Icon Museum and Study Center internships

The Icon Museum and Study Center (IM+SC) will offer two on-site, six-week research internships: The Raoul and Mary Smith Research Internship and the John Barns Research Internship. Interns will be based in the Study Center and will focus on building knowledge around the icon collection and Eastern Christian art. In addition to having full access to the icons on display and in storage, they will enjoy borrowing privileges at the Study Center library and may make use of materials-based study resources. Interns will take part in workshops on painting techniques and paleography and will join in trips to area collections. In consultation with the Curator, interns will develop a project in the first week of their residency; the internship will conclude with a final presentation at an evening event open to the public.

The internship is open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students at the MA and PhD levels. Reading knowledge of a modern research language (French or German) and some knowledge of Greek or any Slavic language is desirable but not required.

Internships will ideally begin in mid-June.

To apply, please submit:

  • A statement of interest (1-2 pages single spaced). Applicants should present ideas for a project pertaining to their course of study and the collection.
  • A C.V. or resume
  • Names and contacts of 2 references

Interns at the undergraduate level will be compensated $15 per hour and those at the MA and PhD levels $20 per hour for twenty-eight hours a week (four days). Housing stipends are available with final allotment dependent on available funds.

Applications are due March 31.

Please contact the Curator, Justin Willson (j.willson@iconmuseum.org), for any questions about this position.

https://www.iconmuseum.org/internships/

 

Call for Applications: UMN Future of the Past

Exploring the Assumptions of Cultural History

The lenses of Western modernity – e.g., capitalism, Christianity, democracy, empirical science – surreptitiously shape the study of past cultures in ways that disregard their own claims about their world in favor of those that align with traditions of the Euro-American academy. The product of this influence is a colonialist narrative that presents past cultures as flawed or inconsistent (because they fail to meet modern criteria) and modern (usually Western) cultures as the resolution of these inconsistencies. Exploring the Assumptions of Cultural History is a three-year project sponsored by the Future of the Past Lab and the Center for Premodern Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities that seeks to interrogate the influence of Western assumptions in the study of cultural history and to imagine ways forward. The series will feature ten, week-long visiting fellowships grouped around three main themes: the transmission of evidence (2024-5), the role of comparative work (2025-6), and the influence of uniquely modern ontological premises (2026-7). In the Spring of the last year of the series (2027), fellows will come together in Minneapolis for a conference to share their findings, which will subsequently be published in an open access edited volume.

The Future of the Past Lab and the Center for Premodern Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities invite applications for two, week-long visiting fellowships in the Spring semester of 2025 around the question of “Transmission of Evidence.” We seek fellows whose work examines issues related to the transmission of evidence from non-modern societies and cultures and how those issues impact the study of the past today. In particular, we are interested in projects that 1) address ways in which the institutions and apparatus responsible for the transmission of evidence have influenced the study of the past in ways that favor Western cultural assumptions, and 2) imagine ways that multidisciplinary approaches in the historical humanities and social sciences contend with these influences.

If selected, fellows will give a public lecture on their work, participate in a workshop on their project, and run a seminar with graduate students relating to their work. Depending on the fellow’s wishes and interests, other events may be scheduled as well. While at UMN, fellows will have access to office space, the University of Minnesota Library, and archival resources, and will be encouraged to make connections with UMN faculty. Fellows’ travel, lodging, and food costs will be covered, and each fellow will receive a $1,500 honorarium.

We welcome applications from scholars of all ranks (from advanced graduate students and up) and disciplines. Special consideration will be given to applications from candidates who represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, especially those that have been historically underrepresented in American academia. Likewise, we are interested in applications from colleagues who work in institutions and environments that do not have access to the resources available at an R1 institution or who would benefit from resources specific to the University of Minnesota. For your application, please submit:

  1. An updated CV
  2. An Application Statement (no more than two pages, single-spaced) that explains your research, how it relates to the theme, and why you believe you are a good candidate for the fellowship.

Applications should be submitted to futureofpast@umn.edu with the subject line “Fellowship Application 2025” no later than Friday, April 5th, 2024.

If you have any questions, please contact Noah Segal (nsegal@umn.edu).

 

About Us:

The Future of the Past Lab is an initiative based in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures at the University of Minnesota. Initiated in 2021, the goal of the Future of the Past is to prompt, facilitate, and platform public-facing work and conversations that think about the systems of power embedded in the histories of our fields; how those systems have favored particular dominant perspectives; how our practice as scholars and teachers perpetuates these systems today; and how we can make changes that remove barriers for under-represented individuals and world views.

