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Call for Papers: Medieval Religion(s)

58th Annual Midwest Medieval History Conference, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA, 20-21 September 2019

Deadline: 8 March 2019

The conference will begin on Friday afternoon with graduate papers and a keynote by Anne E. Lester, John W. Baldwin and Jenny Jochens Associate Professor of Medieval History at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women’s Religious Movement and Its Reform in Thirteenth-Century Champagne and has co-edited volumes on medieval materiality, religious movements, and crusades and memory.

The remainder of Friday and Saturday’s program will feature scholarly papers on all aspects of medieval history, especially those related to this year’s theme: Medieval Religion(s), and an exhibit of manuscripts. We welcome papers by graduate students (those presenting receive an honorarium), and independent, early-stage, and senior scholars. The programming committee is also happy to consider proposals addressing teaching, pedagogy, and digital humanities. Abstracts of 250-300 words may be emailed to the program chair, Jessalynn Bird, at jbird@saintmarys.edu. Queries regarding organization may be sent to the conference organizer, Daniel Hobbins, at dhobbins@nd.edu.

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Call for Papers: Moving Forms: The Transformations and Translocations of Medieval Literature

Athens, Greece 11-13 September 2019

Deadline: 1 March 2019

The movement of people and books across space and time – mobility and portability – were driving forces of medieval European literary and intellectual culture. Men and women, clerical and secular, constructed extensive social networks and communities through travel, written communication, and the exchange of texts. Shared literary practices and forms occurred at the regional and transregional levels, defining local identities and forging links between people separated by distance and time. Around the North Sea and Baltic littorals, legends from the Norse sagas, for instance, were taken up by writers. On a larger scale, people from north-western Europe to China exchanged stories of Barlaam and Josephat, while tales of Alexander are found from India to Ireland; in both cases, transmission was facilitated by the movement of people along the Silk Road. Rather than a full picture, often we are left with a set of trails, traces and clues that challenge us to create narratives out of the fragments.

This symposium aims to contribute to the understanding of medieval literature through the development of methodologies which examine the intersection of social networks and communities with literary forms. We welcome papers that attend to the agency of people (men and women), genres (literary, scientific, philosophical, legal etc.), modes (verse, poetry, prose), styles, texts and manuscripts (book types, layouts, images) in creating literary links across space and time. Building on the practices of both comparative literature and entangled history, the symposium will open up connections between literary cultures often considered to be separate. At the same time, and of equal importance, it will be alert to the absence of connections, to discontinuities, exposing the diversities and ruptures of medieval literature, as well as the commonalities.

By following the movement of forms and tracing social connections from Antiquity to the Renaissance, we will interrogate both geographies and chronologies of medieval European literature. Always keeping the intersection of the social and the formal in view, the symposium will move back and forth between small and large scales of time and place: the local, the transregional, the European, and the Afro-Eurasian. Issues of morphology, scale and periodization will be central to discussion, enabling conversations across a wide range of material to gain traction. The symposium will bring together methodological and theoretical contributions, addressing the intersection of people and forms; we welcome papers that work on large scale typological models as well as papers that address broader issues though closely-worked case studies.

Questions to consider include:
• How do we move from specific examples to writing/formulating larger narratives, from the micro to the macro, from the close up to the panoramic, without falling into generalizations?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of existing methodologies that account for the movement of objects, texts and people through space (e.g. histoire croisée, actor network theory, global history, etc.)?
• How does medieval Europe fit into a wider Afro-Eurasian space? How does Europe divide into and participate in regional geographies?
• How conscious were medieval people of new forms as a dimension of cultural exchange?
• What role does the modern historical imagination have to play in recreating social networks and formal encounters?
• How do medieval theories of cultural movement (e.g. translatio imperii et studii, spoliation, etc.) enable us to explain the transmission of literary forms?

The symposium will meet over three days, with each day including 3 panels with three speakers. Papers will last 20 minutes and be followed by 45 minutes of discussion per panel. Since the substantial discussion following the papers is as important as the papers themselves, papers will not be allowed to overrun. Each session will have a respondent/moderator who will read papers in advance of the session and launch the discussion of their session through a short reflective invitation. For this reason, we ask that all papers be given in English. Speakers are asked to frame their research in ways which are simultaneously sophisticated and inviting of exchange with colleagues working across the literatures of medieval Europe (including Byzantium, and Islamic Spain and Sicily) and its neighbours. We welcome proposal for individual papers and for panels.

There will be a modest amount of preparatory theoretical reading in advance of the symposium.

