Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Eleonora Falini
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: She/her/hers
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?: Ms.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): ef22m@fsu.edu
Position Title: Graduate Student
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Faculty Advisor's FSU Email: {Empty}
FSU College (if applicable): Arts and Sciences
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Classics
Headshot (optional): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/8676/Foto%20laurea.jpg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Apology and Apologies: a Matter of Literary Genre
Project Keywords: apology; Greek Literature; Rhetoric; Plato; Gorgias; Lysias; Attic Tragedy; Greek Poetry; Literary Genre
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: Yes
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
Classics

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 5-10
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
The aim of the project is to lay foundations for future research around the Apology as a genre, from its development to the canonization fixed by the  II Century A.D. Apologist Fathers. Whomever attempted to find a Περὶ ἀπολογίας or a De apologia across the immenseness of Greek classical studies would hardly find anything. The ancient definition of Apology is traced back to Aristotles' Rhetoric (1358a 35‒1358b 29), where the defense‒speech is quickly dismissed and confined in a dimension of eternal sub‒genre of judiciary oratory. The examination of specific features is never explicitly elaborated. Moreover, between the V and IV Century A.D., with the birth of democratic regimes and the development of forensic rhetoric, the judiciary defense speech represents both a literary object, both a political instrument and, in fact, the term ἀπολογία (among the available texts) appears for the first time during this centuries, in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and in Antiphon’s Tetralogies . It also occurs in other literary works by Lysias, Isocrates, Xenophon and in the very title of Gorgia’s Defense of Palamedes, but the text which drastically marked the fame of the 'genre' is Plato’s Apology of Socrates . The term ἀπολογία always represents the defense speech.  However,we can see how, from a comparative perspective, the boundaries of genre tend to progressively blur, both synchronically and diachronically. The same label of genre (or subgenre) is attached to notably different literary texts: all of them being named as apologies. 
Is it possible to really talk about apology as a genre in Greek literature ? To answer this question, it is necessary to tackle a preliminary problem: what did ‘genre’ mean for the ancient audience? And what kind of awareness about Greek literary genres could derive from the study of ancient apologies? 

Research Tasks:
The primary goal of the project is to metaphorically ‘take the Apology to trial’: literature review, data collection, analysis and linguistic comparison. Which are the common traits of Apology as a literary genre and subgenre? What are the most famous apologies of Greek literature? Two phases of contextual work will be needed: first, collecting a bibliography about the theory of literary genre; second, the selection and reading of the ancient texts, in order to practically apply the theoretical notions. Questions will be asked about the text, from a content, stylistic, linguistic and philological point of view.
The final objective is to develop a research model and a definition of 'Apology' that can be applied to various texts and authors. 

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
Required: knowledge of Greek language and grammar (basic-intermediate); general knowledge of Greek literature and history 

Recommended: knowledge of the historical-literary issues of 5th and 4th centuries B.C.


Mentoring Philosophy:
Doing research means, in primis, asking ourselves questions to which there does not seem to be a single answer. For this reason, I believe that the two fundamental and complementary elements to conduct a research project are: curiosity and humility. You have to ask yourself the right questions, to try to offer potentially right answers; but at the same time, you have to accept the risk of making mistakes many times. Indeed, the researcher must know from the beginning that he will make countless mistakes, and he will get one right answer, maybe. Failure does not exist, because the final positive result comes from many small errors, corrections, intuitions and adjustments. A research mentor is a fellow explorer: in front of crossroads and doubts, you have to choose in which direction to proceed, and experience can often indicate the right path. But other times, you’re in the dark, and teamwork is everything. From the beginning, it is important to identify mentees’ goals, evaluate their understanding and talents, and build on them, in an interactive environment of mutual understanding and sharing. The mentees will develop their own method of working under the mentor's suggestion and gradually acquire confidence and research autonomy. The meetings with the mentor must become more and more a place of equal exchange and free communication, where no one feels judged or at fault. Freedom of thought, there are no wrong questions to ask. Concentration, perseverance and curiosity: research will give great satisfaction.

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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes
Faculty Advisor Confirmation: {Empty}

Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?: Yes
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Year: 2023
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