Congratulations go to Meadows art history student, Marisa Infante, who is the 2017 recipient of the Larrie and Bobbi Weil Undergraduate Research Award for her paper, The Amazons of Exekias and Eupolis: Demystifying Changes in Gender Roles. The Weil Award is given annually for excellence in undergraduate research, and the recipient is an SMU student nominated by their faculty for outstanding research and writing of a term paper.
Marisa agreed to a few questions about her research for this paper.
- Marisa, could you please briefly tell blog readers about the topic of your paper?
My paper focuses on two Greek vases, one from the Archaic period and the other from the Classical period. Combining these vases with feminist and gender theory, I explore the differences in depictions of Amazon figures and how their iconography relates to the changing gender roles of women.
- What did you find most surprising or intriguing in your research?
I found it surprising that the iconography changed as drastically as it did. The iconography of the amazons widely changed from one time period to the next with little crossover. I think that this is so interesting because it reflects how quickly the mindset of the people changed as well.
- Was there or were there key resource(s) that helped you in your research?
There were a few key resources that helped me in my research. One of the main sources that I used was the Lexicon iconographic mythologiae classicae (LIMC)! I used it to survey the overall change in Amazon iconography and without it my paper would not have been as strong.
- If you had more than one semester to research this topic, is there something else you would have also discussed in your paper?
I would have included more vases in order to really show the difference in the Amazon iconography and to trace how drastically different the iconography is between the Archaic period and the Classical period.
Image: Marisa Infante, with donors, Larrie and Bobbi Weil, and Elizabeth Killingsworth, Director of Fondren Library and Head of Research Services, and Dean and Director ad interim (effective July 1st), Central University Libraries, SMU.