Joshua was a National University of Singapore student, and an ‘honorary’ student on the Global Antiquity minor in terms of the number of course credits he took at Yale-NUS. He currently works in Singapore Management University’s Office of Core Curriculum.

“The Global Antiquity minor programme at Yale-NUS was my second intellectual home throughout my entire undergraduate journey. Apart from giving me the opportunity to learn an eclectic selection of ancient languages, this programme has more importantly allowed me to experience the joys of reading ancient texts with a community of other like-minded students and faculty.

While my academic career post-graduation has led me to specialise in more contemporary periods of human history, my time with the Global Antiquity minor still continues to inform my professional and personal sensibilities. On one hand, the minor’s commitment to philology has taught me the value of slow-reading. On the other hand, I also strive to continue to bring with me the collaborative sprit of generosity and kindness which defined the culture of the Global Antiquity minor. Having been deeply steeped into the ‘neo-liberal’ worldview, I initially saw university life as an antagonistic competition between students for scarce career development opportunities. The students and faculty of the Global Antiquity minor, however, have demonstrably taught me that a better and kinder world can exist.”

Carson is in training at the National Institute of Education to become a teacher of English Literature and Geography.

“Salvete! My interest in the ancient world began with Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Imagine my joy when I learned that Homer’s Odyssey was on my Literature and Humanities syllabus. This sparked a continuous and sometimes relentless pursuit of the classical world during my time in Yale-NUS, which culminated in this minor! Naturally, I applied for and was eventually offered a place to pursue a Masters in Classics at Cambridge University. Eheu!

The minor has allowed me to appreciate the varied aspect of language and literature. In particular, I am very obsessed with etymology and I take great pleasure in teaching my friends, and I hope, my students, about the origins of words. The minor has also given me much to think about especially with regards to English grammar; it is only through language learning that my own command of the technicalities of English changed. Personally, the minor has taught me to think beyond the bounds of the text I am holding.”

“Getting introduced to the world of Classics is the defining experience of my college life. Guided by insightful professors, I have come to understand how many different masks power and money can put on. This knowledge reminds me to keep my suspicions when confronted with boiling political movements, complex economic schemes or mesmerising rhetoric. I believe it helps me become a better person and a more responsible global citizen.”

Zhi Hao works at a regional media company, IFA Media, based in Singapore, Taipei, Beijing and Bangkok, which specialises in long form narrative fiction series and documentaries.

“Greek mythology and the ancient worlds in general have always been fascinations of mine growing up, owing in no small part to the films and video games that remixed those stories and captured my imagination. Reading The Odyssey in Literature and Humanities 1 and getting a chance to deep dive into Homer’s Iliad in the ‘Ancient Epic and Gangster Film’ course led me well and truly down this rabbit hole. I think the enduring longevity of these myths and tragedies pays testament to their quality and relevance in our world. My knowledge of Euripides, Sophocles, Aristotle (Poetics), and ancient myths in general is serving me very well in my new role!”

Vincent is currently pursuing a PhD in philosophy at the University of Toronto.

“When I declared a minor in the newly-introduced Global Antiquity programme, I was quite ignorant of what the minor entailed and of its novelty. Only later did I better appreciate its significance. Having undergone training in Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin at differing levels, I was exposed to a nice mix of pedagogical styles, ranging from grammar memorization and the independent translation of texts to the singing of Sanskrit verses and reading Greek words found on Google Street View. The Global Antiquity minor testifies to my learning of ancient languages, and sparked in me a general interest in the history and pedagogy of such languages.

The minor dovetailed nicely with my philosophical interests, culminating in a short thesis that compared a classical Indian Buddhist thinker with an early modern European one. As I progress through my PhD programme at the University of Toronto, I seek to carry on and deepen the dialogue between these intellectual and cultural traditions, with a view towards their treatments of the fundamental concepts of unity and multiplicity. All in all, the Global Antiquity minor continues to bear fruit years later. It did not just offer a peek into our ancient world. It built bridges between multiple ancient worlds and even helped me to fold modern worlds into the mix as well.”

Nicholas is currently pursuing an MA in Global and Interdisciplinary History at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, and is part of the Buddhist-Platonist Dialogues research team.

“The Global Antiquity minor taught me the relevance of the ancient past to my present. Rather than something inaccessible, antiquity is a rich tradition of ideas, across cultures, with which I can engage in dialogue. Studying antiquity has made me a better scholar: I have learnt to read carefully, weighing the nuances of words as I study texts in their original language. Close philological attention has taught me to relish language-learning. Studying Latin and Sanskrit at Yale-NUS taught me frameworks I could apply to learning other ancient languages, like the Classical Tibetan and Old Javanese I use in my present research at NTU. More importantly, studying antiquity has made me a more thoughtful person. Through the minor, I learnt to reflect–at Yale-NUS, but also after graduating–on the ethics governing how I live. With interlocutors like Plato and Śāntideva, it is hard not to take one’s personal ethical formation seriously!”

“These language learning opportunities provided me with various gateways to examine and experience various aspects and traditions of different ancient cultures and traditions which I had been unable to pursue before. To quote a maxim from the Analects of Confucius, 學而時習之，不亦悅乎, this immersive learning journey with the Global Antiquities minor has been, and will continue to be happy and fruitful for me.”

Sherice is pursuing a PhD in philosophy at the University of Michigan, and is co-author, with Associate Professor of Humanities (Philosophy) Amber Carpenter, of ‘Atoms and Orientation’, in Atomism in Philosophy, edited by Ugo Zilioli, Bloomsbury Academic 2020.

“My interest in Classical Indian and Ancient Greek philosophy started with the Common Curriculum, and only grew from there after taking electives in those areas. I had very supportive professors who advised me to learn some ancient languages so I could read the original texts. At first, I saw language-learning as a means to an end. But it grew into an unexpected obsession with Indo-European historical linguistics (Latin is next on the list!). The Global Antiquity minor captures all of my academic interests; I was thrilled to sign up for it!”

Pei Yun now works as a Latin teacher for the Tanglin Trust School in Singapore.

“The first question my parents asked—out of genuine concern—was “But what kind of job can you get?” Well, after leaving Yale-NUS with a Literature degree and having taken many courses in Latin and Chinese, I spent nearly four years as an editor in the corporate world, applying everything I learned about the subjunctive and rhetoric to the exciting (no, genuinely!) topic of corporate bonds. Now I am teaching Latin at the Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. Meanwhile, my annotated translation of Ovid’s Medicamina Faciei Feminae was published in the Chinese journal Dushi Wenhua Yanji 都市文化研究 [Urban Cultural Studies] , also uploaded to the Dickinson College Commentaries website.

I have learned, as I hope my own students will, that we are not alone in our loving and longing and laughter, and tears—that under it all, we are only human, and we are still human, even in an age in which devices and screens and other kinds of division and mediation threaten to obliterate any thought apart from the buzz of the present moment. I must admit to having forgotten most of the calculus and the algebra and the other stuff from College. But if I should retain only one thing from my Yale-NUS, I hope it is this knowledge that we are not alone in being human.”

Carmen now works as a theological librarian and research assistant for an art historian.

“I am most grateful for the Global Antiquity minor because of how my professors and peers welcomed a fairly clueless, rather jaded college student (me!) into the ‘Great Conversation’ and thus gave me a new life. Much of the humour (all the classics memes!), hobbies, beloved humans, and hopefulness in my life today began with the literature, arts, and inspiring people that I encountered through studying the pre-modern world. I truly hope that the reach of the Global Antiquity minor at Yale-NUS will grow in years to come, so that many more professors and students will get to be part of, and be nurtured by, this wonderful academic community.”