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Australian Early Medieval Association

CONFERENCES


Growth and Decay: The Dynamics of Early Medieval Europe - AEMA Ninth Conference - Monday 11 February 2013 Monash University, Caulfield Campus.
 

PAST AEMA CONFERENCES


CONFERENCES OF INTEREST


RELIGIONS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS: DYNAMICS OF CHANGE

International Association for the History of Religions Special Conference, Norwegian University of Science and Technology 1-3 March 2012.

In current public and academic debates, the complex relationships between 'religion' and 'science' tend to be reduced into one between monolithic entities. By exploring historical and contemporary interactions between religions, science and technology, a more complex understanding may be reached of the areas and ways in which they overlap, correspond, challenge and conflict with each other.

This conference seeks to explore how religions, science and technology interact and generate change (progressive, reactive, regressive), particularly in relation to such issues as the environment and climate change; the economy; welfare; life expectancy; popular representation; and sexual equality.

Of particular interest are explorations of dynamic relationships between worldviews/cosmologies, socio-cultural practices and technologies; and of 'the politics of change', i.e. how different actors seek to convince the public of the benefits of their own approaches or of the detriment of 'the others' approaches.

The conference is organized by the Department of Archaeology and Religious Studies of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

Registration fee until 1 December 2011 is 250 EUR, which includes conference materials, lunches and refreshments. There will also be bursaries for participants from lower income countries.

Details from the Conference secretary, Filip Ivanovic (filip.ivanovic@ntnu.no).

 

22ND THEORETICAL ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE

29 March-1 April 2012 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Goethe-University, Campus Westend.

The 22nd Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference will be held at Frankfurt am Main, Germany together with the 10th Roman Archaeology Conference.

For further information see www.trac2012.com.

AFTER CONSTANTINE: RELIGION AND SECULAR POWER IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES

The Thirty-Ninth Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, 30-31 March 2012, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN

In recognition of the 1700th anniversary of the traditional "conversion" of Constantine, this conference will explore the interrelationship of religion and secular power in the late antique and medieval worlds. Attention will be given to the relationship of "church" and "state," the role of the church as holder of secular power, the politics of sainthood, the uses of patronage, the relationship of religion and power in non-Christian contexts and any other appropriate issues. The program will include 20-minute papers from any disciple.

Susan J Ridyard
Professor of History
Director, Sewanee Medieval Colloquium
Sewanee: The University of the South
735 University Ave
Sewanee
TN 37383
(931) 598 1531
sridyard@sewanee.edu

MEDIEVAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PACIFIC

The 2012 conference of the Medieval Association of the Pacific will take place at Santa Clara University on Friday and Saturday March 30-31 2012. We are pleased to announce that our online submission system is now open. The Programming Committee welcomes proposals for both individual presentations and full sessions. As in past years, MAP particularly invites interdisciplinary sessions involving presenters from more than one college or university.

Although the conference will not have a theme and papers on any topic relevant to our understanding of medieval culture will be welcome, we invite members to take advantage of the 800 year anniversary of Clare of Assisi's foundation of a community of women intent on following in the footprints of the poor and Christ through a life shaped by poverty, contemplation and community on Palm Sunday in March 1212.

http://www.csun.edu/english/map09/.

THE ROYAL BODY

Centre for the Study of Bodies and Material Culture, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2-5 April 2012

'For the King has in him two bodies: a Body natural and a Body politic.'

The idea of the king's two bodies, the body natural and the body politic, founded on the distinction between the personal and mortal king and the perpetual and corporate crown, has long been of interest to scholars of medieval and early modern kingship. In later centuries the natural body of the monarch remained a contested site, with the life, health, sexuality, fertility and death of the king or queen continuing to be an important part of politics. Now royal sex and scandal is the very stuff that sells newspapers and royal christenings, weddings and funerals continue to capture the popular imagination. Indeed the 'royal touch' of Aids victims or sick children remains a potent image. So what is the significance of the natural body of the monarch to their subjects now and the importance of it for the concept, and survival, of monarchy?

This conference will explore the bodies of monarchs across Europe ranging from the medieval period to the present. By considering how the monarch's body has been washed, dressed, used, anointed, hidden, attacked and put on display, it will investigate how ideas of king/queenship have developed over time.

Details from Dr Anna Whitelock, Department of History, RHUL, anna.whitelock@rhul.ac.uk.

The conference will take place at Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey, on 2-5 April 2012.

Topics might include:

THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

11-14 April 2012

In 2012 the annual meeting of the Classical Association will be hosted by the Department of Classics & Ancient History at the University of Exeter. Details from cah-ca2012@ex.ac.uk.

KINGS AND QUEENS: POLITICS, POWER, PATRONAGE AND PERSONALITIES IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN MONARCHY

To be held at Corsham Court in conjunction with Bath Spa University on April 19 & 20, 2012.

The institution of Monarchy was absolutely central to the political developments and events of the medieval and Early Modern world. This conference aims to celebrate monarchy in all of its various aspects, from examining the institution itself to assessing the impact of particular monarchs in their own realms and beyond. Historic Corsham Court, located just outside of Bath, is a beautiful and appropriate setting for this conference, with its origins as a summer palace for the Kings of Wessex.

Details from monarchyconference@gmail.com.

LAND AND SEA IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Australian Early Medieval Association Eighth Conference - Friday 27 to Saturday 28 April 2012, University of Queensland.

Call for Papers

This conference addresses the theme of LAND and SEA in the Early Medieval World, ca. 300-1100.