We anticipate publishing extended versions of a selection of papers from the workshop in a special issue of Interfaces: A Journal of Medieval European Literatures.

Venue: The symposium will take place in the Danish Institute at Athens, conveniently located in the Plaka. There are many tavernas, cafes and restaurants nearby.

Cost: There will be no charge to attend the symposium. There will be a charge to cover the cost of the symposium dinner. Delegates are responsible for covering the cost of their travel and accommodation. A small number of bursaries will be available for PhD students and early career scholars, for further information contact Kristin Bourassa (kristin@sdu.dk).

Abstracts: Please send short abstracts (250 words) and a brief CV (1/2 page) to George Younge (george.younge@york.ac.uk) by 1st March 2019. Panel proposals should include overview (100 words) and abstracts and CVs (as above) for all papers.

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Call for Papers: Cultural Entanglement, Transfer and Contention in Mediterranean Communities from Antiquity to the Present

Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 30 May-1 June 2019

Deadline: 15 February 2019

The Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) at Central European University and its junior members are proud to announce the forthcoming sixth International Graduate Conference on Cultural Entanglement, Transfer and Contention in Mediterranean Communities.The conference will provide a forum for graduate and advanced undergraduate students working on the Eastern Mediterranean to present their current research, exchange ideas, and develop scholarly networks.

Marking the boundary of three continents, the Mediterranean has been one of the world’s premier zones of cultural interaction since antiquity. From the Romans to the Ottomans, the first caliphs to Queen Victoria, the powers who sought dominance over this sea reckoned with this history of multiplicity by appropriating its rich past and attempting to imitate and outdo their predecessors and contemporaries. Diverse communities, moreover, concomitantly sought to survive and prosper in competition and cooperation with one another. The aim of this conference is to work against the grain of disciplinary boundaries to better understand these processes of inheritance, transmission, and exchange both diachronically and synchronically. How were the cultures of Mediterranean communities particularized through accommodation to, modification of, and divergence from their shared pasts? How did rulers manage these shifting webs of diversity? What procedures drew boundaries between cultures, either successive or contemporary, if and when such lines can be drawn? What evidence and methodologies can be brought to bear to read genuine curiosity, selective accommodation, and outright rejection in these exchanges within and across polities in the Mediterranean?

Young scholars from across the globe will be invited to share their work and come to grips with how to conduct research in an academic environment that increasingly demands both specialized expertise and comparative breadth. We seek innovative proposals by graduate students from all disciplines that relate to the Mediterranean world, including but not limited to Anthropology, Archeology, Art History, Classics, Environmental Science, Gender Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Religion, and Theology.

Possible paper topics might include, but are not limited to:
• The entanglements and diverse heritages of elite artistic, literary, and intellectual cultures
• Rethinking big processes, e.g. Hellenization, Romanization, Christianization, and Islamization
• Interaction and diversity in everyday life and popular/vernacular cultures
• Trans-imperial/trans-national subjects, contact zones, gendered boundaries, and porous identities within and beyond borders
• Maintaining common identities in diasporas: the connections and differences between communities across far-flung geographies
• Communities and networks (intellectual, professional, mercantile, civic, military, domestic, etc.) that operate across ethnic and national lines
• Conquest, colonization, environmental change, and shifting landscapes of diversity
• Envisioning pluralism in philosophical, theological, and legal discourses of order
• Intra-communal politics in contexts of social, economic, and gender stratification
• Migration, urban economies, and the transformation of spatial and social structures
• The (re)invention of national communities and their relationship to legacies of difference
• The re-appropriation of imperial pasts in Mediterranean societies

Please submit by February 15, 2019 a short paper proposal (no more than 250 words, together with a brief biography and contact information) to the following address: cemsconference@ceu.edu. Results will be announced on March 4, 2019.

Keynote Speakers
Nicholas Purcell (University of Oxford)
Arietta Papaconstantinou (University of Reading)
Zeynep Türkyilmaz (Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin)

All participants will be offered accommodation for the full duration of the conference (3 nights) at the CEU Residence Center. In order to encourage the participation of individuals with limited institutional support a small number of partial travel grants will be available to cover travel expenses. Those who wish to be considered for the grant should include an additional justification alongside their paper proposals. Please note that there is no conference fee.

In addition, this year the conference will coincide with CEMS’s Undergraduate Open House, and advanced undergraduates interested in pursuing research or academic career in the history and cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean are invited to attend the Open House as well as apply to present a paper at the conference. For further information, do not hesitate to contact the organizers at cemsconference@ceu.edu

For further information, do not hesitate to contact the organizers at cemsconference@ceu.edu or at our Facebook page.