The Center for Premodern Studies (CPS) is the home for collaborative scholarship and outreach in the historical humanities and social sciences at the University of Minnesota. Founded in 2021, it is the latest iteration in a long line of interdisciplinary ventures into the study of the past at Minnesota including the Mellon-funded Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World. CPS’s connections within and beyond the UMN will support fellows in engaging regional scholars, special collections, and museums.

Inscriptions in a Digital Environment Workshop

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and Byzantine Studies Association of North America are pleased to offer a three-part EpiDoc workshop for graduate students and early career researchers in collaboration with Martina Filosa of the University of Cologne.

Inscriptions in a Digital Environment: An Introduction to EpiDoc for Byzantinists, workshop by Martina Filosa (University of Cologne), Zoom, April 5, 12, and 26, 2024, 11:00 AM–3:00 PM EDT with a break from 12:30–1:00 PM

In this online workshop, participants will explore the use of EpiDoc, the established standard for digitally encoding ancient inscriptions, papyri, and other primary and documentary texts in TEI XML for online publication and interchange. The workshop will also introduce the participants to the EFES (EpiDoc Front-End Services) platform for viewing and publishing EpiDoc editions. The workshop will include asynchronous tutorials, real-time sessions, and guided hands-on exercises. Participants will have the opportunity to work with their own epigraphic material, broadly understood.

While no preexisting technical knowledge is required, participants are expected to be familiar with the transcription conventions for inscriptions (“Leiden”) and have proficiency in either Greek, Latin, or other ancient languages pertinent to their epigraphic tradition.

The workshop is limited to 15 participants. The time commitment for this workshop is 12 hours of instruction and an additional 5 hours for review of asynchronous materials and approximately 3 hours between each session for practice exercises and preparation for the following session. Participants are expected to attend all sessions. Registration is first come, first served.

Registration closes Friday, March 22, 2024.

Who is eligible?

  • Graduate students and early career researchers (PhD received after April 2016) in the field of Byzantine studies. Students enrolled in graduate programs in North America and early career researchers working in North America will be given priority. Graduate students and early career researchers outside of North America will be placed on a waiting list and contacted if space is available.
  • All participants must be BSANA members. BSANA membership is free for graduate students and early-career contingent scholars who have earned their PhD within the last eight years and who do not hold a permanent or tenure-track appointment. If you are not already a BSANA member, please complete the BSANA Membership Form (https://bsana.net/members/) before registering for the workshop. Your membership status will be confirmed before your space in the workshop is confirmed.

To read a full description of the workshop and register your interest, please visit: https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/inscriptions-in-a-digital-environment

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

26th OUBS International Graduate Conference

See below for information about the 26th OUBS International Graduate Conference. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.

—————————————————————

26th OUBS International Graduate Conference (24th-25th February 2024)

‘Transgression in Late Antiquity and Byzantium’

Conference Organisers:
OUBS President Alexander Sherborne
OUBS Secretary Ilia Curto Pelle
OUBS Treasurer Benjamin Sharkey

The OUBS Committee is grateful for the generous support of:

  • The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR)
  • The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA)
  • Oxford Medieval Studies, in association with The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH)
  • The Faculty of History of the University of Oxford

The OUBS Committee would also like to express its gratitude to Shaun Cason, Eleanore Debs, Gavriella Makri, Bryce O’Connor, Rosalie Van Dael, Sophia Miller, Alexander Johnston, Nathan Websdale and Duncan Antich for their assistance with the conference’s facilitation.

Details

Venue for in-person attendance:

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2BE

Price for in-person attendance: £15 for OUBS members; or £20 for non-members.

If you wish to register to attend online, please purchase a ticket (£5 for students or £6 for non-students) via our Eventbrite page here.

Conference Programme

Venue: Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL

Saturday (February 24th, 2024)

11.00 a.m. – Opening Remarks (Lecture Theatre)

11.30-13.00 p.m. – Session 1: Panel 1a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 1b (Rees Davies Room)

13.00-14.00 p.m. – Lunch Break (Common Room)

14.00-15.30 p.m. – Session 2: Panel 2a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 2b (Rees Davies Room)

15.30-16.00 p.m. – Coffee and Tea Break (Common Room)

16.00-17.30 p.m. – Session 3: Panel 3a (Lecture Theatre) and Panel 3b (Rees Davies Room)

17.30-19.00 p.m. – Wine Reception (Common Room)

19.30 p.m. – Conference Dinner

Sunday (February 25th, 2024)

11.30-13.00 p.m. – Session 4: Panel 4a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 4b (Rees Davies Room)

13.00-14.00 p.m. – Lunch Break (Common Room)

