Announcements: Call for Papers

Studying East of Byzantium XI: Ritual

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The Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA, are pleased to invite abstracts for the next Studying East of Byzantium workshop: Studying East of Byzantium XI: Ritual.

Studying East of Byzantium XI: Ritual is a three-part workshop that intends to bring together doctoral students and very recent PhDs studying the Christian East to reflect on how to reflect on the usefulness of the concept of “Ritual” in studying the Christian East, to share methodologies, and to discuss their research with workshop respondents, Emma Loosley Leeming, University of Exeter, and Lev Weitz, The Catholic University of America. The workshop will meet on November 18, 2024, February 14, 2025, and June 5–6, 2025, on Zoom. The timing of the workshop meetings will be determined when the participant list is finalized.

We invite all graduate students and recent PhDs working in the Christian East whose work considers, or hopes to consider, the theme of ritual in their own research to apply.

Participation is limited to 10 students. The full workshop description is available on the East of Byzantium website (https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/studying-east-of-byzantium-xi-ritual/). Those interested in attending should submit a C.V. and 200-word abstract through the East of Byzantium website no later than September 23, 2024.

For questions, please contact East of Byzantium organizers, Christina Maranci, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University, and Brandie Ratliff, Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at contact@eastofbyzantium.org.

EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. It explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire in the late antique and medieval periods.

CFP: Judeo-Greek across the Centuries: Tracing Greek-speaking Jews

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60th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 8-10, 2025

Judeo-Greek across the Centuries: Tracing Greek-speaking Jews

Organizer: Michail Kitsos, Tel Aviv University

Papers are sought for the session, Judeo-Greek across the Centuries: Tracing Greek-speaking Jews, to be proposed for the 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, May 8-10, 2025), organized by Michail Kitsos (Tel Aviv University)

From the Septuagint and the Jewish inscriptions found in the Helladic area and the broader Hellenic world to the Jewish Apocrypha composed in Greek and the Judeo-Greek fragments from the Cairo Geniza, Judeo-Greek language shows prominence and endurance. Yet, the language of these written sources is hardly acknowledged as Judeo-Greek, rather only as Greek. The two sessions aim to demonstrate the need to acknowledge Judeo-Greek as a linguistic medium that defined the literary production of Greek-speaking Jews and to scrutinize it as a Jewish phenomenon that expressed Greek Jewishness and Jewishness in the Greek language.

How could our perception of Jewish literature written in Greek change if we acknowledge the linguistic medium as Judeo-Greek? Or, what can we say about the Greek of Jews and their literatures vis-à-vis the Greek of Christians and their respective works? The session aims to explore these questions as well as questions pertaining to the production of Jewish literature in Judeo-Greek from the third century BCE to the fifteenth century CE and the literary and linguistic associations between the Judeo-Greek in the works of the Greek-speaking Jews and the Greek in the works of Greek-speaking Christians.

To submit a paper proposal, you are kindly requested to do so no later than September 15, 2024 using this link: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=5882.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organizer at michailk@tauex.tau.ac.il

CFP: Call for Papers: Radicalism and its Uses in Late Roman/Byzantine History

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Call for Papers: Radicalism and its Uses in Late Roman/Byzantine History (Session for the Leeds International Medieval Congress, 7–10 July 2025)

Radicalism, as a form of sociopolitical thought or action that aims at fully upturning the roots (radices) of a problem, must necessarily pose some threat to the status quo. The late Roman and/or Byzantine status quo is generally regarded to have been particularly impervious to such threats. One dominant narrative of Christianisation is that the ‘oppositional radicalism of the early church’, especially the radical potential of its social ethics, was defused in the rapprochement with mainstream Roman society and gave way to a non-radical ‘establishment outlook’ (Harper 2016, 141). This was, for some, unavoidable: ‘as Christianity was progressively identified with the Empire’, Christian ideas ‘gradually lost their radical character’ (Merianos & Gotsis 2017, 205). For others, it was a conscious counter-radical project, as ‘upper-class Christian leaders’ learned ‘to accommodate the Bible’s most radical social critiques… into something less threatening’ (Maxwell 2021, 158). Either way, the consequence is a model of Christian Roman society that affords little space for radicalism, even at the margins, over a thousand-year period.

