Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 2023 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 2023 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 3–6, 2023. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

The thematic strand for the 2023 IMC is “Networks and Entanglements.” See the IMC Call for Papers (https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2023/) 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-2023). The deadline for submission is September 6, 2022. Proposals should include title, 100-word session abstract, session moderator and academic affiliation, information about the three papers to be presented in the session, for each paper: name of presenter and academic affiliation, proposed paper title, and 100-word abstract, and organizer’s CV

The session organizer may act as the moderator or present a paper. Participants may only present papers in one session.

Applicants will be contacted by mid-September about the status of their proposal.

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 European residents 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. For scholars participating remotely, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse participants for conference registration.

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

Call for Papers: 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

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Call for Papers: 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Dumbarton Oaks will be hosting two panels at the 2023 ICMS – Coins and Seals in Byzantium and North Africa, Byzantium, and the Latin West. The panels are now live and accepting submissions: https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.

Due date for abstracts is September 15, 2022.

UK Late Antiquity Network Call for Papers: Taste and Disgust in Late Antiquity, Leeds IMC 2023

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Taste and Disgust in Late Antiquity: Call for Papers

International Medieval Congress, 3-6 July 2023, University of Leeds, UK

The Postgraduate and Early Career Late Antiquity Network (LAN)

*Apologies for cross-posting*

The aim of this strand is to discuss taste as a category of late ancient experience. The overall theme of IMC 2023 is ‘Networks and Entanglements’ and we encourage speakers to think about how late antique networks, entanglements, and divisions were animated by ideas of taste. As a system of discernment, taste, and its corollary disgust, mediated the intimate process of incorporating foreign substances into the body. By late antiquity, this biological process for selecting foodstuffs had acquired powerful social and moral connotations. One could have taste in foods, but also in people, in institutions, in goods, in practices, in ideas. Taste had become a means of communicating preferences within all sorts of categories; it expressed and critiqued cultural ideas. We therefore invite papers that think expansively about ‘taste’ as a category of historical analysis: from taste as part of an individual’s sensory perception, to the range of cultural tastes, snobberies and resentments that united and bounded late antique societies and empires.

Work on consumption patterns in late antiquity has shown how (voluntary or involuntary) fasting and feasting were blunt instruments which could advertise group membership and cultural identity. The role of taste in articulating social distinctions was more subtle and fluid: taste both negotiated the rules of social cohesion and ordered minute hierarchies within larger social groupings. The physical, moral and cultural tastes of late ancient societies (late Roman, post-Roman, East Roman and beyond) have left traces in the material, literary and environmental record. Notions of taste and disgust were at play across a full range of cultural activities, from liturgy, to medicine, to treatment of the dead. Late ancient taste was a product of tradition and innovation. Governed by the decisions of a given community, taste was temporally and geographically unstable. It could be an intensely local phenomenon, its contours waxing and waning across the course of a community’s life-cycle. What was ‘tasty’/‘tasteful’ in late antiquity? How did late antique individuals or groups lose their appetite, or change their mind about what disgusted them? Who or what controlled the specific mechanisms of late antique taste?

We invite postgraduate and early career researchers from a variety of backgrounds to discuss taste and/or distaste in late antiquity across a series of panels. The Late Antiquity Network was founded in 2012 to provide a platform for junior scholars working on a range of geographical and disciplinary areas within the period. We have held a number of workshops and conferences that aim to provide opportunities for junior researchers to present their research and build connections with others in the field and to discuss their work in a constructive environment. The participants in these panels are strongly encouraged to interpret taste in late antiquity within the context of their research interest. Applications from masters students, those in the early stages of their PhD, and those without a current institutional affiliation are particularly encouraged. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for discussion and question time.

 Suggested areas for discussion include, but are not limited to:

–       Taste as part of the late antique sensory repertoire

–       Taste and the risk of contamination/taboo

–       The usefulness of taste as a category of historical inquiry

–       The role of environmental and/or commercial factors in shaping late ancient diets

–       Taste and nutrition in medical thought

–       The role of taste in liturgical and ceremonial life

–       Material evidence for late antique taste

–       Differential experiences of taste

–       The morality of taste (e.g. disgust of heretics and othered groups)

–       Cultural tastes and the maintenance of social bonds and networks

–       Disgust and tastelessness

–       Taste as metaphor (e.g. in political or religious thought)

Abstracts should be limited to 300 words and accompanied by a short academic bio. The deadline for submission is 11:59pm (GMT) on Friday, 2nd September 2022. Abstract submissions and/or queries should be sent to lateantiquenetwork@gmail.com.

Henry Anderson (Exeter) and Ella Kirsh (Brown)

LAN Steering Committee

Call for Papers, 7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies 2023

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(Please scroll down for English)

Αξιότιμη/ε συνάδελφε,

Με χαρά σας ενημερώνουμε ότι το «7ο Ευρωπαϊκό Συνέδριο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών», που συνδιοργανώνουν η Ευρωπαϊκή Εταιρεία Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (ΕΕΝΣ), η Αυστριακή Εταιρεία Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (ÖGNS) και το Πανεπιστήμιο της Βιέννης (Τμήμα Βυζαντινών και Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών), θα πραγματοποιηθεί στη Βιέννη από τις 11 μέχρι τις 14 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023.