14.00-15.30 p.m. – Session 5: Panel 5a (Lecture Theatre); and Panel 5b (Rees Davies Room)

15.30-16.00 p.m. – Closing Remarks (Lecture Theatre)

16.00-18.00 p.m. – Parting Tea Reception (Common Room)

Schedule of Papers

Session 1: Saturday, 11.30–13.00

Panel 1a: ‘The Literary’
(Chair: Findlay Willis)
Panel 1b: ‘The Political’
(Chair: Alexander Johnston)
Duncan Antich
(Blackfriars College, Oxford)
Compassion and Community: The Regula Pastoralis and Gregory’s Approach to Schism
Alejandro Laguna López
(Central European University)
An Anti-Novelistic Novel: Subverting Love in Niketas Eugenianos’ Drosilla and Charicles
Averkios (Dimitris) Agoris
(University of Athens)
Multigeneric examples in Michael Choniates’s Educational Activity
Euan Croman
(Queen’s University Belfast)
Transgressing the domus imperii in the fourth and fifth centuries: Treason or Family Trouble?
Daniel Murphy
(Independent Scholar)
Usurpation Narratives as Political Commentary in Fourth-Century Historiography
Merve Savas
(Ohio State University)
Twisting the Narrative: Textual Transgression in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Res Gestae 14

Session 2: Saturday, 14.00–15.30

Panel 2a: ‘The Sexual’
(Chair: Alexander Sherborne)
Panel 2b: ‘The Conciliar’
(Chair: Bryce O’Connor)
Maria Christian
(Independent Scholar)
“Look at that wood!” An Investigation into a Bizarre Sexual Practice Ascribed to the “Chaldeans” Involving Iconography in an Early Islamic Sex Manual
Vid Žepič
(University of Ljubljana) 
Legal Perspectives on Sexual Transgressions in Early-Byzantine Legal Sources
Pierrick Gerval
(University of Nantes)
Sexual violences during wartime, a transgression of Church prohibitions regarding sexuality in Byzantium (7th -13th century)
Kathleen McCulloch
(University of Cambridge)
Did Dioscorus transgress, or adhere to, established conciliar procedure at Ephesus II (449)?
Alexander Johnston
(Kellogg College, Oxford)
The Edge of Divinity: The Role of Wisdom in the Logos Prosphonetikos of the Quinisext Council
Rachel Edney
(University of Notre Dame)
The Eucharist in John Rufus’ Plerophories: Eucharistic Theology and Christological Controversy

Session 3: Saturday, 16.00–17.30

Panel 3a: ‘On the Edges of Byzantium’
(Chair: Benjamin Sharkey)
Panel 3b: ‘In the Land of Egypt’
(Chair: Sophia Miller)
Shaun Cason
(Worcester College, Oxford)
The End of Transgressions? Examining the Seventh-Century Treaty Between Islamic Egypt and Medieval Nubia
Dmitriy Kravets
(St. Hugh’s College, Oxford)
Orthodoxy and/or Empire? A Reassessment of the Career of Gregory Tsamblak (fl. 1402- 1415)
Helena Davies
(Linacre College, Oxford)
Sitt al-Mulk: A Damsel in Distress? Challenging Art-Historical Efforts to Rescue and Vindicate an Early Islamic Princess
Apolline Gay
(Université libre de Bruxelles) 
Looking for Eve: Figures of Female Transgression on Textiles from Byzantine Egypt
Michael Dunchok
(Kellogg College, Oxford)
A Higher Rank of Gods: In Defense of the Greek Magical Papyri
Chloé Agar
(Harris Manchester College, Oxford) 
‘He thrust his spear into the middle of him, and his bowels came out’: Literary violence against religious and legal transgressions in Early Christian Egypt

Session 4: Sunday, 11.30–13.00

Panel 4a: ‘The Archaeological and the Art-Architectural
(Chair: Gavriella Makri)
Panel 4b: ‘The Imperial and the Ecclesiastic
(Chair: Nathan Websdale)
Eleanore Debs
(Pembroke College, Oxford)
Examining the Peculiar Presence of Reliquaries Within Late Antique Baptisteries of the Limestone Massif
Sophia Miller
(Balliol College, Oxford)
Trees ‘Pleasant to the Sight’: Tree-Meaning in Late Antique Floor Mosaics in the Northern Provinces
Karolina Tomczyszyn
(Lincoln College, Oxford)
Transgressive Use of Holy Oils: In Search of Popular Religion in Syriac Christianity
Ziyao Zhu
(King’s College London)
Neither Just nor Unjust: Alexios I Komnenos and the Linguistic Politics of Byzantine Extrajudicial Confiscation.
Dilara Burcu Giritlioğlu
(Middle East Technical University)
Sinners and Saints of Constantinople: Union of Souls and Separation of Church and State
Findlay Willis
(St. Stephen’s House, Oxford)
Natural illness or divine punishment: the use of disability rhetoric to excuse or vilify the transgressions of Michael IV