Papers are invited which explore the persistence of contact by sea across coastal and riverine landscapes from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages, in areas ranging from Ireland to the Levant, Scandinavia to the shores of North Africa. The early Middle Ages were a dynamic era of seaborne travel which enabled important advances in technology, distributed new religious ideas and laid the foundations of the modern globalized world. Loss of some communications routes and cohesive aspects of ancient civilization happened alongside the expansion of the Vikings or the establishment of the Islamic hajj. Around the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, along the English Channel and down the Red Sea, coastal communities built boats, imported and exported raw materials, manufactured and traded in goods and services and interacted with people across the waters.

Papers on any aspect of the continuing historical, cultural and social impact of trade and travel networks throughout Late Antiquity and into the Middle Ages are invited. Topics of focus could include, for example, travel literature, shipwreck archaeology, piracy, trade routes, fishing or pilgrimage.

Abstracts on the conference theme, of about 300 words for papers of 20 minutes are now sought from interested participants. Panel proposals of three 20-minute papers are also welcome. All submissions should be sent to the organizers by email to conference@aema.net.au by 12 January 2012.

Enquiries and submissions should be directed to the conference convenor, Amelia R. Brown, at the School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, conference@aema.net.au.

Limited travel assistance may be available upon application, to support visitors to Brisbane for this conference. The Australian Early Medieval Association encourages and supports the study of the early medieval period by facilitating the exchange of ideas and information amongst members. Membership of AEMA is encouraged, but not required, to attend this conference. To join AEMA, send an email to membership@aema.net.au.

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: ALTERITY AND CREATING THE OTHER IN ANCIENT HISTORY

The 1st Annual Graduate Conference in Ancient History of the Joint Collaborative Programme in Ancient Greek and Roman History (University of Toronto and York University = ColPAH), April 27-28, 2012.

Keynote Speaker: Sara Forsdyke, University of Michigan

The historical record is full of places, people and practices characterized as strange or somehow different from the predominant cultural groups of any given time. Most often these reputations are created by those within the mainstream as they attempt to articulate how these outsider groups are distinctive from themselves. This conference will focus on how the identities of such groups are created communicated, and disseminated to become something that is considered strange, alien or in some way peculiar. How did people in the ancient world perceive people, places and practices that were "strange" to them? How are these perceptions manifested and transmitted in the historical record? Finally, since the creation of such identities affects our own modern perception of these
"others", what lasting effects and prejudices do these portrayals engender in the treatment of such marginalized groups within contemporary scholarship?

We welcome and encourage submissions from all areas and aspects of ancient history, including but not limited to history of religion, material culture, social history, anthropology, iconography and historiography. Interested graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are invited to submit titled abstracts of up to 250 words for papers of approximately 15-20 minutes in length to colpah@gmail.com before January 15, 2012. For more information on the Joint Collaborative Programme in Ancient Greek and Roman History please visit http://www.yorku.ca/gradhist/collaborative/.

THE LONG REACH OF ANTIQUITY

April 27-28 2012 Columbia University

Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Leonard Barkan (Princeton University, Comparative Literature)
Prof. Joseph Farrell (University of Pennsylvania, Classics)

This conference addresses the legacy of Greece and Rome in the literary arts from Classical Antiquity to Early Modernity.Details from reachofantiquity@columbia.edu.

TRANSLATIONS IN GREEK, ARABIC AND LATIN: MEDICINE AND SCIENCES, PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE

It is well known that the translation movement from Greek into Arabic flourished during the Abbasid era in Baghdad. In its course, the 'House of Wisdom [Bayt al-Hikma]' was allegedly founded by the caliph Ma'mūn. Later, the Arabic translation activity moved to Muslim Spain. Then a translation movement from Latin into Arabic took place, especially in Toledo. It had a profound impact on the European Renaissance.

The Egyptian Society of Greek and Roman Studies (ESGRS), in collaboration with the Universities of Cairo and Manchester (United Kingdom) announce that they will jointly organise an international conference with the title 'Translations in Greek, Arabic and Latin' from 5-6 May 2012 at the Faculty of Arts, University of Cairo. We cordially invite you to participate in this conference with a paper focusing on one of the following themes to be discussed during the conference:

The organisers of the conference are:

- Professor Ahmed Etman, president of ESGRS

- Professor Peter E. Pormann, University of Manchester

Please send all correspondence to etman_amen@hotmail.com or peter.pormann@manchester.ac.uk

47TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MEDIEVAL STUDIES

http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/

The 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies, which marks the 50th anniversary of the first Conference on Medieval Studies that grew into the International Congress on Medieval Studies, takes place 10-13 May 2012 at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. The Call for Papers will be available in July.

DIET, DINING AND EVERYDAY LIFE: THE USES OF CERAMICS IN THE THIRD- TO NINTH-CENTURY WORLD

47th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 10-13 2012

Potsherds are the most ubiquitous archaeological evidence present from the Late Antique and early medieval periods.  From the complete amphora, preserved intact through the passing centuries, to the smallest fragments of a cooking pot's rim, nearly unidentifiable to all but the trained eye, pottery has provided generations of historians and archaeologists with information about the date of a site, the trade networks on which it relied, and the general economic status of its inhabitants.  

The focus of this sessions is on a different aspect of what ceramics are capable of illuminating: the culture of a site’s inhabitants.  Pottery was among the most prevalent man-made item in the lives of most people, and the meals cooked and eaten with pottery were among the most important aspects of day-to-day existence.  The common medium for transactions of processed agricultural goods, pottery also speaks to the range of individual economic exchanges and social structures that underpinned relations between buyers and sellers.  As the scholarship of Paul Arthur, Nicholas Hudson and Joanita Vroom has shown, these ceramics are essential for the study of what is usually the most inaccessible part of the lives of the ancients: the quotidian, ordinary activities that make up such an important part of culture, economy, and identity.  These scholars use ceramics to explain, respectively, the relationship between diet and cultural boundaries, the impact of Christianity on dining practice, and cultural change over the longue durée in Boeotia.

