Michael Goyette

Associate Teaching Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

401 Weaver Building University Park, PA 16802

Pronouns: he/him

Research Interests:

Biography:

Michael Goyette specializes in the study of ancient medicine, focusing on conceptualizations and representations of embodiment and illness (both physical and mental) in Latin literature. Examining Latin poetry alongside ancient medical prose, his approach interrogates the dichotomy frequently drawn between “literary” and “technical” sources and pursues ways in which discourses and representations from various genres can be productively read together. This methodology is reflected in his (in-progress) monograph, Seneca Medicus: Illness and the Body in Senecan Tragedy and Latin Medical Prose.

Prof. Goyette is highly enthusiastic about interdisciplinary inquiry and the reception of the ancient world. In his teaching, research, and outreach work he strives to demonstrate how the study of antiquity can illuminate present-day issues and topics in fields ranging from the humanities to the sciences. He is highly active in regional and national organizations, currently chairing the Anthony Fauci Award in STEM and Classics Committee (affiliated with the Classical Association for the Middle West and South, or CAMWS) and also serving on the Steering Committee of Classics and Social Justice. At Penn State, he teaches ancient Greek and Latin language at all levels, and a variety of other courses on the Graeco-Roman world and its continuing significance in the 21st century. His CV is viewable here.

Education Details:

Ph.D. in Classics, The Graduate Center of The City University of New York

M.Phil. in Classics, The Graduate Center of The City University of New York

M.A. in Classics, The Graduate Center of The City University of New York

B.A. in Classical Studies: Greek, Vassar College

Publications:

Journal Articles

“In Medias Pestes: The Intricacies of Teaching Pandemic Histories During a Global Pandemic”. The Classical Outlook 97.1 (2022): 47–54.

“Found in Translation: Engendering Inclusive and Conscientious Pronoun Pedagogy in Ancient Greek and Latin Language Classrooms”. The Classical Journal 116.3 (2021): 355–380.

Book Chapters

“Insult to Injury: Senecan Stoicism, Misogyny, and the Semantics of ‘Special Snowflake’”. In Toxic Masculinity in the Ancient World, eds. A. McMaster and M. Racette-Campbell. Edinburgh University Press 2023: 199–215.

“Playing the Doctor: Performances and Pedagogies of Healing in the Fragments of Empedocles and Euripides’s Bacchae”. In Paideia and Performance: Selected Essays from the Seventh Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Sicily and Southern Italy, eds. H. Curcio, M. Ralkowski, H. Reid. Parnassos Press 2023: 19–39.

“Deep Cuts: Rhetoric of Human Dissection, Vivisection, and Surgery in Latin Literature”. In The Body Unbound: Literary Approaches to the Classical Corpus, eds. B. Sowers, K. Lu Hsu, and D. Schur. Palgrave Macmillan 2021: 101–137.

“Seneca’s Corpus: A Sympathy of Fluids and Fluctuations”. In Bodily Fluids in Antiquity, eds. L. Totelin, V. Leonard, and M. Bradley. Routledge 2021: 272–286.