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Appel à contribution – Séminaire thématique annuel de l’Association interuniversitaire Synoikismos (mai 2019)

L’étranger dans le monde antique : entre méfiance, intérêt et fascination

Le 14 mai prochain, l’association interuniversitaire SYNOIKISMOS organisera une journée de séminaire autour du thème de l’ÉTRANGER. Dans ce cadre, nous lançons un appel à contributions auprès des doctorants et jeunes chercheurs dont le sujet de recherche touche à cette large thématique ou à l’une de ces trois pistes de réflexion :

1. Représentations de l’étranger : Ennemi, hôte ou partenaire ?
La perception de l’autre varie en fonction des relations que l’on développe avec lui. Tantôt, l’étranger est un barbare qui s’assimile aux ennemis et inspire la méfiance, tantôt, il devient partenaire et source de profit ou de connaissance. L’arrivée d’un individu ou d’un groupe étranger au sein d’une société peut ainsi générer différents débats et susciter des réactions variées. Par exemple, sur le plan législatif ou administratif, comment une société cherche-t-elle à encadrer l’afflux d’étrangers ? Quels droits leurs sont accordés ? Plus largement, sur le plan idéologique, quelle est l’importance accordée à l’hospitalité? Quelle place accorde-t-on aux étrangers dans la société ? Par ailleurs, l’étranger constitue aussi un thème récurrent dans la littérature et les arts plastiques. Comment y apparait-il ? Quels objectifs poursuivent ces mises en scènes de l’étranger?

2. Transferts, migrations, voyages : causes, conséquences et modalités ?
La rencontre elle-même entre une société et ce qu’elle considère comme étranger peut prendre des formes multiples. Du déplacement de masse au voyage individuel, la mobilité antique implique aussi bien des contacts ponctuels, des relations régulièrement entretenues ou de véritables transplantations à long terme. Chaque cas de figure se révèle différent et suscite une multitude de questionnements : Quelles raisons peuvent conduire un individu ou un groupe à établir un contact avec l’autre? Quelles relations développe-t-il avec la société qu’il rencontre ? Dans ce contexte, l’étude des infrastructures spécifiques à destination des étrangers dans les lieux de passages comme les ports ou les sanctuaires peut être également envisagée.

3. Transferts culturels et artisanaux
Le terme étranger peut également s’appliquer aux objets, aux idées ou aux langues qui circulent et qui se retrouvent dans un contexte différent de leur foyer d’origine. En effet, l’étranger est souvent détenteur de produits, de connaissances et de savoir-faire utiles que l’on cherchera à se procurer ou à reproduire. Pareillement, l’étranger peut se révéler un partenaire commercial qui distribue ou importe des denrées. Dans cette perspective, plusieurs questions peuvent se poser. Quelles caractéristiques témoignent de l’origine des objets ? Pour quelle raison ceux-ci ont-ils circulé ? La circulation des objets étrangers va-t-elle de pair avec des dynamiques d’imitations ou de réappropriation ? Avec qui ces objets exotiques circulent-ils ? Toutes ces interrogations valent également sur le plan linguistique : les mots peuvent aussi voyager d’une région à l’autre, par l’intermédiaire de personnalités bilingues, ou, dans d’autres cas, faire l’objet d’appropriations diverses.
Nous encourageons chaleureusement tout doctorant (en début ou fin de thèse) intéressé par ces thématiques à soumettre un abstract (250 mots max.) du sujet qu’il souhaite présenter ainsi qu’un bref CV (150 mots max.) à l’adresse du séminaire (seminar.synoikismos@gmail.com) pour le 25 janvier 2019 au plus tard. Chaque intervention sera limitée à 30 min. et suivie d’une discussion de 15 min.

Affiche

SYNOIKISMOS est une association belge regroupant diverses universités belges qui s’adresse à tout doctorant travaillant sur l’Antiquité classique et orientale, qu’il soit archéologue, historien, philologue, philosophe ou juriste. Elle vise à offrir aux jeunes chercheurs un cadre de réflexion commune ainsi qu’un espace de rencontres et de discussions tant scientifiques que méthodologiques.