Details from Andrew Donnelly at adonnel@luc.edu.

Andrew Donnelly
Department of History
Loyola University Chicago

LATE ANTIQUITY, KALAMAZOO 2012

The Society for Late Antiquity will be sponsoring three sessions at the International Medieval Studies Congress, May 10-13, 2012, at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich. Details from Ralph Mathisen at ralphwm@illinois.edu and ruricius@msn.com.

CULTURAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN BYZANTIUM, EAST AND WEST IN THE LATE BYZANTINE WORLD (12TH-16TH CENTURIES)

University of Haifa - Israel Onassis Program of Byzantine and Modern Hellenic Studies 16-17 May 2012

The four hundred years that elapsed between the 12th and 16th centuries were politically turbulent for the Byzantine Empire. Endless internal strives on the throne ended with disastrous consequences for the Empire, starting with the conquest of Constantinople in 1204 by the Crusaders and the splitting up of its former territories between Latin Western powers. The Reconquista of Constantinople in 1261 by the Byzantines left the Empire but with a shadow of its former territorial space. The constant domestic struggles that weakened its stability unwillingly eased the Serbian expansionism and induced in late 1372 or early 1373 the Byzantine Emperors into vassalage status under the Ottomans. Eventually the final blow, i.e. the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 saw the fall into Ottoman rule of a shrunken empire, already almost collapsed from within.

In sharp contrast to the long political crepuscule, despite the long felt distrust towards foreigners of all kinds, cross cultural exchanges continued to thrive between adversaries in such fields as literature, music, arts, architecture and technologies. These interactions galvanized the cultural melting pot which shaped the eternal heritage of the Christian West, of all the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe as well as the countries around the Black Sea, in both Christian and Moslem worlds. Furthermore, despite the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine tradition impacted to a great extent urban, architectonic and technological facets of its conquerors' own culture.

The aim of this conference is to highlight the various cross cultural aspects and the vehicles for their distribution according to the topics below.

Please submit abstracts with a short C.V. to the organizing committee by 15 December 2011.

Jeannine Horowitz, horowitz@research.haifa.ac.il
Ruthy Gertwagen, ruthygert@gmail.com
Emma Maayan-Fanar, efanar@univ.haifa.ac.il

FEMINISM AND CLASSICS VI: CROSSING BORDERS, CROSSING LINES

Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada May 24-27, 2012

Ancient Mediterranean society was crisscrossed by multiple boundaries and borders. Firm boundaries between male and female, slave and free, gods and mortals (to name just a few) defined social identities and relationships, even as these lines were regularly crossed in religious ritual, social practices and artistic imagination. In current scholarship, Feminism is now Feminisms, encouraging multiple - and even transgressive - approaches to the study of women, gender and sexuality in the ancient world. But has Feminism itself become a boundary, dividing fields of study or generations of scholars? Or is it a threshold, encouraging crossings between literary, historical and archaeological evidence? What new approaches are scholars using to push the boundaries of the evidence and the limits of our knowledge of the ancient world?

This conference will focus on boundaries, liminality and transgression. What kinds of crossings did ancient people experience and what control did they have over such crossings? How did borders and border crossings differ in relation to gender, ethnicity, age or legal status? If the masculine and feminine were clearly demarcated categories of being, how do we interpret homosexual, transvestite and gender-labile aspects of the ancient world? What points of contrast and connection exist between different types of gendered space (literal or metaphorical) and do they change when geographic or national boundaries are crossed?

www.brocku.ca/conferences/feminism-classics-vi

For inquiries, please contact FCVI@brocku.ca.

The Department of Classics at Brock University is pleased to host Feminism and Classics VI. Brock University is the only Canadian University to be located in a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve. It is within an hour's drive of Toronto, Ontario and Buffalo, NY and thus easily accessible and close to major attractions, shopping and airports. The Niagara region is framed by Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River and is in the heart of Ontario's vineyard country and visitors can enjoy the culinary and wine trail. More information about Brock University and its location can be found at http://www.brocku.ca/about/why.

CONFERENCE ON "THE CHRISTIAN MOSES"

The Catholic University of America, Washington DC, May 31-June 3 2012

The University's Center for the Study of Early Christianity will host a conference on the above dates on the topic of the "Christian Moses".  Speakers will investigate how early Christians (to the seventh century CE) used traditions associated with Moses, along with significant Jewish traditions and early Islamic references to Moses.  The conference will have a single-session format to encourage maximum interaction among all participants: speakers, local and visiting scholars and graduate students.  Check the Center web site for more details, including the names of invited speakers and the titles of their papers.

Scholars interested in presenting a paper are asked to submit titles and abstracts.  The abstracts should be limited to 300 words, reflect very closely the theme of the conference and demonstrate explicitly either an engagement with primary sources in the original languages or an interest in relevant material culture (artistic or archaeological).  The time for delivery will be 25 minutes.  Participants willing to do so are also welcome to suggest panels or other types of group presentation.  All papers delivered at the conference will be considered for inclusion in a volume published by the Catholic University of America Press.  The deadline for submission of abstracts is December 31 2011 but we would welcome expressions of interest and likely titles as soon as possible.  Send submissions (by email attachment) and inquiries to Philip Rousseau (rousseau@cua.edu) or Janet Timbie (jtimbie@att.net).

