THE FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL BYZANTINE STUDIES CONFERENCE
Deadline for abstracts: Wednesday, 1 April 2015
The Forty-first Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSC) will be held across multiple institutions in New York City from Thursday evening, October 22, through Sunday afternoon, October 25.
The conference is the annual forum for the presentation and discussion of papers on every aspect of Byzantine studies, and is open to all, regardless of nationality or academic status. It is also the occasion of the annual meeting of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America (BSANA), conducted by the current BSANA officers:
President: Christina Maranci (Tufts University)
Vice President: Stephen Reinert (Rutgers University)
Secretary: Amy Papalexandrou (Stockton University)
Treasurer: Scott Johnson (Georgetown University and Dumbarton Oaks)
For more information, please see our website:
http://www.bsana.net
We welcome proposals on any aspect of Byzantine studies.
Proposals may be submitted either as individual abstracts or bundled as panels. Proposals consist of a cover sheet with your proposed title, proposed panel information (if part of a panel proposal) and your contact information and, on separate pages, two copies of an abstract of no more than 500 words, formatted and submitted according to the detailed instructions below.
Organized panels may also be proposed; see instructions below.
The abstract is the basis for judging the proposed paper for acceptance. All abstracts, including those bundled for proposed panels, will be reviewed by each member of the Program Committee and accepted on their own merits. Please note that this review is anonymous; all personal information is removed before the abstracts are read. The program chair will group individually submitted papers into sessions, with the expectation that many sessions will be interdisciplinary. The session topics in the final program will depend on the subjects represented in the submissions.
All proposed papers must be substantially original and never have been published or presented previously in a public forum. Each contributor may deliver only one paper. The Program Committee may give preference to those who did not present a paper at the last BSC.
All abstracts will be reviewed by each member of the Program Committee:
George Demacopoulos (Fordham University), Chair
Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio State University)
Bissera Pentcheva (Stanford University)
Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen (Pacific Lutheran University)
Christina Maranci (Tufts University)
If accepted, the abstract will be published in the Byzantine Studies Conference’s annual
Abstracts of Papers. Submission of the accepted abstract for publication constitutes agreement to present the paper at the conference.
Notice of acceptance or rejection will be sent by email by May 15th.
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The Abstract
The abstract should be no more than 500 words in length and should indicate the paper’s original contribution in sufficient detail and with some indication of the contributor’s conclusions so that the Program Committee can assess its merits. Papers will be limited to 20 minutes in length. Follow the Instructions for Preparation of the Abstract to facilitate its publication in the Abstracts of Papers. BSANA has no staff, and failure to prepare your abstract carefully will make it impossible to publish.
The Cover Sheet
On a separate cover sheet include:
• name
• address
•your preferred academic affiliation (or the designation “Independent Scholar” with city and state of residence); graduate status, if applicable
• phone and fax numbers
• e-mail address that will be active on May 15
• the paper’s title
• indication of proposed panel or preferred session (if any)
• indication of any projection or other special facilities needed• statement of whether you would prefer to be notified of acceptance or rejection by post rather than by e-mail
Graduate students must indicate their status on this sheet in order to be eligible for the
Graduate Prize Competition and/or travel subsidy (see below).
Method of Submission
Please submit your proposals by e-mail as described below. The deadline for submission in all cases is 1 April, 2015.
Submissions
The three-part proposal (cover sheet plus 2 copies of abstract) must be submitted as a single e-mail attachment in the form of a MICROSOFT WORD document, with the abstract formatted according to the Instructions for Preparation of the Abstract.
Greek Fonts
To avoid any problems arising from the use of different Greek fonts, if either the title or the body of your abstract includes Greek, we ask that you submit, in addition to the word document, a second copy of your submission in pdf format.
Alphabets other than Greek should be transliterated.
