Reacting to the Past: An Introduction

Carl A. Anderson

Michigan State University

My paper provides an introduction to the history and methods of the Reacting pedagogy and describes its implementation at various colleges and universities. The paper describes specifically the “original” Reacting game and the one of most obvious interest to CAMWS members: “The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 BC,” created by Mark Carnes of Barnard College and Josiah Ober, Professor of Classics at Stanford University. The game begins at the moment when the Thirty Tyrants have been expelled from Athens and the democracy restored. Students are divided into different factions (e.g., radical democrats, moderate democrats, oligarchs, Socratics) and assigned roles with detailed descriptions of their faction's intellectual goals and possible strategies; the factions then convene to plot their course of action. Students meet in the Athenian Assembly and law courts to debate reconciliation after the expulsion of the tyrants, the organization of Athenian government, the expansion of citizenship, the future of the Athenian empire, and the fate of Socrates. In order to speak effectively and to advance the interests of their faction, students must grapple with the arguments of Plato's Republic and other contemporary critiques of Athenian democracy. The paper concludes with consideration of ways the Reacting pedagogy might be incorporated into the classics curriculum.