WAR AS SPECTACLE

Open University Milton Keynes 15 June 2012

This one-day symposium will explore the theme of war as spectacle in classical antiquity and its reception in subsequent centuries, down to the present day. We are hoping to stimulate debate and address the following issues:

We are looking for papers or panel submissions which will engage in innovative and exciting ways with this theme. These can include, but are not limited to the way the theme was explored:

Abstract length: up to 500 words
Deadline: 15 December 2011
Contact: Dr Anastasia Bakogianni a.bakogianni@open.ac.uk

ATTENDING TO EARLY MODERN WOMEN: REMAPPING ROUTES AND SPACES

Milwaukee, Wisconsin  June 21-23 2012

Attending to Early Modern Women, which has been held seven times at the University of Maryland since 1990, is moving to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, thanks to the generous support of the College of Letters and Science at UWM. The conference will retain its innovative format, using a workshop model for most of its sessions to promote dialogue, augmented by a keynote, and a plenary session on each of the four conference topics: communities, environments, exchanges, and pedagogies. It will be held at the UWM School of Continuing Education Conference Center in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, within easy walking distance of the lakeshore, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Amtrak station. Attendees will stay in the near-by and newly-renovated Doubletree Hotel. The conference will run from Thursday June 21 through Saturday June 23 2012 and attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a special pre-conference seminar on Wednesday June 20 at the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

www.atw2012.uwm.edu

How did women situate themselves in the early modern world and how did they move through it, in both real and imaginary locations? How did gender figure in understandings of spatial realms, from the inner space of the body to the outer spaces of the cosmos? How do new disciplinary and geographic connections shape the ways in which we think, write and teach about the early modern world? Taking as our inspiration the move of Attending to Early Modern Women from Maryland to Milwaukee, we will consider these issues in relationship to the following topics:

Communities
Women¹s actions in neighborhoods, villages, cities, states and empires; family and kinship networks; establishing and breaching boundaries in sexual and gender expression; religious communities; exclusions, exiles and expulsions.

Environments
Gendered landscapes and soundscapes; the body and its borders; built and invented realms and frontiers; cartographic spaces; gender and the new cosmology and anatomy.

Exchanges
Travel, migration, and displacement; imagined spatial crossings; new interdisciplinary connections; the circulation of manuscripts, books, objects and ideas; consumerism and material culture; transnational and transoceanic links.

Pedagogies
Traveling new routes in teaching; the virtual spaces of technology and teaching; early modern women in the realm of museums and galleries for adults and children; issues in academic institutions and in publishing.

For further information, please contact Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Chair of the Organizing Committee: merrywh@uwm.edu.

ENVISIONING LANDSCAPES: ADAPTATION AND RENEWAL

22 June 2012, University of Liverpool

Landscape features prominently in perceptions and interpretations of the past. Whether depicting a specific location in its own right or providing a backdrop for historical action, the physical environment pervades modern reconstructions of past places, peoples and events.  Thus, just as rural and urban landscapes are active in the construction of memory in the lived environment, historical landscapes play a crucial role in shaping present-day conceptions of the past.  It is the purpose of this colloquium to investigate how newly envisioned landscapes shape our understandings of the past and how these understandings impact upon and transform physical landscapes in turn.

We welcome contributions that address - but are not limited to - one or more of the following questions:

Please submit 200-word abstracts for 25 minute papers by email to Dr Fiona Hobden (f.hobden@liv.ac.uk) and Dr Damien Kempf (kempf@liv.ac.uk) by the deadline of 15 February 2012.

We have funds available to cover local accommodation and conference costs.

This interdisciplinary colloquium is supported by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Liverpool.

CONTROLLING SPEECH IN LATIN LITERATURE

Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar, 27-29 June, 2012

Convenors: Han Baltussen, Peter Davis, Ioannis Ziogas

The University of Adelaide will host the twenty-sixth meeting of the Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar on 27-29 June, 2012. For 2012 the proposed theme, 'Controlling Speech in Latin Literature', arises from the involvement of all three convenors in an ARC-funded project entitled 'Banning Ideas, Burning Books: The Dynamics of Censorship in Classical Antiquity'.

The seminar will concern Latin literature in the period from the middle republic to the early empire or, in more literary terms, the period from Plautus to Tacitus. We envisage papers on a broad range of literary topics including such issues as the reality and extent of free speech under the republic, formal and informal censorship under both republic and empire, authorial self-censorship, the use of coded speech and the restrictions imposed upon female speech.

As is normal at Pac Rim seminars we are calling for papers of about forty-five minutes in length, with each session lasting for about an hour.

Please submit a title and an abstract of 150-200 words to by 10 February 2012 to Peter.Davis@adelaide.edu.au.

Please direct any inquiries to Peter Davis (Peter.Davis@adelaide.edu.au).

 

ORALITY AND LITERACY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD X:  TRADITION, TRANSMISSION AND ADAPTATION

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, June 27-30 2012

When oral theory first entered classical studies, it concerned itself mostly with the transmission of narratives in verse and one of its first concerns was the accuracy of this process. It is time to think about transmission in a wider context. Information traveled by a variety of mechanisms in antiquity. Texts, ideas and practices were all transmitted through time and space. Sometimes both form and content were retained, but were placed in a new context; often both were profoundly transformed. This iteration of the biennial conference on Orality and Literacy will consider the differences between oral and written transmissions, as well as their interactions. When knowledge crosses cultural and linguistic boundaries, does it matter whether it is transmitted orally or in writing? Are written texts always less fluid than oral performances? How should we think about the different kinds of writing as methods of transmitting information, from the wax tablet to the monumental inscription?

