Source: The Oxford Byzantine Society.
The Oxford Byzantine Society is pleased to announce that its annual graduate conference will be held in March 2011. The society is now accepting abstracts for papers to be presented at this event.
This year's conference - entitled Between Constantines: representations and manifestations of an empire - seeks to explore the different ages of Byzantium. What were the political, social, cultural and economic strategies that defined different periods in the existence of the empire? How do we interpret the narratives, materials and structures of the momentous and the everyday in the empire's long history?
In order to approach the subject from as many angles as possible, we welcome papers from graduate students in all fields related to Byzantium, including, but not limited to: History, Archaeology, Language and Literature, Theology and Art History.
Possible themes for papers might include:
- Diplomacy and foreign relations
- Religious and cultural exchange
- The Byzantine thought world
- Art and architecture
- Trade and travel
- Language and literature
- War and defence
- The urban and rural existences
- Nomads
- Geography and topography
As the title suggests, the temporal scope of the conference is envisaged to stretch from the rise of Constantine to the fall of Constantinople. Within this rough time frame, we encourage papers dealing with the Byzantine world as well as those surrounding regions which had direct interactions with it, including the Near and Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Eurasian Steppe and Transcaucasia.
Final papers will be 20 minutes in length, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. This year we will be accepting papers in English and French, however, given the likely composition of the audience, presentations in English are strongly recommended.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted to byzantine.society@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday 18 January 2011. Please include a few lines about your research interests. Successful applicants will be notified by Monday 24 January 2011.
Subject to funding, the OBS hopes to offer subsidised accommodation for visiting speakers, as it did last year. More information will be available in early 2011. We regret that we are unable to cover travel expenses to and from Oxford, but we encourage all participants to apply to their home institutions for travel grants.
Abstracts are due on Monday 18 January 2011
For more information, please e-mail : byzantine.society@gmail.com