Session 5: Sunday, 14.00–15.30

Panel 5a: ‘Defining Aspects of Deviance’
(Chair: Dimitri Kravets)
Panel 5b: ‘Transgressing Intellectual Borders
(Chair: Ilia Curto Pelle)
Ekaterina Rybakova
(Pirogov Russian National Researcher Medical University)
Illnesses of Spirit or Being: The Transgression of Pneuma in Byzantine Medicine
Thibaut Auplat
(Aix-Marseille University)
An overview of deviance in the 7th and 8th centuries: the Heresies by John Damascene
Patrick Martin
(University of Winchester)
Transgression in Middle Byzantine eschatological iconography
Mathijs Clement
(University of Cambridge)
Egeria, Traveller of Borderlands
Rosalie Van Dael
(St. Hilda’s College, Oxford)
Seeing is believing? Imagination in Augustine’s Letter 7 to Nebridius
Seyhun Kılıç
(Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Monk in a Mundane Realm: Exploring the Intersection of Spiritual and Secular Realms in the Middle Byzantine Period

 

Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies (SNF CHS) at Simon Fraser University invites applications for the Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellowship. Our search committee welcomes applications that span disciplinary boundaries from candidates working on comparative approaches on the advertised fellowship theme. Applicants from all fields of the humanities and the social sciences are encouraged to apply.

Candidates must have completed their Ph.D. within a maximum of FOUR years before the appointment date (September 2024) and submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, research project outline, and THREE letters of reference.
Applications received by February 29, 2024, will be given priority.
Details and application instructions can be found here: https://www.sfu.ca/hellenic-studies/about/employment.html

Photo Research Expedition to Medieval Balkan Churches

The field school is designed for students and young specialists in heritage, archaeology and conservation as well as artists, but we also welcome anyone interested in:

  • medieval civilization in Southeastern Europe (especially Byzantine and Christian Orthodox architecture, arts and iconography during the late medieval period: 13th to 17th centuries)
  • digital photography
  • documentation of ecclesiastic architecture and frescos
  • cultural heritage preservation
  • travel to significant heritage sites in western Bulgaria.

Dates: 25 May – 08 June, 2024

For more information and to apply: https://www.bhfieldschool.org/program/medieval-fresco-photo-expedition

Academic credits available through our partner New Bulgarian University

Chriselpida Kamma

Admissions Officer

Balkan Heritage Field School

7 Tulovo, 4th Floor, Apt.6, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

+359 988250901

University of Silesia in Katowice post-doc positions

Two new new post-doc positions have been announced at the University of Silesia in Katowice in the NCN OPUS project ‘Beyond the Sacred: Conceptions of Nature in Byzantium (4th-15th Centuries).’ Each position is for three years, with an option for a one-year extension. You will be working in a small yet friendly research group located in a newly renovated modern building in the centre of the city.

The remuneration is 8,986 PLN gross per month, along with a ’13th salary’ each year and holiday money. This compensation exceeds that of a professor and should be enough to live comfortably. The project also includes a budget for library trips (London, Paris), coverage of participation costs for the Congress in Vienna. You will also be entitled to University funding.
If you have any further questions, please contact:
If you want to learn first-hand how it is to work with us in Poland/Katowice, feel free to write to Tristan Schmidt: tristan.schmidt@us.edu.pl
Please note that different responsibilities are associated with each position.
———————————————————
Prof. Dr. Przemysław Marciniak
Hamburg Institute For Advanced Study
Hamburg University Fellow 2023/2024
Rothenbaumchaussee 45
20148 Hamburg
GermanyInstitute of Literary Studies
University of Silesia in Katowice
Uniwersytecka 4
40-007 Katowice
Poland

Xlab Unconference and edited volume

We would like to invite you to attend the Carleton Cultural Heritage Informatics Collaboratory (XLab) 2024 unconference, being held at Carleton University in Richcraft Hall from April 2nd to 4th, 2024. We are offering hybrid workshops in cultural heritage informatics methods, as well as a keynote by Dr. Ethan Watrall of Michigan State University and the MSU Museum. The unconference format involves collaborating with fellow conference-goers on subjects of interest to you, to be organized and held in-situ as discussions and panels. This conference is free to attend in person or online; we ask that you let us know of your intention to attend at your earliest convenience through the XLab website at https://carleton.ca/xlab/xlab-confab/.