 

_______
Infos et Contact :
Association Synoikismos
seminar.synoikismos@gmail.com
http://indipendent.academia.edu/SeminarSynoikismos

 

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Call for Papers – OUBS Graduate Conference February 22-23 2019, University of Oxford

Call for Papers – OUBS Graduate Conference February 22-23 2019, University of Oxford

« Contested Heritage: adaptation, restoration and innovation in the Late Antique and Byzantine world », Oxford University Byzantine Society, 22-23 February 2019, History Faculty, Oxford.

 

Byzantines considered themselves the legitimate heirs of the ancient world, a title they passionately defended against emerging empires east and west that also claimed hereditary rights to the Graeco-Roman past. From the fostering of cultural, scientific, and literary revivals and the commissioning of projects that used a well-established artistic and architectural vocabulary to the collection, conservation and display of consecrated ancient artefacts, anachronism was a powerful political and cultural tool, frequently used to build analogies with either past prosperity or a divine eternity. In addition, the use of deliberate archaism in literary forms and language served as both a demonstration of classical learning and elite status. Especially in Constantinople, ceremonial practices not only invited the participants to experience past events as if they were present, but also processed through consecrated landmarks from different historical periods – merging perception of space and time in a single, collective experience. Nevertheless, literary sources, such as the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai, reveal that Byzantines sometimes had only a limited understanding of their own history and urban heritage. They compensate with interpretations, based on oral tradition and observation that often endowed ancient architectural remains and statues with a contemporary relevance. Subsequently this interpretation of the past was actively reshaped to fit contemporary worldviews. Lastly, extensive reuse of ancient material dominates our perception of Byzantium. Innovative aspects of its cultural output therefore often lie unnoticed and are deserving of greater scholarly attention.

Including contributions on political, social, literary, architectural and artistic history, and covering geographical areas throughout the central and eastern Mediterranean and beyond, this conference aims to provide a kaleidoscopic view of how cultural heritage was constructed, perceived and maintained in Late Antiquity and Byzantium. To that end, we encourage submissions from all graduate students and young researchers, encompassing, but not limited to, the following themes:

  • Literary works: stylistic imitation, adaptation and innovation in form and function of narrative sources and other literary production, as well as incorporation of older texts, historiographical traditions and archaiologia.
  • Manuscripts: scribal habits, palimpsests, marginal comments, illustrations and other decorative elements.
  • Architecture and urbanism: repurposing, adaptation and restoration of buildings and sites, architectural innovation and symbolism, monumentality, genius loci, use of spolia.
  • Religious objects: translation of relics, liturgical equipment, and vestments.
  • Ceremonial practice: religious processions, triumphs, adventus.
  • New aesthetics, especially in the reuse of old material.
  • Sculpture: interpretation and repurposing of ancient statues.
  • Epigraphy: textual content, form and style, use and location.
  • Mosaics: departures from classical and late antique mosaics, reuse of materials and reinterpretation of existing compositions.
  • Numismatics: reuse, adaption, or creation of imagery or types.
  • Comparative perspectives of the above elsewhere, in opposition or concordance with practices in Byzantium.
  • The past as a framework for political, legal and economic discourse.
  • Contemporary reaction to innovation, both overt and when disguised as restoration.

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 at byzantine.society@gmail.com by Friday, 23rd November 2018.

Papers should be 20 minutes in length and may be delivered in English or French.

As with previous conferences, there will be a publication of selected papers, chosen and reviewed by specialists from the University of Oxford in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies. Speakers wishing to have their papers considered for publication should try to be as close to the theme as possible in their abstract and paper. Nevertheless, all submissions are warmly invited.

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Appel à contribution – 2018 Annual Conference of the Association for Art History (U.K.)

Call for Papers
Medieval Eurabia: Religious Crosspollinations in Architecture, Art and Material Culture during the High and Late Middle Ages (1000-1600)

2018 Annual Conference of the Association for Art History (U.K.)

 

Panel organised by Sami De Giosa, Oxford University and Nikolaos Vryzidis, British School at Athens
Email: aahchristianmuslimpanel2018@gmail.com

Venue: Courtauld Institute of Art & King’s College London
Date: 5 – 7 April 2018, London

The coexistence of Christianity and Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean led to a transfer of knowledge in architecture and material culture which went well beyond religious and geographical boundaries. The use of Islamic objects in Christian contexts, the conversion of churches into mosques and the mobility of craftsmen are manifestations of this process. Although studies beginning with Avinoam Shalem’s Islam Christianized (1996), have dealt extensively with Islamic influence in the West and European influence in the Islamic Mediterranean, sacred objects, and material culture more generally, have been relatively neglected. From crosses found in Mosques, to European-Christian coins with pseudo/-shahada inscriptions, medieval material culture is rife with visual evidence of the two faiths co-existing in both individual objects and monuments.