Contact Email: cemsconference@ceu.edu
URL: https://cems.ceu.edu/cems-graduate-conference-2019

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Call for Papers: Beyond Eusebius and Augustine: Rethinking Christian Political Thought in Late Antiquity

Postgraduate/Early Career Conference, University of Liverpool, Tuesday 18 June 2019

Deadline: 18 February 2019

Amid the mass of outstanding scholarship on the Christianization of the Roman world in late antiquity (c. 250-700 CE), political thought has been left behind. Even excellent recent accounts tend to fall back on canonical authors (esp. Eusebius of Caesarea and Augustine of Hippo), themes (e.g. the relationship between emperor and churchmen), and early to mid-twentieth century accounts (esp. Baynes, Dvornik, Markus). This project seeks to diversify approaches to late ancient Christian political thought by exploring new topics (e.g. the imperial family, the role of the demonic, the influence of ascetic ideology), authors, regions, and languages. Through an international conference bringing together specialists in Classics & Ancient History, Medieval Studies, Byzantine History, and Early Christianity, leading to a collection of path-breaking essays on specific case studies, it aims to stimulate new approaches and lines of inquiry into a central theme in late ancient history.

We invite proposals for c. 20-minute papers on this theme from postgraduate students and early career researchers. Thanks to generous support from the Royal Historical Society, we will be able to pay for UK travel costs and two nights’ hotel accommodation. Papers given at the conference will be considered for publication in a resulting edited volume/special journal issue.

We would particularly invite proposals which speak to one of the following research themes:
(1) Developing a more pluralist conception of Christian ‘political thought’
Possible topics might include: gendered praise and invective; classical political ideals in ascetic/monastic literature; ascetic/monastic visions of earthly government; demonology and diabolical agency; ethnic discourse, ethnography, and visions of the church as an ethnic, supra-ethnic, or anti-ethnic community.

(2) Expanding the canon
We invite paper proposals which consider previously peripheral or understudied authors, languages, and regions of late ancient western Eurasia, to complicate and nuance accounts of the development of Christian political thought in late antiquity.

(3) Christian political ideology ‘in action’
We invite paper proposals which root Christian political culture in the lived experience of governance in the late ancient world, and consider its influence on concrete interactions between bishops, monks, emperors, officials, and their subjects.

If you are interested in presenting, please e-mail an abstract of no more than 500 words to robin.whelan@liverpool.ac.uk. The deadline for submissions is Monday 18 February; we will aim to provide responses by the end of February. Please feel free to e-mail any of the organisers with questions.

Organisers
Prof. Richard Flower (Exeter) (R.Flower@exeter.ac.uk)
Dr Meaghan McEvoy (Macquarie) (meaghan.mcevoy@mq.edu.au)
Dr Robin Whelan (Liverpool) (robin.whelan@liverpool.ac.uk)

Confirmed Speakers
Prof. Dame Averil Cameron (Oxford; respondent)
Dr James Corke-Webster (King’s College London)
Dr Gerda Heydemann (Freie Universität Berlin)
Prof. Julia Hillner (Sheffield)
Dr Conor O’Brien (Durham)

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Call for Papers: Nomads and their Neighbors in the Middle Ages

Eighth International Conference on Medieval History of the Eurasian Steppe, Medieval Nomads (MeN), Sofia, Bulgaria, 20-23 November 2019

Deadline: 15 April 2019

In 1997, 2000 and 2002, the Department of Medieval History at the University of Szeged organized several conferences on the history of medieval nomads of the Eurasian steppe, the proceedings of which were subsequently published in Hungarian. In 2004, the Department of Medieval History and the Department of Archaeology at the same University, together with the Research Group on Hungarian Prehistory of the Regional Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged decided to convene an International Conference on Medieval History of the Eurasian Steppe. The first conference of this kind was held in Szeged in 2004, the second in Jászberény in 2007, the third in Miskolc in 2009, the fourth in Cairo (Egypt) in 2011, the fifth in Moscow (Russia) in 2013, the sixth again in Szeged in 2016, and the seventh in Shanghai in 2018.

Now, as a continuation of this series, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and the Institute for Historical Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have the pleasure to invite you to take part in the Eighth International Conference on Medieval History of the Eurasian Steppe, “Nomads and their Neighbors in the Middle Ages”, to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in November 20–23, 2019.