Παρακαλούμε να διακινήσετε τη συνημμένη εγκύκλιο (Call for Papers). Ως ημερομηνία λήξης για την υποβολή περιλήψεων ορίζεται η 31 Οκτωβρίου 2022.

Για περαιτέρω πληροφορίες παρακαλούμε να ανατρέξετε στην ιστοσελίδα του

Συνεδρίου:

https://7th-european-congress-of-modern-greek-studies.univie.ac.at/

(Ελληνικά και Αγγλικά).

Με εκτίμηση

Η Οργανωτική Επιτροπή (Βιέννη)

——————————————————————————–

Dear colleague,

It is our pleasure to inform you that the “7th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies”, co-organized by the European Society of Modern Greek Studies (EENS), the Austrian Society of Modern Greek Studies

(ÖGNS) and the University of Vienna (Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies), will take place in Vienna from 11 to 14 September 2023.

Attached, please find the Call for Papers, which we kindly ask you to circulate. The submission deadline for abstracts is 31 October 2022.

Please visit the conference website for further information:

https://7th-european-congress-of-modern-greek-studies.univie.ac.at/

(English and Greek)

Best regards,

The Organizing Committee (Vienna)

Call for Papers: Letters and Politics in Late Antiquity (Ghent, Belgium, May 31 – June 2, 2023

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Call for papers
Letters and Politics in Late Antiquity
Ghent University, Belgium
May 31 to June 2, 2023
Deadline for proposals: 27 July 2022
Dear colleagues,
We are inviting papers discussing the role of letters in late antique Roman politics (4th to 6th century AD): how did various late antique actors and interest groups use letters to try and influence decision making processes on all levels?
Letters played a prominent role in the functioning of social and political life in the late Roman Empire (3rd – 6th century AD). News and information were often communicated by letter, and imperial and ecclesiastical decisions were in many cases negotiated and communicated via letters, which could even carry the force of law. As a result, letters are an invaluable source for research on late antique politics, yielding insight not just into decisions, but also into decision making processes. From this point of view, letters disclose the functioning of late Roman politics as a dynamic practice of negotiation and diplomacy. The thousands of letters that have been preserved from these centuries show late antique correspondents using the genre of the letter for recommending, arguing, defining, ordering, requesting, debating, and lobbying, in an attempt to influence decision making processes to their own advantage, as well as for authoritatively communicating decisions and laws.
The aim of this workshop is to shed new light on the important but underinvestigated role of letters in late antique Roman politics: what was the role of letters in late antique elite networks, the imperial bureaucracy and ecclesiastical controversies? What were the functions of different letter types, including letters of recommendation, petitions to the Emperor and the imperial legislative letters? How was authority created through (authentic or forged) letters in the context of legal procedures and theological controversy? What was the role of letter carriers, the cursus publicus, and letter collections in this political use of letters?
To examine these questions, we invite contributions that illuminate how various late antique actors and interest groups sought to exert influence on decision making processes on all levels through letter writing. Whilst we focus on the political and diplomatic uses of letters, we hope to bring together a collection of papers that reflects the diversity of late antique letters: personal letter collections, inscriptions, papyri, law codes, and canonical collections.
Possible research questions include, but are not limited to, the following:
Letters in imperial decision-making
– What role did correspondence play in the decision making processes of the imperial bureaucracy?
– To what extent were letters processed differently by the imperial administration than petitions?
– When, why and how did the Emperor write letters as a form of legislation?
– How did imperial legislative letters differ from other imperial as well as from elite correspondence?
– What role did letters play in the administrative practice of the imperial bureaucracy?
Lower level politics
– Who wrote letters trying to influence political decisions in the late Roman Empire and why did they do this?
– Who received letters and what kind of request did these letters entail?
– What reactions did such letters elicit?
Letters and authority
– How did letters obtain (legislative) authority?
– How did letters function as evidence (e.g. in court or during Church councils)?
– What role did letters play in ecclesiastical decision-making processes?
– How were late antique letters reused in later ecclesiastical or political disputes?
Elite networks
– What was the function of letters within late antique social networks?
– How did elite members use their correspondence networks for lobbying?
– What was the role of rhetoric and self-presentation in letters?
– Which political purposes were present in which letter types (e.g. letters of recommendation, intercession, petitions, legislative letters)?
Letters and letter collections as political instruments
– How did the practicalities of correspondence (e.g. letter carriers and the cursus publicus) influence late antique decision making processes?
– How did letters relate to oral communication and diplomacy?
– How did the Roman elite cope with the forgery of letters in their decision making processes?
– How were letters and letter collections in late Antiquity used for political purposes?
– What functions did letters have in the context of their collections?
If you are interested in contributing to our workshop and edited volume, please send an abstract (ca 300 words) and a brief academic bio (ca 100 words) to Marijke Kooijman (marijke.kooijman@ugent.be) or Matthijs Zoeter (matthijs.zoeter@ugent.be) before July 27.
Organizers:
Prof. dr. Lieve Van Hoof
Marijke Kooijman
Matthijs Zoeter
Confirmed speakers:
Prof. Dr Dr Dr Peter Riedlberger (keynote)
Prof. Dr Klaas Bentein
Prof. Dr Philippe Blaudeau
Dr Simon Corcoran
Dr Elsemieke Daalder
Prof. Dr Michael Grünbart
Marijke Kooijman, MA LLB
Prof. Dr Angela Pabst
Dr Fabian Schulz
Prof. Dr Lieve Van Hoof
Dr Rens Tacoma
Matthijs Zoeter, MA

