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Call for Papers: Reshaping the World: Utopias, Ideals and Aspirations in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

24th International Graduate Conference of the Oxford University Byzantine Society

25th—26th February 2022, in Oxford and Online

There is nothing better than imagining other worlds – he said – to forget the painful one we live in. At least so I thought then. I hadn’t yet realized that, imagining other worlds, you end up changing this one.
– Umberto Eco, Baudolino

It is the creative power of imagination that Baudolino described to a fictionalised Niketas Choniates in this dialogue from Eco’s homonymous novel (2000). The creation of idealised imaginary worlds has the power to change the past, the present and the future. When imagination is directed towards more worldly goals, it becomes aspiration and such aspiration can influence policies of reform. When imagination is unrestrained, utopias are born.

The Oxford University Byzantine Society’s twenty-fourth International Graduate Conference seeks to explore the impact utopias, ideals and aspirations had in changing the course of history and, therefore, how imagined or alternative realities shaped the Late Antique and Byzantine world(s), broadly understood.

Our conference provides a forum for postgraduate and early-career scholars to reflect on this theme through a variety of cultural media and (inter)disciplinary approaches. In doing so, we hope to facilitate the interaction and engagement of historians, philologists, archaeologists, art historians, theologians and specialists in material culture.

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words, along with a short academic biography in the third person, to the Oxford University Byzantine Society by Friday 19th November 2021 at byzantine.society@gmail.com. Papers should be twenty minutes in length and may be delivered in English or French. As with previous conferences, selected papers will be published in an edited volume, chosen and reviewed by specialists from the University of Oxford. Speakers wishing to have their papers considered for publication should aim to be as close to the theme as possible in their abstract and paper. Nevertheless, all submissions are warmly invited.

To read the full text of the call for papers, please visit the OUBS website: https://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com/24th-oubs-international-graduate-conference-2022/.

The conference will have a hybrid format, taking place both in Oxford and online. Accepted speakers are strongly encouraged to participate in person, but livestreamed papers are also warmly welcomed

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Call for Papers: Securing Power in the Sixth-Century Roman Empire

Online Workshop, University of Cambridge, 7 December 2021

Imperial power in the sixth-century Roman empire could be fragile. ‘Every emperor had to perform a delicate balancing act to remain in power’ by responding to and accommodating the shifting demands of public opinion and various interest groups: senators, bureaucrats, bishops, soldiers and generals, urban factions, and more (Greatrex 2020; Meier 2016; Kaldellis 2015; Bell 2013; Pfeilschifter 2013). Each of these groups have individually assumed increasingly important roles in political narratives of the period, but comparatively little attention has been paid to how those in power – emperors, patriarchs, governors, magistrates, and others – were subjected to pressures and attempted to build power bases across these interest groups.

In particular, modern scholarship has established a boundary between “secular” and “ecclesiastical” politics which sixth-century century political actors neither experienced nor refrained from crossing as they tried to secure or challenge power. The purpose of this workshop is to close these artificial divides and to explore how power was contested and secured “without limits”, in order to take better account of the interconnectedness of the sixth-century world, the flexible array of political pressures to which those in power were subjected, and the sometimes unexpected consequences of responding to these pressures. The goal of this approach is to produce a more holistic, comprehensive understanding of sixth-century power struggles.

We invite PhD candidates and early career researchers to read the full call for papers and a list of suggested topics in the PDF attached below.

CfP – Securing Power in the Sixth-Century Roman Empire

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 31 August 2021 and the workshop will take place online on 7 December 2021. We envisage the publication of a volume based on the papers delivered at the conference, dependent upon a peer-review process.

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Conference: Days of Justinian I

9th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM IN BYZANTINE AND MEDIEVAL STUDIES “DAYS OF JUSTINIAN I”, Skopje, 12-14 November 2021

Special Thematic Strand for 2021: Ideology

Keynote speaker: Professor JOHN HALDON

Organized by the Institute of National History, Skopje, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje and University of Bologna, in partnership with Faculty of Theology “St. Clement of Ohrid”, Skopje and AHRM, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.

The International symposium in Byzantine and Medieval Studies “Days of Justinian I” is an annual interdisciplinary scholarly forum aimed at the presentation of the latest research followed by discussions on various aspects of Byzantine and Medieval Studies before 1500; this includes the treatment and interpretation of cultural, historical and spiritual heritage in contemporary modern Europe. The Symposium is dedicated to Emperor Justinian I with the aim to bring together scholars from around the world to address a broad range of issues related to Byzantium and the European Middle Ages, comprising the exploration of the cultural and historical legacy as an integrative component of the diversities and commonalities of Europe and wider.

This year the special thematic strand Ideology will instigate scholarly debate about the different aspects of ideology in Byzantium and in Medieval Western Europe. Ranging from the general belief of the people about their world, to the particular sets of ideas and notions, the ideology operated at different levels in the Middle Ages, articulating the power and impacting the societies. Various questions will be raised in exploring the ideology as a function of propaganda that legitimized a political order and justified influence. This will encompass an ideological framework of imperial action, competition over status and identity, rival ideological claims to the Roman Empire, relationship with nationalism.

The Symposium will embrace broader geographical areas and chronological scope, addressing wide range of conceptual issues in examining the ways of which ideology functioned in different political, social, economic, cultural, religious conditions in the Eastern Roman Empire and in Medieval Western Europe, generating specific sets of ideas, values and beliefs that changed with time.

Please note that the Organizing Committee will be closely following the Covid-19 situation and will organize blended sessions with physical presence and online presentations for remote participation for those participants who will be prevented from traveling to Skopje due to the pandemic.

Papers are welcomed on various topics that may include, but are not limited to the following areas of discussion:

⊕ Ideology and Identity
⊕ Imperial ideology and political thought
⊕ Ideology and social practices
⊕ Religion and Ideology
⊕ Ideology and the political order
⊕ Ideology and rhetoric
⊕ Ideology and propaganda
⊕ War Ideology
⊕ Iconography and Ideology
⊕ Ideology and the Romanness
⊕ Ideological claims to the Roman Empire
⊕ Ideology and ethnicity
⊕ Ideology and assimilation
⊕ Historiography and Ideology
⊕ Ideology and diplomacy
⊕ Ideology and education
⊕ Ideological content of law
⊕ Ideology and literary practice
⊕ Art and architecture as an expression of ideology
⊕ Ideology and gender
⊕ Ideology and music
⊕ Ideology, customs and traditions
⊕ Ideology, Heresy and violence
⊕ Ideology and Cultural heritage: Interpretation, restoration, protection
⊕ Ideological claims and nationalism

First Deadline for submitting the abstract of the papers: 15 August, 2021
Second Deadline for submitting the abstract of the papers: 15 October, 2021

Notification of acceptance for early applicants: 20 August, 2021
Notification of acceptance for other applicants: 20 October, 2021
Deadline for submitting the full papers for publication: 1 March, 2022.
Please send the application form to the following address: days.justinian@gmail.com

Presentation of the papers will be limited to 10 minutes.
Working languages: Macedonian and English.
No participation fee is required.
Travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the participants themselves.
The full papers will be peer-reviewed.
Papers delivered at the Symposium will be published in the Proceedings of the Symposium.
For further inquiries you can contact the Secretary of the Symposium, Prof. Dragan Gjalevski: days.justinian@gmail.com

You can download the Call for papers at:
https://bit.ly/3uEume0

Application form at:
https://bit.ly/3dbBXLu

Please check the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/days.justinian and website www.ini.ukim.mk for news on the Symposium, the agenda, special events and the online application form.

Symposiarch: Professor Mitko B. Panov