Securing All the World’s Pasts for Our Common Future

This essay calls on us to future-proof the study of the world’s pasts by creating a new field, ancient studies, that would replace “classics ” and “classical studies ” by drawing together scholars of ancient cultures from disciplines and area studies around the world. Our current disciplinary divisions, burdened by prejudices about race, religion, and national identity, are hindering intellectual exchange and collaboration. Approaching ancient studies from a global perspective demands the conservation of a global archive; commitment to its preservation will help restore the humanity stolen from people invaded, enslaved, exploited, erased, and ignored in past centuries and today. The vitality of the archive’s contents will enrich our care for the world in all its variety and complexity and help us imagine a better future for all our pasts-as well as for ourselves and generations to follow.