Funding for the XLab Confab is via Carleton’s participation in a SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant with the Computational Research in the Ancient Near East project, and a Carleton Multidisciplinary Catalyst Research Fund grant establishing the XLab.

Sincerely,

The XLab Confab Committee:

Dr. Shawn Graham, Katherine Davidson, Kavita Mistry and Scott Coleman.

 

Call for Papers

Please pass the following call for papers for our upcoming conference volume on Speculative Futures in Cultural Heritage Informatics on to graduate students researching, broadly speaking, cultural heritage-related themes:

You are a graduate student or early career researcher working at the intersection of cultural heritage informatics (CHI) and your discipline. You are at the forefront of a rapidly developing field. What does the future of CHI look like from your vantage point?

The XLab Confab committee invites you to contribute to our edited volume inspired by the upcoming unconference. Current details about the Confab are at the registration page here (https://carleton.ca/xlab/xlab-confab/) and details about the call for papers for the edited volume may be found here (https://carleton.ca/xlab/2024/call-for-papers-speculative-futures-in-cultural-heritage-informatics/).

The first two days of the confab are scheduled for workshops and an unconference. Dr. Ethan Watrall, who runs the cultural heritage informatics initiative at Michigan State University (https://ethan.watrall.org), will be joining us on both days, including a keynote address on the second day. Candidates who are invited to submit a chapter for the edited volume will also join us on the third day for a book sprint facilitated by Dr. Watrall and Dr. Shawn Graham, our lab’s PI. Short proposals of a few informal paragraphs should be submitted by February 15th 2024 on the registration page (https://carleton.ca/xlab/2024/call-for-papers-speculative-futures-in-cultural-heritage-informatics/).

While we continue to develop more details about the edited volume, we are happy to answer any questions you might have about the volume and Confab. We would be delighted to receive proposals from any interested graduate students working in this broad field.

Sincerely,

The XLab Confab Committee:

Dr. Shawn Graham, Katherine Davidson, Kavita Mistry and Scott Coleman.

 

Slavonic Metaphrasis of Byzantine Orthodoxy: PhD position in Leuven

A fully-funded PhD position to carry out research on Byzantine and Slavonic florilegia and question-and-answer literature has been announced at KU Leuven:

PhD position Slavonic Metaphrasis of Byzantine Orthodoxy

The deadline for applying is 14 March.

Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions or should you consider applying. Feel free to circulate the position in your network.

Posted on behalf of Lara Sels and Reinhart Ceulemans.

 

CFP: Projecting Poetry

The TORCH Network Poetry in the Medieval World (University of Oxford) is delighted to introduce “Projecting Poetry”, an initiative designed to promote cross-disciplinary discussion, foster collaboration, and provide a platform for DPhil/PhD students engaged in research across various fields and working on medieval poetry. The goal is to create an opportunity to present ongoing research to a diverse audience of fellow students and seniors.

We invite submissions from DPhil/PhD students at the beginning of their programmes, conducting research in any field and working on poetry in any area and culture of the medieval world (chronological boundaries may be discussed with organisers); any methodological approach is welcome. We especially encourage submissions that aim to explore potential intersections between academic disciplines.

 

Submission Guidelines

  • Abstract: Please submit a 250-word abstract in English (PDF form) to ugo.mondini@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk, including the (working) research title, name, affiliation, and contact information.
  • Submission Deadline: Abstracts can be submitted any time during the academic year.
  • Extended Descriptions: If accepted, speakers should present a document in English (max. 1,500 words) and a title fifteen days before the seminar, with a more extensive description of their interests, research goals and, if they wish, of the challenges they face. This document will be shared with the seminar participants; therefore, it should be accessible to non-specialists.

 

Event Structure

  • Sessions will be organised online for non-Oxford students and in hybrid format during term time for Oxford participants.
  • Each speaker will have 20 minutes to present their research; a discussion follows. The event will be conducted in English.

 

Contact Information

For further information and inquiries, please get in touch with Ugo Mondini at ugo.mondini@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.

Non-presenting seminar participants

If you want to take part in the seminars, both in person and online, please send an email to Ugo Mondini at ugo.mondini@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk with your name, affiliation, research interests, and contact information.

For more information about the network, see https://torch.ox.ac.uk/poetry-in-the-medieval-world. We also have a mailing list: send a blank email to poetrymedievalworld-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk (now working!).

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

 

Best regards,

Ugo Mondini & the Network Team

 

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