We are seeking contributions from classicists as well as scholars in ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies. Papers should be 25-30 minutes in length. There will be ample time for discussion.

The conference will include an excursion to Detroit and a session introducing Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) oral tradition and an opportunity to visit the University of Michigan's renowned papyrus collection.

Those interested in presenting a paper should send a one-page abstract to Orality2012@umich.edu by November 25 2011. Inquiries to rscodel@umich.edu.

THE BRITISH WORLD: RELIGION, MEMORY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY

University of Southern Queensland, 2-5 July 2012

Call for Papers

Proposals are now invited for 'The British World Conference', to be held at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, in conjunction with the Public Memory Research Centre and the Anglican Historical Society of Australia. The conference seeks to increase scholarly understandings of the religious and cultural adjustments that accompanied British political change and expansion.

This conference is an exciting regional and international opportunity for the convergence of scholars in a range of disciplines, from history, religious studies, literature, e-pedagogies, education, post-colonialism, anthropology, legal studies, sociology and indigenous studies. This conference will provide a stimulating forum for the latest research into a range of disciplines and will feature addresses by a number of internationally renowned plenaries.

Abstracts are welcome on any aspect of history and or place where the government, religion, people and cultures of the British Isles have been of influence. The time period is open and may extend from the medieval to the modern period. From a teaching perspective, the landscape in which we teach history has clearly changed over time. In recognition of such developments, under our 'Precious Past and Digital Future' stream, we invite papers which investigate the digital dimension of teaching history and religious studies.

We especially welcome paper proposals from early career researchers and postgraduates.

Plenaries

Christopher Haigh, New College, Oxford
Alison Wall, New College, Oxford
Peter Goodall, University of Southern Queensland
Lynette Olson, University of Sydney
Helen Farley, Australian Digital Futures Institute

Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

The British World

Precious Past and Digital Future

Abstracts of 250-300 words for a 20 minute paper should be sent to british.history@usq.edu.au by April 12 2012. Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief (100 word) CV of the presenter.

For the registration form (including early bird rates) please see http://www.usq.edu.au/oac/Research/bwc.

Digital Futures: A particular dimension of this conference will include the digital future of British studies and will include workshops on the use of Second Life technologies in teaching history and religious studies. A plenary address by Dr Helen Farley and expert workshops on Second Life resources will be a feature of this conference.

Proceedings: Prospective contributors are invited to submit a written version of their paper for review for inclusion in the conference proceedings, which will be e-published. For guidance on length, format and style, please go to http://www.usq.edu.au/oac/Research/bwc.

Contact details:

Web site: http://www.usq.edu.au/oac/Research/bwc

Please email us on: british.history@usq.edu.au

Written correspondence can be addressed to:
Dr Marcus Harmes Faculty of Arts Open Access College University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Q 4350 Australia

LEEDS INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL CONGRESS 2012

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2012_call.html

The nineteenth International Medieval Congress will take place in Leeds, from 9-12 July 2012.

HINCMAR OF RHEIMS AT IMC 2012

The nineteenth International Medieval Congress will take place in Leeds from 9-12 July 2012. We are hoping to put together several sessions on Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims (845-882), whose text De Divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae we are currently translating. Hincmar is a central figure for historians working in a great number of fields and to a great degree shapes our vision of the later Carolingian empire. However, though he and his writings have never been short of students, there has been no attempt to provide an overarching study since Devisse's book, published in 1976.

For further details please contact Dr Rachel Stone (magistra@hotmail.co.uk) or Dr Charles West (c.m.west@sheffield.ac.uk).

SOUTH ITALY, SICILY AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: CULTURAL INTERACTIONS

17-21 July 2012, La Trobe University

Hosted by the Centre for Greek Studies and the A.D. Trendall Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne Australia, this conference will focus on the movement of people and interactions of culture in the region of Southern Italy and Sicily from antiquity until the present. The program will include exhibitions at the Hellenic Museum and the Museo Italiano of ancient Greek vases from Southern Italy and Sicily as well as other pieces from the collection of the Trendall Research Centre. It will also include a tour of the world-class resources held at the A.D. Trendall Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe University. The inter-disciplinary nature of this conference seeks to foster critical analysis of geographical and chronological interconnections in Southern Italy and Sicily. It is intended that consideration of cultural interaction, population movements, and changing religious and philosophical ideas over a period of approximately 3000 years will prompt scholarly discussion of continuity and change over time in this region of the Mediterranean.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

Professor David Abulafia
Professorial Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and Professor of Mediterranean History at Cambridge University. Prof. Abulafia is the author of the recently published The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. This book has been described as a ‘magnificent and quite stunningly compendious history of the Mediterranean' in the Observer and the Guardian.

Professor Roger Wilson
Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire and Director of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Sicily at the University of British Columbia. His Sicily under the Roman Empire was described as 'a monumental contribution to the archaeology and history of Sicily' by American Journal of Archaeology. His most recent excavation, the Kaukana project, has investigated a proto-Byzantine village on the south coast of Sicily.

Associate Professor Mia Fuller
Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkely. Assoc. Prof. Fuller is the author of Moderns Abroad: Architecture, Cities, and Italian Imperialism. This book was described as 'a methodologically complex, richly illustrated and extremely well researched study' by European Quarterly.

