On the Launch of the Experrecta Series
Open Access Student Editions of Latin Texts Written by Women
Pixelia Publishing is excited to announce the launch of our new project, The Experrecta Series, with the publication of the first volume: The Passion of Perpetua.
The project’s aim is “to create open access student editions of Latin texts written by women”; as series co-editor I wanted briefly to expand on our goals. This is our small material contribution to the myriad current discussions within and about the field of Classics (and Latin studies). This project addresses issues of stagnation, inflexibility, and exclusion in Classics in three ways:
Who are the authors and what are the topics we examine in the field? Who has access to material in the field? Who gets to produce scholarly material in the field?
On expanding the canon for introductory and intermediate Latin and Classics studies
This series is not meant to replace the Caesars and the Ciceros and the Odysseys of intermediate pre-collegiate and university instruction, but to bring more to the table and to expand and complicate what we consider to be classical authors. Perpetua herself, both author and subject of our first volume, is at an intersection of identities rarely associated with the voices read and the time periods examined in an intermediate and secular classroom. As the introduction to the volume notes,
Perpetua’s voice makes a distinct contribution to the canon of Latin authors. Perpetua was almost certainly from a wealthy background, but as an African woman and a member of a then minority religion, she presents us with a different perspective from the ones we usually see in ancient Latin texts.
A deliberate effort to expand the canon at this elementary and intermediate entry-point into the field constitutes a step towards diversifying the conversations in the longer term at higher instructional and scholarly levels. The very existence of this publication (the result of student-faculty collaboration in an advanced high school course) demonstrates that instructors of Latin and Classics can (and did) challenge the canonical introductory curriculum with new voices and new writings.
On expanding accessibility to scholarly material on Latin and Classical topics
This material will be available free of charge in PDF form to anyone who may be interested (and available at a low price in hard copy from a mass-media site). This does not of course solve all aspects of accessibility from a global perspective, but at the very least joins many other endeavors in liberating Classics and Latin material from behind a paywall.
While the primary audience of this series is the classroom (whether pre-collegiate or university level), we aim to avoid exclusion from access to our publications of anyone within or outside educational institutions. Even outside of Classics or Latin classrooms, this volume in particular may be relevant reading for those with an interest in Early Christian or Religious Studies. The introductory material alone would not be inappropriate for non-academic religious and historical reading groups.
On expanding scholarly authorship and ownership
A glance at the cover will show an unusually long list of authors, across various demographics and institutional positions. It is an intentional choice to list every student contributor and scholar as author of this publication: this was a truly collaborative work and the authorial attribution is certainly merited. In the interest of making Classics more accessible, we find it valuable for students and potential scholars across broader demographic swathes to see themselves reflected not only in the material itself but, equally importantly, in the voices responding to, debating, and engaging with this material. Expanding the canon is one side of the coin; the other is actively promoting authorship and ownership of scholarly responses within varying communities and perspectives as well.
All together, these three approaches are concrete steps towards building a broader audience and hence a more complex symphony of voices responding to the Greco-Roman world, a corrective resistance to the forces trying to pigeonhole classical material in the exclusive realm of white supremacy, and hopefully a renewed and richer experience for everyone. As our series introduction states,
The name of the series comes from Perpetua herself. In Perpetua’s narrative she recounts a series of visions, each of which ends with the phrase Et experrēcta sum (“And I awoke”). This series will be populated by texts that have long been slumbering and are now waking to a new dawn and a new readership in Latin classrooms.