Panels and individual papers which fall under the following main topics are encouraged:
• Sources and their creators
• The Nomads and their Sedentary Neighbors: Warfare, Diplomacy, Economy, Politics and Culture
• Nomads as marginal groups in the sedentary societies
• Religious history and conversion of the Eurasian Nomads
• Military history
• Social History
• The no man’s land: cross points between steppe and sown
• Representation of the Nomads in Material and Written Culture of their Sedentary Neighbors

Length of the papers
• Individual papers: the length should not exceed 15 minutes, and 10 minutes will be left for discussion.
• Pre-organized panels: should include 3 or 4 papers of the same length plus 30 minutes for discussion. The papers should be focused a single theme or research-question.

Official language of the conference: English

There is no registration fee. Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of each participant.

Application
• Individual applicants should send the attached form F1_Individual by April 15, 2019 to the address: medieval.nomads.sofia.2019@gmail.com Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.
• Panel proposals should follow the attached form F2_Panel and be sent by April 15, 2019 to the same address: medieval.nomads.sofia.2019@gmail.com The proposals should include an abstract (300 words maximum) for the entire panel explaining its content, in addition to an individual abstract (250 words maximum) for each paper.

All application will go through a selection process by the Organizing Committee and applicants will be informed by June 15, 2019.

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Call for Papers: Celebrations in the eastern Mediterranean: private and public

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 1 June 2019

Deadline: 7 April 2019

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers in celebration of the 20th Postgraduate Colloquium of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham,UK.

Papers and posters are invited for the 20th Annual Postgraduate Colloquium at the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies. From antiquity to the present peoples in the eastern Mediterranean have taken part in celebrations and ceremonies. These vary from large-scale public events to private and personal rituals. As we continue to take part in social rituals derived from these traditions and develop new ways to manifest them it is important to examine these celebrations in detail. The colloquium aims to approach the subject from a variety of perspectives on how people experience celebrations across the eastern Mediterranean from late antiquity to the modern day, from textual sources to visual culture and archaeology.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
– Feast days and holidays
– Processions
– Secular and religious ceremonies
– Gift Giving
– Secular and religious ceremonies
– Festivals
– Anniversaries, holidays, weddings
– Spaces and Objects
– Celebrations in texts and arts

Papers of approximately 20 minutes or posters (A3 format) related to any of the fields covered by Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies are welcome. Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words no later than the Sunday 7th April 2019 to 2019CBOMGSColloquium@gmail.com. A selection of papers will be published in the proceedings on the online journal Diogenes (https://gemuob.wordpress.com/diogenes/)

Further information can be found on the conference webpage: https://gemuob.wordpress.com/annual-colloquium-3/

Come and celebrate with us!

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Updated Call for Papers: Dissidence and Persecution in Byzantium

20th Australasian Association for Byzantine Studies Conference, Macquarie University, Sydney, 19-21 July 2019

Deadline: 15 February 2019

The Byzantine empire was rarely a stable and harmonious state during its long and eventful history. It was often in strife with those outside its borders and with those within them, and with so much power invested in its political and ecclesiastical structures it was ready to implode at times. This could result in persecution and the silencing of dissident voices from various quarters of society. The mechanisms by which the authorities controlled civil disorder and dissent, as well as discouraging criticism of imperial policies, could be brutal at times. In what sense was it possible, if at all, to enjoy freedom of speech and action in Byzantium? Was the law upheld or ignored when vested interests were at stake? How vulnerable did minorities feel and how conformist was religious belief at the end of the day? The theme of the conference aims to encourage discussion on a number fronts relating to the use and abuse of power within the history of Byzantium. Individual papers of 20 mins or panels (3 papers) will be accepted. See full call for papers here.

Abstracts of 500 words should be emailed to the President of AABS, Dr Ken Parry: conference@aabs.org.au by the due date of 15 February 2019.

Panel convenors should outline briefly their theme (100 words), and (a) add all three abstracts to their application, or (b) list the three speakers on their panel with their own abstract, plus (c) nominate a chairperson. Panelists should indicate clearly the title of their proposed panel if submitting their abstracts individually.

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Call for Papers: New Research on Ancient Armenia

2nd Geneva Workshop for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 31 May–1 June 2019

Deadline: 18 February 2019

Concept:
Given the great success of last year’s workshop, the Armenian Studies team (Unité d’arménien) at the MESLO Department, University of Geneva, is pleased to invite once again graduate students and early career researchers – those not yet holding a permanent position in Academia – to present their current research on any aspect of Ancient and Medieval Armenia to an audience of their peers. The workshop has been conceived as an international forum in which the newest generation of researchers in the field can engage in meaningful discussion on methodologies, problems and perspectives. Presentations detailing work in progress, research projects, and innovative approaches are welcome.

