Dr Leo Kershaw

kershaw leo
Instructor in Ancient Greek and Latin, Faculty of Classics
leo.kershaw@classics.ox.ac.uk

Qualifications: BA, MSt, DPhil (University of Oxford)

Link to college page:

 

Academic Background

I hold a BA in Classics from Lady Margaret Hall (2020), an MSt in Greek and Latin Language and Literature from Balliol (2021), and a DPhil from Balliol (2024), which was funded by the AHRC, Clarendon Fund, and Balliol College (2021-2024). My doctoral thesis investigated the reception of Euripides’ Medea in South Africa from the 19th to the 21st century. I have taught Greek language and literature at the University of Warwick (2024-2025) and I joined the Language Teaching Team at the University of Oxford in 2025. 

Research Interests

Alongside teaching Greek and Latin language, I research the reception of ancient Greek theatre in modern drama and poetry. I am especially interested in the reception of Greek tragedy in the Global South, fascinated by the complexities, problems, and potentials of subversive, decolonial adaptations of Graeco-Roman material. 

Research Keywords

Greek, Latin, literature, tragedy, comedy, drama, classical reception

Teaching

I teach Greek and Latin language at all levels as part of the Faculty’s Language Teaching Team. I also do some teaching on Greek literature papers and on Classical Reception with the APGRD.

Publications

Full Publications:

Selected Publications:

Kershaw, Leo. (forthcoming, 2025). ‘Herakles Outside the Western Canon.’ Harrison, In George W.M. ed. A Companion to Hercules (Blackwell-Wiley).

Kershaw, Leo. 2024. ‘The Academic in the Archive: Tracing the Workshopping Process of Oedipus at Colonus #aftersophocles.’ Reimagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South(digital exhibit).

Kershaw, Leo. 2022. ‘“Beware of the neo-colonial wolf”: World Reception, Universality, and Decolonising the Academy.’ Classical Reception Studies Network, Realigning Reception Takeover (21 October).

In preparation for publication: 

Kershaw, Leo. (forthcoming, 2026/7). ‘Radical performativity in Third World Bunfight’s MedEia.’ In Gioannopoulou, Zina and Weiner, Jesse, eds. Intersectional Medeas. 

Kershaw, Leo and Whittle, Daniel. (forthcoming, 2026/7). ‘Excavating subterranean voices from the archive.’ In McConnell, Justine; Dudouyt, Cécile and Frade, Sofia, eds. Archiving and Performing Antiquity: Reshaping the Canon. 

Kershaw, Leo. (forthcoming,  2026/7). ‘Transgender Tiresias: Gender Fluidity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and its Reception in Kae Tempest’s Hold Your Own’. In Rodda, Mar A. and Cullinan Herring, Sarah, eds. Queering the Ancient Body.