This panel invites papers from scholars working on intercultural exchange in art, architecture and material culture. We particularly welcome contributions that focus on sacred objects that have been diverted or ‘converted’ to a new purpose, whether inside or outside an explicitly religious context.

Papers should present original research, which expands the boundaries of knowledge and which the scholars would like to be considered for publication. Abstract should be no more than 250 words long.

Deadline: 1 November 2017

http://www.forarthistory.org.uk/events/annual-conference-2018/

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Appel à contribution – International Congress of Medieval Studies, Leeds (2-5 July 2018)

Call for papers

International Congress of Medieval Studies, Leeds (2-5 July 2018)

(Deadline 8 September 2017)

We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for twenty-minute papers for special sessions at the International Congress of Medieval Studies in Leeds (2-5 July 2018) connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium” Project, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire.

Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests, by 8 September 2017 to Ms. Paraskevi Sykopetritou, Project Coordinator: paraskevi.sykopetritou@univie.ac.at.

Papers will be selected by 15 September 2017 through an anonymous review process by the Moving Byzantium Team, headed by Professor Claudia Rapp.

Your abstract will be evaluated based on: 1) relevance to the topic (« geographical, social and cultural mobility »), 2) new material provided, 3) novel interpretations, and 4) innovative methods used.

Successful candidates (for whom we can offer reimbursement of the registration fee) must confirm their participation by 22 September 2017.

Further information about the Call for Papers can be found here and about the Moving Byzantium Project at http://rapp.univie.ac.at/

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Appel à contribution – Presbyters in the Late Antique West (International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo)

Behind the bishop’s back

Presbyters, deacons, and the lower clergy in Late Antiquity

At the forthcoming International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo (10-13 May 2018) the Presbyters in the Late Antique West project is organising a session on the role of the lower and middle clergy in the ecclesiastical and social life of the late antique West. In spite of the continuous development of studies on the religious history of Late Antiquity, the research on the development and function of clergy seems surprisingly underdeveloped and the scholarly interest in this group has been hitherto focused mostly on bishops (Rapp 2005). This, of course, is understandable. The impact of bishops on ecclesiastical politics, doctrine, and Christian literature was more important than that of the lower echelons of the clergy. Moreover, bishops are much better represented in the evidence. But by the end of the 7th century in several parts of Christendom, the bishop had become a rather distant figure and most people could have been in day-to-day contact only with presbyters, deacons, and lower clerics, who were the rank and file of the Church hierarchy. A trail of research on these people has been already blazed by scholars focusing on specific regions of the Christian world (Wipszycka 1972 and 1996, Rebillard/Sotinel 1998, Godding 2001, Hübner 2005, Patzold/van Rhijn 2016). A number of questions, however, remain unanswered or even unasked. Thus far, we can say very little with a sufficient degree of certainty on the position of clerics in the local community, their social background, property and sources of income, their lodgings, professional (and non-ecclesiastical) activities, the connections between them and the rest of society and the barriers which set them apart from other people. Even their functions in liturgy remain obscure. The estimations of their number are largely intuitive, and their role is often judged on the basis of well-known, but fairly untypical examples.

This session will be sponsored by the Presbyters in the Late Antique West project, based at the University of Warsaw (https://projectpresbyters.wordpress.com). It will seek to answer questions concerning the role and activity of clerics in four areas: ecclesiastical, social, economic, and in the field of mentality. We welcome papers dealing with any of the aspects named above in a broad geographical perspective covering all the regions of late antique Christendom in the period until the year 700.

Those interested in presenting paper at this session are requested to send title and short abstract (100 words) to Robert Wiśniewski (r.wisniewski@uw.edu.pl) before 15 September. Please note that the project, sadly, cannot cover conference fee and travel expenses.