In the interest of drawing attention to comparatively less-known topics, preference may be given to subjects other than ‘Classical’ 5th-century language, literature, history and art. Papers dealing with topics and/or authors as late as Sayat Nova (d. 1795) will be considered for acceptance, as long as they show clear links with pre-modern issues and practices.

Abstracts and Deadlines:
Participants will have 20 minutes each to present their papers, plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

Applicants are invited to submit a title, short abstract (no more than 300 words) and a brief academic biography (no more than 150 words) by 18 February 2019. Please send your documents as .pdf files here.

Working Languages:
French, English, and Armenian.

Travel Grants:
Limited grants are available to assist with travel and accommodation expenses: those who cannot obtain financial support from their home institution or other sources and would otherwise be unable to attend are invited to submit a short statement in support of their request along with their abstracts. Applications for grants of up to 300 CHF each will be considered (to be paid after the workshop). The organizers reserve the right to make decisions on the matter at their sole discretion. Prospective participants are invited to explore other sources of funding as well.

Further Information:
For any clarifications, please do not hesitate to contact Dr Irene Tinti.

Scientific Committee:
Prof. Valentina Calzolari (University of Geneva)
Dr Irene Tinti (University of Geneva)
Dr Federico Alpi (Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna)
Ms Sara Scarpellini (University of Geneva)

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Call for Papers: 45th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSC 2019)

Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 17-20 October 2019

Deadline: 25 February 2019

The Forty-fifth annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSC) will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, from Thursday evening, October 17, through Sunday afternoon, October 20, 2019. For information on BSANA, please consult the BSANA website, http://www.bsana.net.

The BSC is the annual forum for the presentation and discussion of papers on every aspect of Byzantine Studies and on related topics relevant to the field. Conference attendance is open to all, regardless of nationality or academic status.

The BSC is also the occasion of the annual business meeting of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America (BSANA). All conference attendees are warmly encouraged to attend and participate in the annual BSANA business lunch and meeting, which will be conducted on Saturday, October 19th.

For details, download the Call for Papers BSC 2019.

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Call for Papers: Religion and War from Antiquity to early Modernity: Historical Varieties of a Recurring Nexus

King’s College London, 24-26 June 2019

Deadline: 30 January 2019

The conference, hosted by the Departments of Classics and War Studies, and the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War at King’s College London, will mark the launch of a new international research network Religion and War through the Ages dedicated to exploring the nexus between religion and war as a recurring cross-cultural phenomenon attested in a great variety of historical societies from antiquity to the present and presenting a particularly poignant modern challenge.

Proposals from young researchers and established scholars in the Late Antique and Medieval history are now invited for papers of 20 minutes exploring historical cases that explore the influence of religion on war, from motivation and moral justification to rules of conduct. Proposals, of up to 350 words, should be sent to Irene Polinskaya (irene.polinskaya@kcl.ac.uk) by 30 January 2019. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 February 2019. A selection of papers will be considered for publication in peer-reviewed conference proceedings.

What role do religious ideas play in human conflicts? Citing direct divine command or posing as guardians of divine interests, actively seeking divine approval or drawing courage from imagined divine support, armies from ancient times to the present and across diverse regions and cultures, have gone to battle with one another. The conference will investigate specific historical cases and contexts that illustrate the influence of religion on war, from motivation to rules of conduct. Major themes include: the demands of different sets of religious beliefs that in the past provided a cause for war; the conditions under which religious considerations became a dominant force among the reasons for and against war; the role religion played in escalating war or putting limits on violence and how that influence was felt; finally, how religion, in turn, was affected by the conduct of war in past societies.

With wide geographic coverage encompassing the Mediterranean basin, Near East, North Africa, and Europe, and taking Classical Antiquity as a starting point, but looking as far back as the second millennium BCE and forward to the Westphalian settlement of 1648, this conference will be a comparative and cross-cultural exploration of the persistent question about the role of religion in motivating, guiding, and explaining the causes and conduct of war.

Confirmed speakers include: Ian Morris (Stanford), Anthony Spalinger (Auckland), Penny Roberts (Warwick), Amir Gilan (Tel Aviv), Yannis Stouraitis (Edinburgh), Amira Benison (Cambridge). Inquiries may be sent to Yannis Papadogiannakis (ioannis.papadogiannakis@kcl.ac.uk) or Irene Polinskaya (irene.polinskaya@kcl.ac.uk).