Please submit abstracts no longer than 300 words to Sarah Midford at s.midford@latrobe.edu.au before 6 February 2012. Papers will be programmed into 30-minute timeslots and should be no longer than 20-minutes. 10-minutes will be scheduled for questions. Papers that focus on the region of Southern Italy and Sicily are invited from any discipline. Some themes may include, but are not limited to:

For more information please contact:
Sarah Midford, Centre for Greek Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University
t: +61 3 9479 2355
e: s.midford@latrobe.edu.au

BYZANTIUM, ITS NEIGHBOURS AND ITS CULTURES: DIVERSITY AND INTERACTION

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR BYZANTINE STUDIES XVIITH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~byzaus/conferences/17th2012/

20-22 July 2012, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

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, former Lecturer in History at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Selwyn College and of Peterhouse; his major publications include inter alia: Jonathan Shepard and Simon Franklin, The Emergence of Rus, 750-1200 (1996), Jonathan Shepard and Simon Franklin (eds), Byzantine Diplomacy (1992), Jonathan Shepard, 'Byzantium's Overlapping Circles', Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies (2006), Jonathan Shepard (ed.), The Expansion of Orthodox Europe: Byzantium, the Balkans and Russia (2007), Jonathan Shepard (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c. 500-1492 (2008).

The Biennial General Meeting of the Association will be held during the conference.

CALL FOR PAPERS

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 31 March 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.

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON PATRISTIC STUDIES

The First International Congress on Patristic Studies will be held in the city of San Juan in Argentina, from 8 to 10 August 2012, under the topic "Jesus Identity".

During Patristic times, Jesus as a person has raised not only feelings of devotion, but also questions about his identity, his message/ speech and his relation with the entire humanity. During the last decade of the last 20th and the first years of the present century, there are innumerable/countless works on Jesus de Nazaret and his historical and social environment. An approach to the first centuries of Christianity proves that the identity of Jesus can be dealt from a paradigm that considers the unity and diversity of perspectives. This pluridormity is verified in theological, philosophical, social and cultural levels, among others. As has been pointed out by different specialists, it has been the formulation of questions on the human and/or divine nature of Jesus and his message/speech what determined in general terms the division of different doctrinal trends and positions. The Congress aims to clarify and elucidate, through the analyses of different sources, the unity and diversity of theological, philosophical, historical, social, liturgical, artistic positions, etc. about the identity of Jesus in the Patristic times.

Deadline for abstracts is 13 April 2012.

For more information visit the Congress' web site: http://laidentidaddejesus.com/index.php/en/

 


UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies & Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group - XVIIIth Annual Conference - Receptions: Medieval and Early Modern Cultural Appropriations.

17-18 August, 2012

St Catherine�s College, The University of Western Australia, Perth

This conference will explore cultural appropriations in, by and of the medieval and early modern world, across a range of disciplines. Three sub-themes are envisaged. They are: 1. The appropriation of earlier cultures by the medieval or early modern world; 2. Cultural exchanges and frontier encounters within the medieval and early modern world; and 3. The reception or appropriation of the medieval or early modern by later periods. Within these fields, paper proposals on any relevant subject and from any relevant areas of study are welcome. Possible approaches and themes may include, but are not limited to: - medievalism - medieval and early modern classicism - cultural legacies and/or lasting traditions - conquest & warfare - migration & settlement - cultural re-appropriations - reception of historical and archaeological discoveries - interactions between different cultural groups, geographically or chronologically - cultural assimilation - literary and intellectual appropriations plenary speakers Professor David Konstan (Brown University): http://research.brown.edu/myresearch/David_Konstan; Professor Jacqueline Van Gent (The University of Western Australia): http://www.uwa.edu.au/people/jacqueline.van%20gent; Associate Professor Louise D�Arcens (The University of Wollongong): http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/selpl/scd/UOW030513.html

Call for Papers

Abstracts of c.300 words for 20-minute papers addressing one or more of the conference sub-themes are encouraged. The subthemes are: (1) the appropriation of earlier cultures in the medieval or early modern world; (2) cultural exchanges and frontier encounters within the medieval and early modern world; and/or (3) the reception of the medieval or early modern world by later periods. Proposals for panels are also welcome. Abstracts and a brief 2-3 sentence bio should be emailed to Andrew Lynch or Joanne McEwan by 16 March 2012. Decisions will be made and notifications sent promptly thereafter.

Postgraduate travel bursaries

A limited number of bursaries are available on a competitive basis to honours students, postgraduate students and unwaged early career researchers who will be presenting papers at the conference. The bursaries are intended to partially reimburse costs associated with attending the Conference. Bursaries of up to AUS$500 may be awarded, on the basis that the applicant is: - an Honours student currently enrolled at a recognised institution OR - a postgraduate student currently enrolled at a recognised institution OR - an unwaged Early Career Researcher; AND - is in particular need of funding; AND - has submitted a paper proposal for the Receptions: Medieval and Early Modern Cultural Appropriations conference with their application. Please see the Bursary Application Form (a copy will be made available on the PMRG and CMEMS websites next week) for more information, or to apply.

public lecture

A free public lecture by Professor David Konstan, sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies, will be presented on 16 August 2012. Please visit the IAS website for more details:

sponsors

-The Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group; -The UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies; and -The Institute for Advanced Studies, The University of Western Australia

enquiries: Please email Andrew Lynch, or Joanne McEwan, . --- Dr Joanne McEwan School of Humanities (History) CMEMS Women�s Studies M208 The University of Western Australia Ph: (08) 6488 3405 Email: joanne.mcewan@uwa.edu.au

PASSAGES FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE MIDDLE AGES V

Infirmitas: Social and Cultural Approaches to Cure, Caring and Health

23-26 August 2012

University of Tampere, Finland
Department of History and Philosophy
Trivium Centre for Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies

The fifth international conference on Passages from Antiquity to the Middle Ages will focus on social and cultural approaches to health and illness, cure and caring and notions of ability and disability. These topics are of major importance for communities and societies both in Antiquity and during the Middle Ages, yet research is still fragmentary and more synthetic and interdisciplinary approaches are rare.

