Announcements

Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy

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From the Index of Medieval Art:

We are excited to announce a new multi-year project, Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy, that aims to create an international team of faculty, staff, and students that will explore and bring awareness to the rich, complex, and remarkable historical and cultural heritage of Mount Athos, and its connection to Princeton. The collaborative team will engage in research, teaching, digitization projects, and descriptive cataloging over three years (2023–2026), exploring holdings throughout the Princeton campus, including Visual Resources and the Index of Medieval Art in the Art & Archaeology Department; the Mendel Music Library; and the Graphics Art Collection and Manuscript Division at Princeton University Library.

We have two short-term research opportunities opening up and details can be found in the ‘Announcements’ page of the website: https://athoslegacy.project.princeton.edu/

One of the two research positions is a part time graduate opportunity at the Index of Medieval Art. This is a two to three-month remote, part-time research opportunity to help incorporate key works of art on Mount Athos into the Index database. The position would require the student to examine the Index legacy records, update the metadata, identify new color images, and incorporate them on the online database. They will be trained in Index norms in cataloging works of art, describing the iconography, transcribing inscriptions, and adding bibliographic citations. This opportunity offers a stipend of $2,500 and has been generously funded by the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, with the support of the Dimitrios and Kalliopi Monoyios Modern Greek Studies Fund and Art & Archaeology Department at Princeton University.

For more details about eligibility criteria and the application process, please check the ‘Announcements’ page: https://athoslegacy.project.princeton.edu/announcements/

Lecture: The Ethical Museum: Reflections on Cultural Mission and Civic Responsibility in a Changing Landscape

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In “The Ethical Museum: Reflections on Cultural Mission and Civic Responsibility in a Changing Landscape,” Daniel H. Weiss explores the evolving civic role of the art museum while facing longstanding challenges and an increasingly polarized environment.

Where Oak Room, Dumbarton Oaks and via Zoom

When November 9, 2023 06:00 PM to 07:00 PM

For more information, and to register, see the Dumbarton Oaks website: https://www.doaks.org/events/byzantine-studies/public-lectures/the-ethical-museum-reflections-on-cultural-mission-and-civic-responsibility-in-a-changing-landscape

The American art museum has experienced sustained levels of growth and increasing popularity across generations, yet it is today at a crossroads, facing unprecedented challenges to its historic mission, cultural identity, and sense of purpose. Notwithstanding recent progress in expanding collections, generating new programs, and serving increasingly diverse audiences, new approaches are required to face longstanding challenges and sustain recent progress in an increasingly polarized environment.

This lecture will explore the context for the current environment and the evolving civic role of the art museum, considering the need to balance historic mission with the expectation for greater transparency and new thinking on such issues as cultural property rights, sustainable funding and problematic donors, diversifying collections and programs, responding to activism and protests, uses of AI and digital platforms, and especially the need for higher levels of public trust. To achieve these objectives the museum must continue to evolve while placing greater emphasis on the ethical components of its civic mission.

Daniel Weiss is Homewood Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University and President Emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he served from 2015-2023. Previously Weiss was the 14th President of Haverford College, the 16th President of Lafayette College, and the James B. Knapp Dean of the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he also served as professor and chair of the History of Art Department.

Weiss has written or edited seven books and numerous articles on the art of the Middle Ages, higher education, the Vietnam War, museums, and other topics. His most recent books include Why the Museum Matters (2022) and In That Time: Michael O’Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam (2019). His work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies at Harvard University, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations, Weiss is Vice Chair of the Board of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Vice Chair of the Library of America, a member of University Council at Yale, and a trustee of the Wallace Foundation and the Posse Foundation.

Daniel Weiss holds a PhD in the History of Art from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

 

Lecture: Measuring Weather: The Windvane and the Nilometer in Byzantine Art and Texts

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The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the next lecture in our 2023–2024 lecture series.

