THE WOMEN OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND PARTICIPATION

Abstract

This qualitative research project used a content analysis methodology to analyze the Twitter feeds from three women in Classical Studies in order to identify 1) how they are using Twitter to their advantage in a historically misogynistic field and 2) how they are using Twitter to form a community of women within academia to support one another. The three participants are scholars in Classical Studies, active on social media, continually attend conferences, and publish in the field. The Twitter feeds were scraped for data, and the Twitter feeds were collected for a content analysis that was conducted by two researchers. The findings of this research showed that women are using Twitter to support each other’s work in the field and advertise their own re-readings of Classical history and mythology. This research can be replicated in different fields for future studies, as well as in conjunction with a quantitative analysis, concerning a small group of people and the implications of their social media use.