Dr. Joe Watson

About

I hold a BA in Classics from the University of Reading (2017) and a Classics MA from Durham University (2018). I completed my PhD at Durham in 2022, with a thesis entitled 'Narrative Nefas and the Taboos of Incest and Bestiality in Ovid's Metamorphoses' which explored extreme sexualities from a psychoanalytically and narratologically informed perspective. In addition to university teaching, I used to be a secondary school Latin teacher in the North East and am Director of Studies and Advanced Latin tutor at the JACT Durham Greek and Latin Summer School. I am also on the Executive Committee of the 'Queering the Past(s)' Project. I use he/him/his pronouns.

Research interests

I am principally a Latinist who focuses on the poetry of the Augustan period, especially Ovid, and am in the process of producing a monograph on incest and bestiality in Ovid's Metamorphoses, entitled Unspeakable Nefas: Incest and Bestiality in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. As this topic may suggest, I am interested in the full range of sex, sexuality and gender in both the ancient world and its receptions, from the extreme to the everyday; in particular, I work on the queerness of gender and sexuality in literature, ancient and modern. My next major research project explores the various poems of the Appendix Virgiliana from a queer perspective, thinking about the queerness of the App. Virg.'s worlds, but also the queerness of engaging with these odd, 'appendiceal' poems from the vantage of the twenty-first century.

These interests also lead me to a focus on queer Classical reception in early-20th century literature, especially in the poetry of C. P. Cavafy. I have published on Cavafy and am currently preparing an edition, translation and commentary of his Poetical and Ethical Notes.

I am also passionate about pedagogy, especially pedagogy that is tailored to the needs of specific groups. I focus on the groups with which I have particular experience—queer and neurodiverse people—and have published work on this.

Publications

• 2025. 'Down the Garden Path: Divinity, Space and Poetics in the Carmina Priapea', Classical Philology, 120.3, 352-75.
• 2025. 'Latin Language Teaching: EDI and Course Intensity. Report on a Workshop Held at the Classical Association Conference 2024’, CUCD Bulletin 54.6. (co-authored with C.-B. Fraser, E. Meijer, F. Modini, L. Mortimer, V. Oulitskaia & C. Ryan).
• 2025. 'Hell is Other Poets: Tibullus, Ovid and Statius in Queer Elysium', The Journal of Roman Studies. 115.
• 2025. (as translator) "Issue VII" in L. Morgan & M. Lombardi-Nash eds. Alaudae, Volume I (1889-1890). London: Bloomsbury.
• Forthcoming 2025. ‘Classical Cavafy and Cavafy among the Classicists’, in T. Kayalis & V. F. González eds. Cavafy as World Literature. London: Bloomsbury.
• Forthcoming. 'Beyond Gay History Month: Queering the Past with ‘Queering the Past(s)’', Journal of Classics Teaching.
• 2022. ‘Bodies Out of Time: Sculpting Queer Poetics and Queering Classical Sculpture in the Poetry of C. P. Cavafy’, International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 29.2, 190-213.
• 2022. ‘Of Late I Dream of Lesbos: Renée Vivien’s Queer Utopias in the Aeolian Mode’ in K. Moore ed. The Routledge Companion to the Reception of Ancient Greek and Roman Gender and Sexuality. Abingdon: Routledge, 58-83.
• 2021. ‘Reframing Iphis and Caeneus: Trans Narratives and Socio-Linguistic Gendering in Ovid’s Metamorphoses’, Helios. 48.2, 145-74.
• Forthcoming. ‘Worlds at Angles: Sappho, Cavafy and the Queer Potentialities of Utopia’, in E. Perry, M. Haworth & D. Machado eds. A Just Classics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Teaching and supervision

Undergraduate modules

• CX115/CX215/CX305: Latin 1
• CX101/CX201/CX301: Latin 2
• CX289/CX389: Roman Sexual Poetics: Navigating Sex, Sexuality and Gender in Latin Poetry 

• CX114: Encounters with Latin Texts 

• CX112: Ancient Thought: Philosophy, Politics, Science (guest lecturer)
• CX230/CX330: Epic and Epyllion (2024-2025)

Administrative roles

• Work in Progress Seminar Series Organiser
• IT Officer
• EDI representative
• Student experience representative