Monday, November 6, 2023 | 12:00 PM EST | Zoom
Measuring Weather: The Windvane and the Nilometer in Byzantine Art and Texts
Paroma Chatterjee, University of MichiganThis lecture draws attention to the monumental scientific devices that appear in the Byzantine literary and pictorial tradition. Specifically, it focuses on the windvane (anemodoulion) that stood for centuries in Constantinople before its destruction during the Fourth Crusade (1204 CE), and the Nilometer used for measuring the rising levels of the Nile, and which is depicted in textiles, mosaics, and other media. In considering these objects, the lecture makes the case that bucolic imagery (which we find associated with the windvane and the Nilometer in its visual representations) was deemed most suitable for devices linked to measuring and signaling weather patterns. Finally, the lecture proposes that the bucolic mode was linked to these objects as its conventions articulated the contingency of the relations between humans, non-humans, and nature.

Paroma Chatterjee is Professor of Byzantine and medieval Mediterranean art history at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/lecture-by-measuring-weather

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

BSC: register, join BSANA, and the ArriveCan app

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Please see below for announcements regarding the upcoming Byzantine Studies Conference:
Sent on behalf of the Nominating Committee:
For members attending the Byzantine Studies Conference, please send nominations and self-nominations for the Governing Board to BSANA President Lynn Jones as soon as possible (email: bsana.president@gmail.com).
Sent on behalf of Brad Hostetler, Program Committee Chair:
Get ready for the Byzantine Studies Conference in Vancouver, October 26–29!
Remember to register for the conference: https://www.sfu.ca/hellenic-studies/bsc2023.html
All speakers must be a member of BSANA in good standing. Join or renew your membership today: https://bsana.net/members/
It might be helpful for folks arriving from the US who are not Canadians or Landed Immigrants to know that they can speed up their time getting through Canadian customs and immigration with the ArriveCan app.
See you in Vancouver!

Reminder: DOP Virtual Open House

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The editors of Dumbarton Oaks Papers wish to remind you about our Virtual Open House on Wednesday, October 18, from 12:00–1:00pm EDT.

Join Colin Whiting and Nikos Kontogiannis for a conversation about Dumbarton Oaks Papers. We will cover the scope and current direction of DOP, the submission and review process, and tips for submitters. Following our discussion, there will be an open Q&A in which audience members are welcome to ask the editors any questions about the journal.

The event will take place on Zoom; registration is required at the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dumbarton-oaks-papers-virtual-open-house-tickets-722788599157?aff=oddtdtcreator

Dumbarton Oaks Fellowships (Deadline Nov. 1)

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Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship Programs welcome applications for 2024-2025. Since 1940, the institution has supported scholarship in the Humanities through its fellowships and grants.

Applications and instructions are available online. The deadline to apply for these opportunities is Wednesday, November 1 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.

Research Fellowships

Fellowships are awarded to scholars who hold a PhD or appropriate final degree at the time of application, or who have established themselves in their field, and wish to pursue their own research.

Junior Fellowships are awarded to degree candidates who at the time of application have fulfilled all preliminary requirements for a PhD or appropriate final degree, and plan to work on a dissertation or final project while at Dumbarton Oaks, under the direction of a faculty member from their own university.

Fellowships and Junior Fellowships are normally awarded for the academic year, and recipients are expected to be in residence at Dumbarton Oaks to devote full time to their study projects without undertaking any other major activities.

William R. Tyler Fellowships are for Harvard graduate students in art history, archaeology, history, and literature of the Pre-Columbian/early Colonial or Mediterranean/Byzantine worlds; or in Garden and Landscape history.

Intended to expand significantly the opportunities offered by Dumbarton Oaks to study the history and future of landscapes through the lenses of democracy, race, identity, and difference, Mellon Fellowships in Democracy and Landscape Studies are available, with preference given to candidates with terminal degrees, such as a PhD or MLA.

The Flora Clancy Summer Fellowship in Maya Studies for Latin American Researchers is available to scholars in the field of Maya studies on any level of advancement beyond the first year of graduate study (post-Licenciatura) who are academically based in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, or El Salvador.

The I Tatti–Dumbarton Oaks Joint Fellowship for Eastern Mediterranean Studies is available to early- and mid-career scholars whose work explores cross-cultural contacts in and beyond the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean.

Grants

Project Grants support scholarly projects by applicants holding a PhD or the equivalent. Support is generally for archaeological investigation as well as for the recovery, recording, and analysis of materials that would otherwise be lost.

