Andi Burton Marsh

Andi works with schools and universities in Outreach and Widening Participation to increase access to university for students from underrepresented backgrounds. She recently completed her BA in Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, throughout which she was heavily involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives across the University. In 2019, Andi founded the Christian Cole Society to create a space and community for Oxford Classics students of colour; amplify the voices of academics of colour; draw attention to the silenced stories of people of colour in antiquity; and elucidate and dismantle the connections between Classics, empire and colonialism. Her wider decolonisation work includes the compilation of a report on racism and discrimination at Balliol College on behalf of the students at Balliol of ethnic minority heritage, the requests for institutional change from which were all accepted by the College and are in the process of being implemented.

Andi has also worked with the Oxford University Access and Admissions team on the UNIQ and Target Oxbridge programmes for the past few years, was the Access Officer for the Balliol undergraduate committee, and taught Latin in a primary school as part of the Iris Project’s Literacy through Latin scheme to introduce Latin into state school teaching. She is the incoming Deputy Director of University Access in a state school in east London. As a state-educated Black Classics graduate, she feels strongly about access to classical education and the incorporation of Classics into the state sector. Classics as a discipline will not change unless the demographic of classicists changes - inclusive education is the key to this.

Why Khameleon?

The ethos of Khameleon immediately appealed to me. Khameleon’s all-BAME stage production of Medea was the first time I saw the artistic and creative representation of students of colour and celebration of our diverse range of cultures and communities. Seeing so many faces of colour on stage and students like me involved in the creative arts was such an important moment in my first year of university. This coupled with Khameleon’s continued commitment to employ people from the global majority, and to create freely accessible materials for state school students meant that I jumped at the opportunity to work with such a pioneering team.

Why Medea?

In Women, Race and Class, Angela Davis tells the stories of enslaved mothers in the Southern states of America who killed their children to protect them from the horrors of slavery - after reading this, Medea as a story made sense to me for the first time. The story of an isolated woman, taken from her homeland, rendered structurally powerless, is a familiar one for members of the African diaspora and descendants of the enslaved like myself. Medea is a prime example for the capacity of classical reception to make ancient stories more relatable and relevant, as well as how we can enrich our understanding of ancient texts through modern experiences. Reception is a vital part of Access and Outreach in Classics as drawing the ancient world into a world students can understand immediately increases its appeal. The question of why Medea also brings out the gatekeeping of Classics by predominantly white, privately educated scholars - I firmly believe that nobody has more or less of a right to classical material, so, why not Medea?