The registration fee is 100 € (post-graduate students: 50 €).For further information, please visit http://www.uta.fi/trivium/passages/ or contact the organizers by e-mailing to passages@uta.fi. The registration opens in November 2011.

Organizing Committee:
Prof. Christian Krötzl, Prof. Katariina Mustakallio, Dr. Sari Katajala-Peltomaa and Dr. Ville Vuolanto

PREMODERN CITY AS COMMUNITY

European Association for Urban History, 11th International Conference on Urban History Cities and Societies in Comparative Perspective, Prague, 29 August-1 September 2012.

http://www.eauh2012.com/

FOURTH BRITISH PATRISTICS CONFERENCE

The Fourth British Patristics Conference will be held at Exeter University (St. Luke's Campus) 5-7 September 2012.

http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/research/conferences/patristics/

The aim of the conference is to foster the study of early Christianity broadly considered in its social, historical and theological context and to cultivate a community of scholars of the subject in Britain.  We particularly welcome participation by and applications for papers from current graduate students studying at British Universities.

We are delighted to announce that two plenary speakers have already been confirmed:
Sebastian Brock, formerly Reader in Syriac Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
Alastair Logan, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Exeter.
The conference will begin after lunch on Wednesday 5th September and will close after lunch on Friday 7th September.

The call for papers is now open.
Please submit your proposal for a short paper (15-20 minutes long) to Morwenna Ludlow by 31 January 2012:
- preferably by email: britishpatristics@gmail.com
- or by post: Dr. Morwenna Ludlow
Department of Theology and Religion
University of Exeter
Amory Building, Rennes Drive
Exeter, Devon  EX4 4RJ.

The conference committee will select proposals and inform all applicants in mid-February.

Attendance is not formally restricted to those studying or working in the British Isles, although the committee will take the above aim of the conference into account when selecting papers from submitted proposals.  Please send queries about conference papers and proposals to Morwenna Ludlow at britishpatristics@gmail.com.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and to welcoming you to Exeter.

With best wishes on behalf of the Conference committee:
Morwenna Ludlow
Siam Bhayro
David Horrell
Alastair Logan
Stephen Mitchell

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LATE ANTIQUE AND BYZANTINE CYPRUS (4TH–12TH CENTURIES AD): RECENT RESEARCH AND NEW DISCOVERIES

Nicosia, October 19-21, 2012

Call for Papers

A number of conferences and exhibitions organised in 2011 or planned for 2012 - the latter meant to celebrate Cyprus's accession to the Presidency of the EU Council in the second semester of that year - share a focus on the history, art and culture of Byzantine and Medieval Cyprus (4th-16th centuries AD). The proposed conference, as the title makes apparent, adopts a more targeted approach by narrowing its focal point on the archaeology of Late Antique and Byzantine Cyprus, from the 4th up to the 12th centuries AD. As such, it may be viewed as a sequel to the successful international colloquium "Chypre à l'époque hellénistique et impériale: recherches récentes et nouvelles découvertes" organised in Paris in September 2009 by the Centre d'Études Chypriotes, the UMR ArScAn (CNRS, Université de Paris I, Université de Paris Ouest) and the University of Cyprus, the proceedings of which have already been published in the Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 39 (2009).

This conference aims to serve as an international scientific forum for archaeologists and other researchers to present, in some cases for the first time, the results of their recent work. This could include archaeological excavations and field surveys, analyses of archaeological data using new analytical techniques and methodological tools and new research projects on various aspects of the culture of Late Antique and Byzantine Cyprus, from architecture, painting and epigraphy to ceramics and numismatics. Contributions dealing with the period from the 7th century up to the 12th would be particularly welcome, considering the many grievous gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the material culture of the island following the end of Late Antiquity.

We plan a three-day event, with individual contributions up to 20 minutes in length. The conference will take place at Nicosia between the 19th and the 21st of October 2012. There is no registration fee.

Prospective speakers are invited to submit a title and a 500-word abstract for consideration electronically by January 15 2012. Please send all materials and address all queries to Demetrios Michaelides (d.michaelides@ucy.ac.cy) and Maria Parani (mparani@ucy.ac.cy).

The Organizing and Scientific Committee:

Prof. Demetrios Michaelides,
Director of Archaeological Research Unit

Assist. Prof. Maria Parani
Department of History and Archaeology
Maria Parani, D.Phil.
Assistant Professor in Byzantine Art and Archaeology
University of Cyprus
Department of History and Archaeology/Archaeological Research Unit
P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Tel.: +357 22893565. Fax: +357 22674101

THE RESEARCH OF FORTIFICATIONS IN ANTIQUITY

A conference on the Research of Fortifications in Antiquity is to be held at the Danish Institute in Athens, 6-9 December 2012.

For enquiries and further information see http://www.fokusfortifikation.de/.


LETTERS IN LATE ANTIQUITY

3-6 January 2013 Seattle, Washington

Sponsored by the Society for Late Antiquity

Organizer: Noel Lenski, University of Colorado at Boulder

The Society for Late Antiquity invites proposals for papers on the translation of texts into Latin in the post-Classical period for a panel to be held at the 2013 annual meeting of the APA in Seattle, Washington, 3-6 January 2013.