Research Opportunities for Ancient Culture Enthusiasts

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Studies in Late Antiquity [https://online.ucpress.edu/sla ] has launched an exciting new ‘diversity, equality and inclusion’ initiative. Please would you share the announcement [below] with any ‘future scholar’ (from High School through to graduating UG) who might be interested and also circulate via your wider networks.

_______

Research Opportunities for Ancient Culture Enthusiasts

Calling on all history nerds, myth buffs, and lovers of ancient art, literature, and religion…
Studies in Late Antiquity, a scholarly journal published by the University of California Press
(https://online.ucpress.edu/sla), invites talented high school and undergraduate students from
underrepresented backgrounds to participate in a new research initiative. We encourage students
interested in any aspect of premodern Mediterranean society (and we mean any!) to apply for this newly
launched program that aims to promote diversity among the ranks of future scholars and teachers of the
ancient world. There are no prerequisites or costs: this is a free opportunity to learn more about a favorite
topic, how to conduct historical research, and to potentially publish your work in a scholarly journal.
How the program works: Each student will be paired with a university professor in their area of interest.
They will work with this mentor on a chosen topic for a period of six months to one year. During the
mentorship (conducted online), students work towards producing a final research project, which can take the form of a blog, long-form essay, podcast, or website.

Studies in Late Antiquity looks forward to publishing the final product in the journal. Because this
program seeks to build diversity, equity, and inclusion among university instructors across the world, we
especially encourage applications from BIPOC/BAME and LGTBQ+ identifying students, along with
first-generation university students and those from challenging economic backgrounds, veterans, and
people with disabilities.

Questions about the program and the application process (which is also free!) should be sent to
studiesinlateantiquity@ucpress.edu.

FOR APPLICANTS: Please send the following to studiesinlateantiquity@ucpress.edu
1. A cover letter that explains in brief how your academic and/or personal experiences contribute to the
DEI goals of the program.
2. A short statement (300-500 words) that describes your intellectual interests and the topic, theme, or
question you hope to explore through this program.

From: Caroline Humfress

Professor of Medieval History

School of History, University of St Andrews

ASCSA William Sanders Scarborough Fellowships

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ASCSA WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH FELLOWSHIPS
Deadline: January 15, 2024

This fellowship is intended to honor and remember Professor William Sanders Scarborough and to help foster diversity in the fields of Classical and Hellenic Studies and the Humanities more broadly by supporting students and teachers from underrepresented groups in their study and research at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

William Sanders Scarborough (1852–1926), the son of an enslaved woman and a freedman, was a pathbreaking African American Classical scholar and public intellectual. Scarborough’s scholarship included philological works on Greek and Roman authors, as well as studies of African languages and African American folklore. His First Lessons in Greek (1881) was the first foreign language textbook by an African American author. He taught at Ohio’s Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary, serving as Wilberforce’s president from 1908–1920. At least twice in his life (1886 and 1896), Scarborough hoped to attend the American School, with the encouragement of the School’s Managing Committee. Lack of funding, coupled with his many professional responsibilities, kept Scarborough from realizing his dream of going to Greece.

Eligibility: Open to graduate students, faculty members (K-12 and all levels of post-secondary education), and independent scholars residing in the United States or Canada (regardless of citizenship) whose geographic origin, diverse experiences, and socio-economic background are underrepresented at the School (including persons from the Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color communities). The fellowship is designed for such applicants whose studies, research, or teaching would benefit from residency at the School. Fellowship recipients need not be specialists in the field of Classical Studies. The School welcomes applicants from faculty of K-12 schools and from students or faculty from public and private universities, colleges, and community colleges; and encourages applications from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Terms and Duration: The fellowship supports up to three months in residence at the School to carry out proposed research projects, to join the School’s academic programs (field trips and seminars during the academic year, excavations at the Agora or Corinth, ASCSA summer travel programs, scientific field schools, etc.), and/or to develop knowledge, resources, and collegial networks to enhance their teaching.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the Programs Administrator well in advance of submitting their proposal for advice on matching the resources and opportunities of the School to their needs and interests. Fellowship winners will be paired with ASCSA mentors who can assist them in planning and preparing for their time in Greece.