The submission of a proposal and its acceptance represent a commitment from the contributor to read the paper in person at the BSC. Those who cannot attend must withdraw their papers no later than June 1. Failure to do so may adversely affect your future chances to present papers at the BSC.
Local Arrangements. Questions concerning local arrangements may be directed to the chair of the Local Arrangements Committee: Jennifer Ball (Jennball@mac.com)
Instructions for Preparing the Abstract
• Maximum word count: 500 words.
Use MICROSOFT WORD.
Margins: one inch at the top and bottom, 0.75 inches at each side.
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point. Line Spacing: Single spaced.
Title and Author
• Title Line(s): Boldface. Centered at the top of the page. Titles may not be longer than two lines.
Capitalize only first letters of words.
Do not put your title in quotation marks; do not underline it.
• Skip one line (i.e., double space) below the title (= above the author line).
• Author Line content: Your name, followed on the same line (in parentheses) by your institution or (for independent scholars) your city.
To avoid ambiguity, you may list city and country.
Please do not give titles or letters representing degrees, orders, etc. Please list only a single, primary institutional affiliation in parentheses.
• Author Line Style & Format: Plain text (not boldface); a single line centered below the blank line following the title line.
• Skip one line (i.e., double space) before the first line of the body of the abstract.
Style Considerations
• If your paper is a study based on a particular manuscript, consider citing the MS in your
abstract title as a help to scholars when they search our abstracts for previous studies of MSS.
• Please follow the Bulletin Codicologique convention for proper citation of manuscripts (in abstract titles or in the body of your abstract).
Abstract Text
• Abstract Text: Flush left (no right-hand margin justification).
Indent first lines of each paragraph five spaces. Leave one empty line between paragraphs.
• No footnotes. If you need to include a citation, put it within your text in parentheses.
• Please do NOT use the future tense (“This paper will investigate…”).
• Your abstract may be edited for grammar and stylistic consistency (e.g., to remove the future tense).
• Italicize titles and words in foreign languages. Quotations and titles in foreign alphabets other than Greek should be transliterated.
• Avoid using tables or diagrams in the abstract. Photographs cannot be reproduced.
Sending the Abstract
• Your submission should include three items in one Microsoft Word file:
1) A cover sheet with the information requested in the Call for Papers;
2) The abstract formatted as described above;
3) A second copy of the abstract with no Author Line to ensure the anonymous judging of abstracts.
• Submit all three items in a single e-mail attachment with page breaks inserted between items.
Instructions for Panel Proposals
The BSC welcomes proposals for whole panels.
The panel organizer, who may also be a speaker in the panel, prepares the group submission in a single word document to be sent by email. Panel submissions have four parts: (1) the panel title and panel summary (see further below); (2) all abstracts, including speakers’ names; (3) the panel title and panel summary, making sure to omit all mention of the speakers’ names; and (4) all abstracts, with speakers’ names omitted (the anonymous abstracts).
The panel summary will include a summary of the overall topic, the format for the panel (such as a debate, papers followed by a discussion, or a traditional session of papers), and the reasons for covering this topic as a prearranged, whole session. This should be no longer than 300 words. The organizer may also propose a session chair; please note that the session chair cannot also be a speaker in the panel.
The Program Committee shall first decide whether to accept or reject each panel proposal in its entirety based on its summary and contents. Then each paper will be evaluated according to the regular anonymous evaluation procedure established by the BSC. In the event that most but not all the papers in the panel are accepted, the Program Committee will alert the organizer and will make every effort to keep the remaining papers together.
If a panel proposal is rejected, the various component abstracts will be placed in the regular pool of paper proposals, to be accepted or rejected as stand-alone presentations (unless otherwise indicated by the authors of these abstracts). All participants in the panel (organizer as well as speakers) will be notified of the
Program Committee’s decision in the usual way.
***To deliver your paper at the BSC, you must be a member in good standing. To join or renew your membership in BSANA, you can pay your dues at: http://www.bsana.net/membership_payment.htm
