And so it begins…

This is my first blog post (ever), so I have spent a good deal of time hemming and hawing over an appropriately novel and pithy title to headline my blogging debut. Needless to say, that hasn’t happened.

Anyway, I’m Veronica Ikeshoji-Orlati, a 4th year PhD Candidate in Classical Art & Archaeology in the McIntire Department of Art here at UVA. I took a BA in Classics, with minors in Art History and Philosophy, from the University at Buffalo (2003), later returned to UB for an MA in Art History (2010), and am now weaving together the disparate threads of my personal and academic interests into my dissertation, entitled Music, Performance, and Identity in 4th century BCE South Italian Vase-Painting. The field of Classical Archaeology, and South Italian Archaeology in particular, offers up many challenges, incredible opportunities, and fascinating methodological questions, so I find my research engaging on many levels.

I am thrilled to be part of the 2013-14 Praxis cohort for a panoply of reasons. The two most important to me are 1. the opportunity to work with, and learn from, people from vastly different backgrounds with diverse personal, professional, and academic interests, and 2. the chance to plunge into the field of Digital Humanities with patient, knowledgeable guides and amicable, resourceful accomplices. Getting to work on the Ivanhoe game is an added benefit, since pedagogy happens to be a topic which occupies a significant corner of my mind and the role of digital spaces and teaching tools in the classroom is a developing interest.

That just about sums up what an introductory post should say. I look forward to sharing what we’re doing, and how it impacts my own research and thinking, here!