We are fortunate to have more letters and letter collections from Late Antiquity than from the rest of Greco-Roman antiquity combined. These offer a wealth of information on personal relations, social history, the history of the family, political alliances, religious concerns and daily life. Additionally, late antique letters open a broad window onto the literary concerns of authors and their world, reflecting as they do the power this genre exerted over the formation of literary personae and their performance on the cultural stage. Despite this vast wealth of material, it has only begun to receive the attention it deserves in the last decade, which has seen an burgeoning of new studies on epistolography.

The 2013 panel of the Society for Late Antiquity will be devoted to the subject of epistles in all of their manifestations, Latin and Greek (as well as Coptic and Syriac), prose and verse, religious and secular, literary and bureaucratic, textual and epigraphic. It seeks to explore why this form of expression suited the late antique world so well and to explore the research avenues opened up by the letters we have. Questions might include: What constituted a literary epistle? To what earlier traditions of epistolography do Late Antique authors appeal? Why do late antique authors choose so often to express themselves in this genre? In what way do late antique letters differ from those of earlier periods? How were letters transported and exchanged? To what extent did the collapse of territorial integrity in the Roman world affect the transmission of letters? What do letters reflect about social relations and patronage networks? How were letters used as instruments of power by their authors, be they estate holders, bishops, sophists, or emperors? How was the composition, transmission, receipt and collection of letters used as a method for self-expression and self-assertion?

We invite the submission of abstracts offering new approaches to these problems. One-page abstracts (ca. 500 words) for papers requiring a maximum of 20 minutes to deliver should be sent no later than February 1, 2012 by email attachment as .doc or .rtf files to Noel Lenski at lenski@colorado.edu. Please follow the APA's instructions for the format of individual abstracts. All submissions will be judged anonymously by two referees. Those whose papers are accepted must be members of the APA by March 1, 2012 and must attend the 2013 meeting in Seattle. For further information, please contact Noel Lenski, Department of Classics, University of Colorado at Boulder at the email address above.

ISLAMIC AND ARABIC RECEPTIONS OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE

Sponsored by the APA Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception

The American Philological Association's Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception invites submissions for a panel to be held at the 2013 annual meeting of the APA in Seattle, Washington, 3-6 January 2013 on the topic of "Islamic and Arabic Receptions of Classical Literature".

We seek contributions which examine the Arabic translation of Greek literature as an active process of creative production, not simply as a vehicle for preserving and transmitting lost (or better) witnesses of classical texts. Such a perspective has been most forcefully and persuasively championed over the past two decades by A. I. Sabra and Dimitri Gutas, both insisting that any properly historical treatment of the Arabic reception of Greek texts must take into account the precise contexts informing the conscious appropriation and adaptation of ancient works for specific constituencies and audiences. At the same time, we encourage papers that question the role played by Islam in this process, that is the degree to which "Islam " as such can explain the selection, rejection and/or modification of Classical material by Arabic translators. We hope that the panel will underline the need for an essentially contextual, i.e. historical, approach to classical receptions and will offer implications for understanding other cultural receptions as well.

Proposals for papers taking no more than twenty minutes to deliver should be sent via email attachment (in Word or Open Office format) to Dr. Paul Kimball (pkimball@bilkent.edu.tr) no later than January 15 2012. Please follow the program committee's suggestions for preparing individual abstracts as specified in the APA Program Guide. APA membership is normally required to participate and must be verified before proposals are considered. However, waivers may be granted to scholars residing outside North America or working in allied fields such as Islamic history or Arabic studies. All submissions will be subject to double-blind review by two referees and the panel as a whole evaluated by the APA Program Committee before notification of final acceptance.

CULTURES IN TRANSLATION

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/history/conferences/anzamems-2013/

The Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies Ninth Biennial International Conference, 12-16 February 2013, Monash University, Caulfield Campus, Melbourne, Australia.

The conference seeks to explore the many varieties of translation at work in medieval and early modern studies. We invite papers which deal with diversity and change in areas such as language, culture, religion, space. We are interested in exploring both how medieval and early modern cultures understood translation and how modern scholars make disciplinary, linguistic and social translations in their work. We encourage papers on these themes (and others pertaining to medieval and early modern studies) and papers from postgraduate students and early career researchers are especially welcome.

Keynote Speakers:
Chris Baswell, Columbia University
Anne Dunlop, Tulane University
John Najemy, Cornell University
Charles Zika, University of Melbourne

Full details including paper proposal submissions on the web site.

Abstract submission dates: for early acceptance: May 1 2012; final deadline: September 1 2012


PAST AEMA CONFERENCES
 

COURAGE AND COWARDICE  Seventh Conference, University of Western Australia, November 2010.
Download the programme and abstracts.

GATHERING THE THREADS - WEAVING THE EARLY MEDIEVAL WORLD  Sixth Conference, Monash University, Caulfield, September 2009.
Download the programme and abstracts.

WELCOMING THE STRANGER IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES  Fifth Conference, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, October 2008.
Download the programme and abstracts.

Conference photographs are also available.

CONVERSION AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION  Fourth Conference, University of Sydney, September 2007.
Download the programme and abstracts.

CONQUEST AND CONTINUITY  Third Conference, University of Melbourne, September 2006.
Download the programme and abstracts.

Conference photographs are also available.

TEXT AND TRANSMISSION  Second Conference, Australian National University, September 2005.
Download the programme and abstracts.

AEMA INAUGURAL CONFERENCE  The University of Melbourne, September 2004.
Download the programme and abstracts.

A page of Conference photographs is also available.

BETWEEN INTRUSIONS CONFERENCE  The University of Melbourne, September 2003.
Download the programme and abstracts.