Instructor

David DeCosta Leitao Professor of Classics and Chair San Francisco State University 377 Humanities Building, (415) 338-7444 E-Mail: dleitao@sfsu.edu

Academic Interests / Publications and Works in Progress / Public Lectures / Courses Taught / Professional Degrees / Teaching Employment History Academic Interests Adolescence in Ancient Greece Anthropology and Ancient Society Ancient Greek Religion Archaic Greek Poetry Seneca History of Gender and Sexuality Queer Studies Technology in the Classroom Publications and Works in Progress Publications in Refereed Journals and Collections "Male Improvisation in the Cult of Eileithyia on Paros," in M. Parca and A. Tzanetou, eds., Finding Persephone: Women's Rituals in the Ancient Mediterranean (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007) 252-76 "Ritual? What Ritual?" in A. Barchiesi et al., eds., Rituals in Ink: A Conference on Religion and Literary Production in Ancient Rome (Munich: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004) 149-53 "Adolescent Hair-cutting Rituals in Ancient Greece: a Sociological Approach," in D. Dodd and C. Faraone, eds., Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2003) 109-29 select translations of ancient Greek texts in T, Hubbard, ed., Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: a Sourcebook of Basic Documents in Translation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003) review of L. Brisson, Sexual Ambivalence: Androgyny and Hermaphroditism in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (Berkeley 2002) in Scholia 12 (2003) 145-48 "The Legend of the Sacred Band," in M. Nussbaum and J. Sihvola, eds., The Night of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002) 143-69 review of C. Calame, The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece, in Journal of the History of Sexuality 9 (2000) 494-97 review of C. Williams, Roman Homosexuality, in Journal of Homosexuality 40 (2000) 163-68 "Leukippos [1-4]," in H. Canck and H. Schneider, eds., Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike, vol. 7 (Stuttgart 1999) 106 "Leukippiden," in H. Canck and H. Schneider, eds., Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike, vol. 7 (Stuttgart 1999) 106 "Solon on the Beach: Some Pragmatic Functions of the Limen in Initiatory Myth and Ritual," in M. Padilla, ed., Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society (special issue of Bucknell Review)(1999) 247-77 "Senecan Catoptrics and the Passion of Hostius Quadra (Sen. nat. 1)," Materiali e Discussioni 41 (1998) 127-60 "Male Pregnancy Rituals in the Greco-Roman World," Humanities Magazine 16 (1998) 117-37 "Plautus, Stichus 155ff: a Greek Parody of Plato's Symposium?" Mnemosyne 50 (1997) 271-80 "Orpheus and the Third Sex: Some Thoughts on Sexual Diversity in Ancient Greece," Humanities Magazine 14 (1996) 47-69 "The Perils of Leukippos: Initiatory Transvestism and Male Gender Ideology in the Ekdusia at Phaistos," Classical Antiquity 14 (1995) 130-63 Works in Progress The Travails of Zeus: 'Male Pregnancy' in Greek Literature and Myth "Theocritus 12 and the Megarian Kissing Contest" Public Lectures "Giving Birth to Thought: Prequel to Plato", UC Berkeley Brown Bag Series in Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, October 2007 Greek Childbirth Rituals: Female and Male Versions," Conference on Women's Rituals in Context, University of Illinois, October 2002 "Lucian's Pregnant Moonmen," refereed panel, Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting, Austin, April 2002 "Respondant's Remarks," Rituals in Ink: Roman Religion and Literature, conference at Stanford University, February 2002 "The Early History of the Kouretes," refereed panel, Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting, Knoxville, April 2000 "Adolescent Hair-Cutting Rituals in the Ancient Greek World: a Sociological Approach," invited talk, Department of Classics, University of Chicago, March 2000 "Male Pregnancy Rituals in the Ancient World," invited talk, Department of Classics, UCLA, February 2000 "The Legend of the Sacred Band," Conference entitled Queer Republic? Homosexuality in Greek Politics and Political Thought, University of Chicago, February 1999 "A Male Pregnancy Ritual from Cypriot Amathous and the Strategies of Replacement," American Philological Association, Washington, DC, December 1998 "Anal Birth and Its Discontents," Graduate Literature Association in Gender and Sexuality, San Francisco State University, November 1998 "Blepyros' Turd Child (Aristoph., Eccl. 369-71): Male Pregnancy and the Rule of Women," Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Claremont, CA, November 1998 "Exclusion of the Agamoi from the Gymnopaidiai and the Politics of Viewing at Sparta," American Philological Association, Chicago, December 1997 "Homoerotic Titillation and Greek Rites of Passage," Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, San Jose, November 1997 "Male Pregnancy Rituals in the Greco-Roman World," Cornell University, October 1997; University of California Berkeley, Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, October 1997 "Ritual Male Accouchment in the Cult of Aphrodite at Cypriot of Amathous," Conference on Religion and Gender in the Ancient Mediterranean, Ohio State University, May 1997 "Theocritus 12 and the Diokleia," Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Boulder Colorado, April 1997 "Orpheus and the Third Sex: Homosexual Ecstasy in Some Orphic Cults?" Classics Student Association Lecture Series, San Francisco State University, March 1996 "Disguise and Festival in Greek Battle Narratives," Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting, April 1995, Omaha "Carnival History," University of Wisconsin-Madison, January 1995; University of Minnesota, January 1995; San Francisco State University, February 1995; University of Mississippi, February 1995 "The Passion of Hostius Quadra," Miami University (Ohio), February 1995 "Male Initiation in Classical and Hellenistic Crete," Dartmouth College, January 1995 "The Study of Adolescence in Ancient Greece," Michigan Society of Fellows, University of Michigan, May 1994 "(Re)birth from the Oxhide: Sacrificial and Initiatory Motifs in the Myth of Orion," Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting, April 1994, Atlanta "Rites of Passage and the Classics," Case Western Reserve University, March 1994 "Male Initiation in Classical Crete: Some Idioms of Transition," Ohio State University, February 1994 "Transvestism in Greek Initiation," Classical Association of the Middle West and South Annual Meeting, April, 1993, Iowa City Courses Taught Introductory Attic Greek (Greek 101) Intermediate Attic Greek (Greek 202) Ancient Epic Tales (Classics 330) Classical Mythology (Classics 360) ONLINE ETYMOLOGY COURSE: Greek and Latin Roots in the English Language: a Self-Paced Web-Based Course (Spring 1999) Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome (Classics 677) Seminar: Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece (Classics 720) Seminar: Greek Religion (Classics 720) Seminar: Studies in Greek Society (Classics 720) Upper Division Courses in Greek (Greek 400s, 700s) Upper Division Courses in Latin (Latin 400s, 700s) Professional Degrees Ph.D., Classics, University of Michigan, 1993 M.A., Classics, University of Michigan, 1990 Harvard Law School, 1986-87 Post-Baccalaureate, Classics, University of Pennsylvania, 1987-88 A.B., History, Dartmouth College, 1986 Teaching Employment History Professor of Classics, San Francisco State University, 2007-present Associate Professor of Classics, San Francisco State University, 2001-2007 Assistant Professor of Classics, San Francisco State University, 1995-2001 Visiting Professor of Classics, Ohio State University, 1993-1995 Instructor, Chautauqua Institution Summer Programs, 1994 Graduate Teaching Associate, Classics, University of Michigan, 1988-1993 Sometime instructor, Harvey Milk Institute, 1998-present Page author: David Leitao URL:http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~dleitao/welcome.html Last updated: January 22, 2008   To visit the Classics Department Home Page, click here: http://www.sfsu.edu/~clas