This model is under challenge. The editors of the 2018 Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium criticise the field’s ‘persistent tendency… to subordinate individuals to normative ideas’ and to assume that late Romans ‘could not conceive a particular radical, heterodox, or supposedly modern idea because they could not think outside the box of their imperial-Orthodox framework’ (Kaldellis & Siniossoglou 2017, 18). “Radicalism” is one lens through which historians might meet this call for more generous study of the non-conformist elements of late Roman/Byzantine intellectual and political culture. Yet while our overarching scholarly narratives of late Roman history are just beginning to admit the possibility of “radicalism”, the terms “radical” and “radicals” have always appealed to any historian who wishes to emphasise moments of difference or divergence. We hear, for example, of the ‘radical Christian ascetics’ (Cullhed 2016, 352) who made a ‘radical rejection of normal life’ (Hezser 2018, 20), though their movements perhaps safely diverted the more threatening anti-wealth instincts of some Christians. We hear of ‘religious radicals’ (de Wet 2018, 74) and ‘guerilla… radical[s]’ (Drake 2002, 229) who made use of violence to advance their cause. We even hear of radical emperors pursuing ‘radical administrative reform’ (Bell, 2013, 165). And the late Roman past, whatever radical ideas it gave rise to itself, is productive ground for public-facing historians who think through inequality and capitalism, perhaps with a radical instinct of their own (e.g. Paolo Tedesco in Jacobin). For a society traditionally thought to have been un- or counter-radical to its core, its modern historians are eager to make claims for the radicalism of their chosen subjects.
In light of the above, the session organiser invites proposals for ambitious papers that critically interrogate the concept(s) and historiographical uses of “radicalism”, and seek to furnish the term with a sharper analytical utility. Papers may treat any aspect of late Roman or Byzantine history, conceived very broadly in time and space. They might explore any or more of the following:
  • The definition(s) of radicalism in different late Roman/Byzantine contexts: what was “radical” in the late Roman or Byzantine world?
  • Case studies of specific late Roman/Byzantine ideas and behaviour that are usefully described as, or were perceived at the time as, radical (or counter-radical);
  • Late Roman/Byzantine attitudes to radicalism (philosophical, social, political, religious, etc.);
  • Radical or counter-radical traditions of thought and/or action in the late Roman/Byzantine world;
  • The conceptual utility of the terms “radical” and/or “counter-radical” for understanding aspects of the late Roman/Byzantine world;
  • Previous scholarly uses of (or choices not to use) the term “radical” in a late Roman/Byzantine context that might be productively rethought;
  • Radical approaches to the study of late Roman/Byzantine history.
Scholars of any career stage are welcome to propose a paper. To do so, please send a title and brief description of the paper, around 100 words in length, to matthew.hassall@liverpool.ac.uk by the end of Friday 20 September 2024. Questions are welcome at the same address. The organiser expects to be able to defray some of the costs of participating in the Congress for any speakers who do not have their own recourse to sufficient institutional funds.

Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 2025 International Medieval Congress

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To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 2024 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 7–10, 2025. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

The thematic strand for the 2025 IMC is “Worlds of Learning.” See the IMC Call for Papers (https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2025/) for additional information about the theme and suggested areas of discussion.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2025). The deadline for submission is September 9, 2024.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $800 maximum for participants traveling from within Europe and up to $1400 maximum for those coming from outside Europe. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement. Participants must participate in the conference in-person to receive funding. The Mary Jaharis Center regrets that it cannot reimburse participants who have last-minute cancellations and are unable to attend the conference.

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2025.

Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

CFPs for From Tree to Truss at ICMS Kalamazoo 2025

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AVISTA invites paper proposals for From Tree to Truss, its two in-person sessions at the 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan (May 8-10, 2025). Paper proposals will be accepted through the Confex proposal portal at the links below through September 15, 2024. If you have any questions in the interim, don’t hesitate to reach out to session co-organizer Lindsay Cook (lsc5353@psu.edu).

  1. From Tree to Truss: Wood in Medieval Building(s)

The 2019 Notre-Dame fire laid bare vast quantities of a building material ubiquitous throughout the medieval world, yet sometimes concealed from view: wood. Despite their practical, structural, and even symbolic importance, the wooden elements of medieval buildings often go unheralded in scholarship or are treated in isolation from building materials like earth, brick, and stone rather than in concert with them. This session welcomes papers that take a range of approaches to the use of wood in medieval construction (e.g. as formwork or scaffolding) and/or in the finished structures themselves (e.g. as roof trusses or vaults).

Submit your paper proposal for the first session here: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=6440

  1. From Tree to Truss: Woodcarving in Medieval Architecture

The 2019 Notre-Dame fire laid bare vast quantities of a building material ubiquitous throughout the medieval world, yet sometimes hidden in plain sight: wood. As a pendant to our session about the place of heavy timber in medieval building(s), this session will focus on the works of woodcarvers, woodturners, and joiners within medieval architectural spaces. To that end, we welcome papers that take material, technical, or intermedial approaches to more intricate forms of woodwork, including but not limited to wooden altarpieces, bemas, canopies, ciboria, iconostases, lecterns, maqsuras, minbars, screens, stalls, templons, Torah arks, and beyond.

