage is crucial, since the communicative traditions these make use of constitute a large part of the public’s apprehension of past cultures and people. As have been shown on numerous occasions (see James 1997; Moser 2001; Westin 2014), the representations we are creating of the past often follows well established conventions that are outdated, homogenous, and highly problematic, and may feed into contemporary political conflict. It takes great effort to break free from these conventions, to diversify and tell new stories.
Archaeology is an interdisciplinary science, as it is a scholarly study of past processes that of... more 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.
Universities around the world have increasingly turned to digital infrastructures as a way to rev... more 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 Umea° 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.
Humanistic uses of digital technologies have opened up new ways to think about, communicate, and ... more 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.
Past research on gender online has made important land gains but under-theorizes the Internet as ... more 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.
While early day Internet research often hailed "Cyberspace" as an arena where individuals would b... more 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.
Reconstructions of the Roman Empire in film, like other historical narratives, are often open to ... more Reconstructions of the Roman Empire in film, like other historical narratives, are often open to speculation. While archaeological and literary epistemologies can proffer us significant macrohistoric information about wealthy, educated males (and less often notable females) microhistoric reconstructions of the lives, bodies, and behaviors of the "lesser classes", such as gladiators, entertainers, and other Romans of lower status, are much more a product of scholarly speculation. In film and other screen-mediated arts, then, authors and producers are necessarily faced with intricate questions (see Cyrino 2013). Microhistoric details that are primarily visual and help unfolding the plot, such as representational and performative aspects of gender, often need to be speculated upon and recreated, beyond the archaeological and literary evidence that scholars uncovered about upper-crust Rome. These conceptual reconstructions of antiquity in popular culture are often infiltrated through the lens of contemporaneity. They are informed by their producers' and scriptwriters' own understanding of Greek and Roman culture and they aim to correspond to the audiences' penchant. It is therefore not surprising that screen-mediated expressions of antiquity are often explored from the scholarly perspective of classical reception: the "two-way relationship between the source text or culture and the new work and receiving culture" (Hardwick 4). Indeed, classical narratives offer a rather overt environment for discussion of both ancient as well as contemporary issues. Against this backdrop, this article examines how narratives of gender, and specifically femininity in the television series Spartacus (2010-13) correspond with or deviate from historical detail and contemporary audience expectations regarding the nexus of heroism, gender, and sexuality in the Roman Empire. Spartacus is the attested leader of a rebellion against the Roman Republic (from 73 to 71 BC; for historical discussion of this, see Plutarch, Crassus 8; Appian, Civil
The use of research orientated databases in Sweden dates back to the 1960's, prior to the creatio... more The use of research orientated databases in Sweden dates back to the 1960's, prior to the creation of the World Wide Web. The Language Bank [Språkbanken], at Gothenburg University, created an electronic text corpus in Swedish building on the work of Sture Alléns 4 . This database of newspaper text, containing over a million words and built for corpus linguistic research and public use, was one of the first of its kind in a language other than English. Centres of linguistics programming and computational linguistics are currently situated in Gothenburg 5 and Stockholm 6 . These environments focus on the use of digital data and tools with respect to a number of archives and projects, 3
Books by Anna Foka
Book Chapters by Anna Foka
Museums and Digital Culture New Perspectives and Research, 2019
Museums represent complex layers of place. From carefully managed curatorial spaces, to exhibitio... more 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.
Uploads
Journal Articles by Anna Foka
understanding by examining the material development of HumlabX, a research laboratory for digital humanities at Umea° 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.
Books by Anna Foka
Book Chapters by Anna Foka
understanding by examining the material development of HumlabX, a research laboratory for digital humanities at Umea° 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.
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 twoway
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. I conclude that 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.