CFP: Artificial Light in Medieval Churches between Byzantium and the West

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Artificial Light in Medieval Churches between Byzantium and the West

Online workshop | Tufts University & Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio | 9-10 February 2023

 

Organizers:

Alice Isabella Sullivan, PhD, Tufts University

Vladimir Ivanovici, PhD, University of Vienna | Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio

 

Throughout the Middle Ages, artificial illumination was used to draw attention to and enhance the symbolism of certain areas, objects, and persons inside Christian sacred spaces. The strategies usually found in Latin and Byzantine churches have been analyzed in recent decades. However, the cultures that developed at the crossroads of the Latin, Greek, and Slavic spheres, particularly in regions of the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Mountains, have received less scholarly attention. The uses of artificial light in churches were likely shaped by aspects such as inherited practices, the imitation of other societies, as well as by local climatic, economic, and theological parameters.

Following a similar workshop that focused on natural light, which showed how uses of sunlight reveal patterns of knowledge transfer and cultural interaction between Byzantium, the West, and the Slavic world throughout the Middle Ages, this workshop invites papers on the economy of artificial light in medieval churches across Eastern Europe, from the Balkans to the Baltic Sea. Whether innovative or inspired by the more established traditions on the margins of the Mediterranean, local customs are to be examined in order to understand how artificial light was used in ecclesiastical spaces, and how it brought together the architecture, decoration, objects, and rituals.

Following the workshop, select papers will be revised and published in a volume that will complement the edited collection that resulted from the workshop on natural light, which is currently in print with Brill.

Proposals for 20-min. papers in English should include the following: an abstract (300 words max.) and a brief CV (2 pages max.). Proposals should be emailed to the organizers of the workshop at alice.sullivan[at]tufts.edu and vladimir.ivanovici[at]usi.ch by 1 September 2022. Please include in the email subject line “Artificial Light Proposal.”

Fourth International Conference on Byzantine and Medieval Studies – Byzantinist Society of Cyprus

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The Byzantinist Society of Cyprus (BSC/ΒΕΚ: Βυζαντινολογική Εταιρεία Κύπρου) invites papers to be presented at the Fourth International Conference on Byzantine and Medieval Studies, to be held in Nicosia, Cyprus, between the 17th and the 19th of March 2023.

Scholars, researchers, and students are encouraged to present their  ongoing research, work-in-progress or fieldwork report on any aspect of the history, archaeology, art, architecture, literature, philosophy and religion of Cyprus and the broader Mediterranean region during the Byzantine, Medieval and Ottoman periods.

The languages of the conference will be Greek, English, French and German.

Deadline for abstracts: December 19, 2022.

Workshop on ancient and medieval “urbanities” (10-11 June, Fondation Hardt)

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The international workshop
 
The city’s finest: exploring notions of “urbanity” between East and West, from antiquity to the Middle Ages,
 
will take place at the Fondation Hardt (Vandœvres, Geneva) on June 10 and 11, 2022. The event is organised by the University of Geneva (Département des Sciences de l’Antiquité, Unité de Grec) and is co-funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Société Académique de Genève.
Should you be interested in participating (both in person and remotely via Zoom) or should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at the following address: valeria.lovato@unige.ch.

CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE – call for papers

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CONFERENCE ‘CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE’ (APRIL 2023)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Egypt was part of the Roman world for seven centuries, from the Roman conquest of Egypt in 31 BC to the annexation of Egypt by the Rashidun caliphate in AD 646. This dynamic period saw the exchange of languages, cultural and religious ideas and concepts across borders, including the spread the Egyptian Isis cult into the Roman West and the emergence of Christian monastic culture in Egypt’s deserts. We call for proposals for 20-minute papers from scholars across diverse disciplines such as Egyptology, Classical archaeology, art history and religious studies, examining the ways in which cross-cultural encounters between Egypt and the Roman Empire resulted in the exchange of religions and ideas, and impacted visual and material culture. We welcome papers dealing with any Roman or Byzantine province, including Egypt; papers focusing on the Western Roman provinces are particularly encouraged.

The conference will take place on 13 and 14 April 2023, at the British School at Rome and the Norwegian Institute in Rome. Please send abstracts to Maiken Mosleth King (Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Bristol) at mm17686@bristol.ac.uk by 4 September 2022. We look forward to hearing from you.

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