Submit your paper proposal for the second session here: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=6443

 

CFP: The Hungarian Historical Review

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The Hungarian Historical Review invites submissions for its second issue in 2025, the theme of which will be, “Coherence of Translation Programs and the Contexts of Translation Movements, ca. 500–1700 AD.”

The deadline for the submission of abstracts: June 15, 2024. The deadline for the accepted papers: December 15, 2024.

This Special Issue aims to explore the complex historical, literary, and material backgrounds that are conducive to producing translations from any source language (Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, Hebrew, etc.) into Latin and from Latin into the vernaculars or local dialects from Late Antiquity until the end of the Renaissance period. The special issue investigates triggers and factors that helped produce Latin translations and eased the reception of Latin texts by non-Latin-using audiences. The variety of source and target languages creates a comparative framework that enriches our understanding of complex translating processes as historical phenomena.

https://www.jstor.org/journal/hunghistrevi

Invitation for Submissions: Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, March 20-22 2025

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Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting

March 20-22 2025

Invitation for Submissions

In March 2025, the Medieval Academy of America will hold its centennial meeting on the campus of Harvard University. This three-day conference, organized by members of Harvard’s Standing Committee on Medieval Studies and scholars from colleges and universities across the Boston area, will be preceded on Wednesday 19 March by a day-long graduate student workshop as well as the annual Digital Medieval Studies Institute (DMSI). The conference is meant not simply to celebrate the centenary of a professional organization, but to reflect on the present and future of the study of the “medieval” millennium of the human past, broadly conceived, and to welcome scholars and students working on this period who belong to professional organizations other than the Medieval Academy. We thus would be grateful if you could circulate the attached CFP to your membership, and encourage them to submit individual paper or panel proposals before 3 June 2024.  The CFP and links to submission forms are available online here. Note that we expect to offer travel subventions worth $500 to as many as 100 colleagues lacking research support, whose papers are accepted or who are chosen to participate in the graduate student workshop.

 

Sean Gilsdorf and Eileen Sweeney, MAA 2025 Program Committee Co-chairs

Nicholas Watson, MAA 2025 Local Events Committee Chair

Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies

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To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 60th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 8–10, 2024. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website. The deadline for submission is May 13, 2024.

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $800 maximum for scholars traveling from North America and up to $1400 maximum for those traveling from outside North America. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided.

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/60th-icms.

Contact Brandie Ratliff, Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.

CFP: Hellenic Research Fellowship Program (and new writer-in-residence)

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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

 

Call for Applications:

Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection

Hellenic Research Fellowship Program 2024-2025

Thanks to generous funding from the Tarbell Family Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Endowment Fund of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation of Sacramento, the University Library at California State University, Sacramento is pleased to offer the continuation of the Hellenic Research Fellowship Program (HRFP) for a 12th year. The HRFP, the only residential fellowship program west of the Mississippi in Hellenic studies broadly conceived, enables visiting scholars to conduct research using the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection in Sacramento, CA. This year we are happy to inaugurate writer-in-residence fellowships as an addition to the Program. The HRFP provides a limited number of fellowships in the form of reimbursement to help offset transportation and living expenses incurred in connection with the awards. The fellowship application deadline is May 3, 2024. No late applications will be considered. See below for full program information and application instructions.

Consisting of the holdings of the former Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism, the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, part of the Donald & Beverly Gerth Special Collections and University Archives, is a research collection of international significance for the campus and Sacramento regional communities, as well as for scholars around the globe. Currently numbering over 80,000 volumes and 500 linear feet of personal papers and institutional archives, it comprises a large circulating book collection, journal holdings, electronic resources, non-print media, rare books, archival materials, art, and artifacts. With its focus on the Hellenic world, the collection contains materials from antiquity to the present across the social sciences and humanities relating to Greece, its neighboring countries, and the surrounding region. There is a broad representation of languages in the collection, with a rich assortment of primary source materials. For further information about the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, visit https://library.csus.edu/tsakopoulos.

For the full Hellenic Research Fellowship Program description, application instructions, and list of previous fellows, see: https://library.csus.edu/tsakopoulos-hellenic-collection/hrfp. Questions about the Program can be directed to George I. Paganelis, Curator, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection (paganelis@csus.edu).

Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 50th Annual BSC

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Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 50th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference

As part of its ongoing commitment to Byzantine studies, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for Mary Jaharis Center sponsored sessions at the 50th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference to be held in New York City, October 24–27, 2024. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website. The deadline for submission is April 3, 2024.

If the proposed session is accepted, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 5 session participants (presenters and chair) up to $800 maximum for scholars based in North America and up to $1400 maximum for those coming from outside North America. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided.

For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/50th-bsc

Contact Brandie Ratliff, Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.

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