Applicants intending to use the fellowship to participate in an ASCSA summer program must submit the Scarborough application AND a separate application to the relevant program(s) of interest. Applicants wishing to use the Scarborough fellowship to offset costs of participation in the Regular Member academic program of the School must also apply directly for Regular Membership (deadline Jan. 15, 2024); admission to the Regular Program requires that applicants write an examination in mid-February. The fellowship may not be held concurrently with
Regular Member Fellowships. The fellowship may not be held remotely; residency in Athens is required.

Awards granted in the January 2024 competition must be used between June 1, 2024 and May 30, 2025.

Each award provides for $1500 per month (rounded upwards to the nearest whole month to a maximum of 3 month) as a stipend. The fellowship provides room and board at Loring Hall, a waiver of any applicable School fees (including summer program course fees), and one roundtrip economy-class airfare to Athens. Meals, Monday through Friday, are provided at Loring Hall for the fellow. The cost of participation on trips during the academic year is not covered (costs are billed in Athens after each trip). Meals or incidental expenses outside Loring Hall are not covered by the fellowship.

The School intends to make up to four awards each year.

Application: Submit an online application here, https://ascsa.submittable.com/submit/171376/william-sanders-scarborough-fellowship. A complete application will include:

A 2-page, single-spaced, statement indicating your eligibility, describing the proposed use of the fellowship including any formal program at the School you plan to apply for, the proposed timeframe for your work at the School (this includes proposed dates of attendance), and your project or research goals (as applicable). Please note that you may only change the proposed dates of attendance indicated on your application, after acceptance, with approval from the School’s administration. Due to limited housing space, we may not be able to accommodate requested changes to the proposed dates.
A curriculum vitae.
A copy of current transcripts for student applicants (scans of official transcripts are acceptable).
Arrange for two letters of recommendation. Recommenders will be asked to upload their letters via the online application system, Submittable. Upon submission of the online application, recommenders will be sent an automated email with instructions about how to submit their letters of recommendation. Or, applicants may choose to send the request at any time by clicking the “Send Request Now” button on the online application form.

For more information: https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/fellowships-and-grants

Questions? Contact: Alicia Dissinger, Programs Administrator, programs@ascsa.org

Award decisions will be announced in March 2024.

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation when considering admission to any form of membership or application for employment.

—
American School of Classical Studies at Athens
321 Wall Street
Princeton, NJ 08540-1515
Email: programs@ascsa.org
Website: https://www.ascsa.edu.gr

Northwestern University: Assistant Professor of Art/Architecture

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Assistant Professor of Art/Architecture of the Middle East, North Africa, and Iberia, 600-1500 CE

The Department of Art History at Northwestern University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in the art or architecture of the Middle East, North Africa, and Iberia, from 600–1500 CE. The geographical and temporal fields of specialization within these parameters are open. We particularly welcome scholars whose work engages with transregional and intercultural contexts within and beyond the Islamic world; visual and material culture; architecture, urbanism, and the environment; archaeology, heritage, and preservation; or technical art history. This position is meant to complement areas of departmental strength in ancient, early modern, and modern art of the Middle East and North Africa; the art of Africa and the African Diaspora; Indo-Islamic and Mughal South Asia; and medieval and early modern Europe. The ideal candidate would also complement faculty in other Northwestern departments, including History and Religious Studies, and programs such as Middle East and North African Studies, African Studies, Medieval Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts. Our department is firmly committed to racial justice and equity, here and across the world, and we welcome candidates whose interests and experiences align with these values.

The successful candidate will teach four courses annually over the course of three academic quarters, at both undergraduate and graduate levels; share in departmental service; and contribute to the vibrant intellectual community within and beyond the department. Applicants must have earned a Ph.D. in art history or an adjacent field by the time of appointment, or shortly thereafter. This is a full-time position starting September 1, 2024.

To apply, please submit 1) a letter of application explaining your research accomplishments and goals, and your teaching ideals, commitments, and strengths; 2) a statement describing how your research and pedagogy contribute to Northwestern’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; 3) a current CV; 4) one sample course syllabus from within your field; 5) the names of three references, with contact information. Letters of recommendation will not be requested until after the application deadline. Candidates who advance in the search will be asked to submit a writing sample of no more than 10,000 words. Application materials must be submitted electronically here by November 15, 2023.

Address any questions about this position to Mel Keiser mel.keiser@northwestern.edu

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