Today we'd like to talk about some of our side projects over the last six months. Although our primary focus is and always will be using donations to provide microgrants to students and scholars in need, we also want to help make our disciplines more inclusive.

We take our inspiration from @Libertinopatren, which introduced us to the model of sharing (anonymised) stories of precarity and financial need when we distribute our microgrants: this emphasises the difficulties that our academic colleagues might face without any of us noticing.

We also collate resources that showcase the diversity of ancient world studies. Our website bibliography links to sites / lists run by other individuals or organisations working to make classics more inclusive, and articles on the state of the discipline. https://sportulaeurope.wordpress.com/bibliography/ 

If we're missing anything important, let us know and we can add it! The bibliography also includes a small selection of works of classical reception, or reinterpretations of ancient texts and stories, which focus on marginalisation and issues around gender, race or sexuality.

Another resource we're proud of is our Black History Month twitter thread showcasing Black scholars working on the ancient world. We're keen to find other ways to highlight scholars from marginalised groups who are making waves in academia and deserve more recognition. https://twitter.com/SportulaEurope/status/1313138718816063488

A lot of our energy has focused on issues of race, not least because of the resurgence of global #BlackLivesMatter movements this year, but also because we feel that is a gap. Other areas of marginalisation are well served by groups like @womeninclassics and @cripantiquity.

However, we are keen to use our voice (and amplify the voices of these wonderful organisations) to fight against all kinds of inequality and discrimination in ancient world studies, including financial inequalities which can be partially alleviated through our microgrants.

Over the summer, we experimented with Zoom socials for BIPOC students and scholars; and although we have stopped running these (people have enough Zoom-fatigue at the moment, with so much online teaching going on), we would like to do more community-building work in the future.

Our blog is one way we might be able to do this, and we're hoping to build it up into a real platform over the next six months, a space for people to talk about their experiences of studying the ancient world as they negotiate marginalisation in academia and beyond. https://twitter.com/SportulaEurope/status/1319700112239636481

We've also experimented with using the #NewInAntiquity hashtag to allow people to ask questions and seek advice with things they might not feel comfortable asking more senior scholars. If you have any questions you'd like us to pose anonymously for you, send them via Twitter DM!

So many people are working to make ancient world studies more inclusive and equitable; we hope to be a part of that collective effort in whatever way we can, and to amplify everyone else who is doing this essential work. Thank you for all of your support, financial and otherwise!