The 43rd Byzantine Spring Symposium addresses a theme of special significance for the field of Byzantine studies. Byzantium has traditionally been deemed a civilisation which deferred to authority and set special store by orthodoxy, canon and proper order. Since 1982 when the distinguished Russian Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan wrote that 'the history of Byzantine intellectual opposition has yet to be written', scholars have increasingly highlighted cases of opposition to and subversion of 'correct practice' and 'correct belief' in Byzantium. The innovative scholarly effort has produced important results, although it has been hampered by the lack of dialogue across the disciplines of Byzantine studies. The Byzantine Spring Symposium in 2010 addresses this situation by drawing together historians, art historians, scholars of literature and religion, and philosophers who will discuss shared and discipline-specific approaches to the theme of subversion.

The dialectical relationship between authority and subversion, and the distinction
between dissidence and subversion, are among the theoretical questions to be addressed. Most papers will deal with the period after the eleventh century, although early Byzantium will not be ignored. The conference comes at a timely junction of the development of Byzantine studies, as interest in subversion and generally in nonconformity has been rising steadily in various disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences.

SPEAKERS
Speakers include Margaret Alexiou (Harvard), Michael Angold (Edinburgh), Leslie Brubaker (Birmingham), Börje Bydén (Stockholm), Béatrice Caseau (Paris), Katerina Ierodiakonou (Athens), Liz James (Sussex), Dimitris Krallis (Simon Fraser University), Dirk Krausmüller (Cardiff), Dimitris Kyritses (Crete), Paul Magdalino (St Andrews), Przemysław Marciniak (University of Silesia), Maria Mavroudi (Berkeley), Neil McLynn (Oxford), Cécile Morrison (Dumbarton Oaks), Margaret Mullett (Dumbarton Oaks), Vasso Penna (University of Peloponnese), Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford), Kostis Smyrlis (New York).

For up to date information, registration, programme, communications and accommodation visit the 43rd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies website.