AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR BYZANTINE STUDIES XVIITH
BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
20-21 July 2012, Macquarie University, New South
Wales, Australia
Registration is now open; the call for papers has been
extended to 30 April.
Our understanding of Byzantium's external and internal
interactions has shifted significantly as a result of recent scholarship. The
significance of this state to a millennium of developments throughout Eurasia
has been examined; more importantly, the nature of contacts between Byzantium
and its Eurasian neighbours has been reconceived. Models for understanding Byzantium's
interactions with its neighbours have moved from imperial centre and periphery,
to 'commonwealth', to 'overlapping circles', to parallel and mutual
developments in political and cultural identity. The Byzantine millennium now
seems more connected, by commerce, diplomacy and common cultural heritage, than
before. Artefacts and ideologies were acquired, appropriated or mediated
amongst Byzantium and its neighbours in the Latin West, southeastern and
central Europe, Iran and Dar al-Islam; even prolonged
conflict did not preclude exchanges and indeed
sometimes sprang from shared developments. At the same time, what we think of
as the distinctively Byzantine milieu of Constantinople also interacted with
regional cultures that at various times formed part of its empire. Coptic and
Syriac cultures in Late Antiquity, Latin and Arabic regions in later periods,
displayed both ambivalence and engagement with the culture of Constantinople
and with its imperial and ecclesiastical leaders. As with Byzantium's external connections,
'centre and periphery' models of internal interactions are giving way to more
dynamic models seeing metropolis and regions as parts of broader, common
developments. The conference aims to explore these developments.
Keynote Speaker:
Professor Jonathan Shepard, University of Cambridge
Papers exploring any aspect of cultural and political
interactions between Byzantium and its neighbours, or within regions of the
Byzantine empire, are invited. Abstracts of up to 300 words for papers of 20
minutes' duration should be sent by 30 April to AABS2012@mq.edu.au.
Postgraduate and Post-doctoral Conference Bursaries
The AABS committee will give a limited number of
bursaries of $500 each to postgraduate and postdoctoral members of AABS from
outside Sydney who wish to present a paper. Please send an application letter
with details of your circumstances along with your abstract to
AABS2012@mq.edu.au.
Conference Organisers
Andrew Gillett
Danijel Dzino
Ken Parry
Email: AABS2012@mq.edu.au
This conference is sponsored by the Macquarie
University Ancient Cultures Research Centre.