Social Sciences/Humanities Summer Research | Department of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Students are invited to apply to the Social Sciences/Humanities Summer Research Program, designed to expand research opportunities for students in the Social Sciences and Humanities fields for this summer 2026. Students can apply to each opportunity by including a resume and cover letter addressed to the faculty member listed in the job description. The application deadline is Sunday, April 12.  

Humanities/Social Sciences Summer Research Program | Department of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Faculty Member: Professor Benjamin Stevens

Job Description 

A study of how ancient stories are retold in modern games.

This project contributes to the burgeoning study of ‘classical receptions’--how ancient materials are transmitted and transformed in later materials--in games, including role-playing games (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons, featuring monsters like the Minotaur), tabletop / board games (e.g., Polis, with players running classical Greek cities), and video games (e.g., God of War, involving Olympian gods). Thanks to their large and diverse audiences, games comprise an important area for reimagining cultural traditions, an area that scholarship has only recently begun to explore. The newness of the area in scholarship, combined with games’ wide spread in popular culture, allows the project to offer substantial opportunities for meaningful contributions by students. 

Recent work has placed classical receptions in the closely related *genres* of science fiction and fantasy on firm theoretical foundations (e.g., Rogers and Stevens 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019; Weiner, Rogers, and Stevens 2018). By contrast, work on the thematically similar and socially / culturally linked traditions underlying the *media* of games has only begun. There is scholarship on video games (e.g., DeMaria 2003, Wolf and Perrin 2003) and some on RPGs / tabletop games (e.g., Mackay 2001)--much of it sociological (e.g., Laycock 2015) or philosophical (e.g., Cogburn and Silcox 2012). Work on cultural traditions in games, including classical receptions, has only begun (e.g., Ghita & Andrikopoulous 2009; Lowe 2009; Christesen & Machado 2010; Peterson, Miller, and Fedorko 2013; Marshall 2019; McAuley 2019; Clare 2021; Rollinger 2021; Draycott & Cook 2024). 

In that context, there are obvious and important areas for undergraduate researchers to make meaningful contributions to scholarship. We will (1) begin surveying games for relevance, (2) identify likely topics for further research including the students’ individual papers, and (3) suggest theory and method. We then anticipate both ‘academic’ and ‘creative’ opportunities, including (4) helping myself and colleagues with planning a spring 2027 conference to take place at BMC, with a games track including a section for undergraduate research, eventually leading to an edited volume of new scholarly essays.

Finally, the students’ work will (5) help the department to build a collection of relevant games that will be made available to the BMC community in the form of periodic ‘classical receptions game nights.’ We imagine that this will be of interest to many students at BMC and in the Bi-Co! Indeed, games are so popular, and opportunities for contribution so varied, that we can imagine this project ultimately suggesting long-term venues for collaboration across disciplines and with the larger community, e.g., open-invitation game nights, ancient-game work with local schools that have programs in Latin language and mythology, experiential-learning panels on opportunities in game-design for humanities students, etc..

Skills or Training:

No prerequisites to apply, but some prior knowledge of and/or coursework in Classical Studies – i.e., having to do with Ancient Greece, Rome, related cultures, and how they have been (re)imagined by later cultures – or a related area would be helpful. It would be helpful too if a student is already interested in games. 

Class Year Eligible: Current students in the Classes of 2027, 2028, and 2029. 

Majors: Any. An important principle of classical reception studies is the fact that knowledge about ‘ancient worlds’ is generated not only in the scholarly study of ancient materials but in institutions and cultural forms more broadly construed (e.g., fandom). That said, and notwithstanding the general academic and other benefits of conducting scholarly research under faculty supervision, the particular focuses might be especially suitable to students with interests in anthropology, art history, history, history of science (in turn, including history of computer science), languages, linguistics, literatures, mythology, and religion.

Dates & Length: full-time - minimum of 240 hours; 10 weeks. Approximate dates: May 26, 2026 – July 30, 2026

Internship Format: Hybrid at Bryn Mawr College (by listing a 'hybrid' location, location is flexible in relation to the student's or students' situation otherwise, with the caveat that research on tabletop games is best conducted in person)

Additional Information: 

This project continues ongoing research of mine in ‘classical receptions,’ or how ancient stories are transmitted and transformed in later materials, especially in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in a range of artforms and mediums. That research has appeared in scholarly journals, as chapters in other scholars’ edited volumes, and in four separate volumes that I have co-edited with colleagues; in that research, I have been pleased to incorporate and to acknowledge the work done by students under my supervision in four separate teams on related projects supported by grants. As a central part of that supervisory role, I received specialized training in supervising such teams in a grant-supported faculty institute on course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). Each of those projects saw the student researchers either presenting their own studies at academic conferences, including internationally, or contributing to scholarly publications as noted above, or both. That remains a principle goal of this project, with an important related step being the student's or students' participation in planning the conference to be held spring 2027 at BMC.

Funding Award: This opportunity includes a funding award of $5,000 (minus 15-20% taxes). 

Questions about this opportunity? Please contact Katie Krimmel at kkrimmel@brynmawr.edu and Professor Benjamin Stevens at bestevens@brynmawr.edu