Elizabeth Hume Minchin is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n classicist and Professor of Classics at the Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

. She is currently one of the two editors of Antichthon

Antichthon

Antichthon is the journal of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies. The focus of the journal is Greece and Rome, however, its scope is broadly defined so as to embrace the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean from the beginnings of civilisation to the Early Middle Ages....

, the official journal of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies.

After finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

, Minchin taught French, Latin, and Indonesian at Narrabundah College

Narrabundah College

Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory. It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate, starting the programme in February 1978....

, Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

. She subsequently completed her MA (1983) and PhD (1989) in Classics at the ANU

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

.

Minchin's research focuses on the Homeric epics

Homeric epics

In the field of classics, the term "Homeric epics" refers specifically to the Iliad and Odyssey, two epics attributed to the Ancient Greek poet Homer...

 as oral poetry

Oral poetry

Oral poetry can be defined in various ways. A strict definition would include only poetry that is composed and transmitted without any aid of writing. However, the complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain, and oral...

. Her main contribution is the application of cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....

 and sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society...

 to the narratological studies

Narratology

Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...

 of the Homeric epics. Her book Homer and the Resources of Memory (2001) draws on several forms of narratology and cognitive science, such as the script theory

Script theory

Script theory is a psychological theory which posits that human behaviour largely falls into patterns called "scripts" because they function analogously to the way a written script does, by providing a program for action...

 developed in the 1970s by Roger Schank

Roger Schank

Roger Schank is an American artificial intelligence theorist, cognitive psychologist, learning scientist, educational reformer, and entrepreneur.-Academic career:...

 and Robert Abelson. Her studies has provoked more of the classical scholars to recognise the
continued relevance of linguistic studies for Homeric epic. Her 2007 book Homeric Voices: Discourse, Memory, Gender provides a compositional study of substantial speeches and exchanges of speech in Homeric songs.

She was among the recipients of the 2007 Carrick Award for Australian University Teaching in the category "Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning".

In 2010, she was elected as Fellow to the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Australian Academy of the Humanities

The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...

.

External links

• Dr Elizabeth Minchin, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University
  Australian National University
  The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...