Dr. Charles Stocking

Biography

Charles Stocking specializes in the history and philosophy of the body, religion, and physical culture in Ancient Greece and the present. He has prior experience as a scholar in Classics and as a professional strength conditioning coach with UCLA Athletics, coaching varsity teams and individual Olympic athletes. His work in the field of Classics includes holding fellowships at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies and the University of South Carolina, as well as serving as a visiting professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. His monograph, 'Politics of Sacrifice' (Cambridge University Press, 2017), offers a new reading on the mythology of sacrifice in Archaic Poetry from a distinctly gendered perspective. Another significant work, 'Homer's Iliad: The Problem of Force' (Oxford, 2023), delves into the language of force in the Iliad and the unique role the poem has played in the European philosophical tradition. He is also the co-author of 'Ancient Greek Athletics: Primary Sources Translation' (Oxford, 2021) and the co-editor of 'Cultural History of Sport in Antiquity' (Bloomsbury, 2021). For over a decade, he has served as the program coordinator for the Sport, Politics, Culture symposium, which is co-sponsored by the Harvard Center for Olympic Studies and the International Olympic Academy. Currently, he directs a new multi-university initiative, 'The Sport Education Program, Ancient Olympia to Present,' which takes place in Olympia, Greece each year. His current research examines the influence of the Classical tradition on modern scientific discourses on race, gender, and health.

Research Interests