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Beyond the Boundaries of Fantasia: An ancient imagining of the future of leadership

Plutarch's Antony: Gender and Leadership

As the current presidential election cycle has made crystal clear, how we evaluate the actions, achievements, and character of a leader is often dependent -- consciously or not -- on a leader's gender. In this module, we will examine how beliefs, expectations, and stereotypes about gender affect perceptions of leadership. Plutarch's Life of Antony allows us to examine some of those gender dynamics in the context of ancient political biography. We will consider the construction of both femininity and masculinity, in Antony, Fulvia, Octavia, and Cleopatra, and how gender presentation negatively and positively affects the leadership abilities and achievements of the subjects of the Life.

Our ultimate goal is to to formulate cogent, well-substantiated answers to the following two questions:

Who in the Life of Antony is most successful at "playing the gender card"? Cf. Kelly Dittmar on the 2016 election
If we consider Antony alongside Fulvia, Octavia, and Cleopatra, can we construct a list of positive or negative qualities of leaders that applies to any individual, regardless of gender?

Plutarch's Antony: Gender and Leadership

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