Byzantine Anatolia: Space and Communities Over the course of the last decade, the International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium has emerged as an established international forum bringing together the most prominent scholars and latest research on Late Antique and Byzantine Studies. Covering a diverse range of core research areas, the proceedings of previous symposia have since become an important reference source for the discipline. We are pleased to announce that the Fifth International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium will be held in Istanbul, 24 - 26 June 2019, and will focus on ‘Byzantine Anatolia: Space and Communities’.
For almost a thousand years Anatolia was the center of the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries of strife, the Empire and its successor states struggled for dominance of the Anatolian heartland against encroaching neighboring powers and internal rivals. Yet behind the high drama of politics, intrigue and conflict, Anatolia was also a rich and complex network of regional settlements which would shift and change with environmental, social and economic conditions, and whose character was expressed in the art, culture and politics of actively involved populations. Too often, however, in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies the province and its many regions have been overlooked in favor of the major urban centers – in particular, Constantinople.
The Fifth International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium will redress this balance by focusing on the settlements and communities of Anatolia. The symposium will present new voices from diverse disciplines to share ideas, challenge established views and showcase a wealth of new material emerging from field studies and research in history and art history.
The symposium aims to gather presentations by international and domestic scholars to challenge traditional approaches and reshape our understanding of the Byzantine Empire’s heartland.
We invite everyone actively involved in the study of Byzantine Anatolia to contribute to the symposium and help us create a new reference for future research. Scholars from all career stages, affiliated with any international or domestic institutions are welcome to apply for any of the three topics of this year’s Symposium:
Settlement and environment
Papers in this stream will examine issues of reciprocity, interdependence and the ways in which communal identities were reflected on the civic and rural landscape of Anatolia. This includes the impact of communities on their environment (and vice versa) by examining material evidence, architectural remains, technological analysis, landscape, water and earth management studies.
Notions of space
Papers in this stream should discuss perceptions of space and nature in Byzantine mentality – in other words, how Byzantine people perceived Anatolia. These can be traced through descriptions and depictions of landscapes, cityscapes and buildings in visual arts and literature. This stream will also include the definitions and interpretations of cultural space through artistic practices and their relation to the sacred.
Interactions, Networks and Mobility
In this stream papers should address issues of relations and movement among communities in Anatolia, including seasonal migrations and the forced displacement of people. This stream will welcome evidence for the mobility of human groups such as merchants, pilgrims, armies, refugees and artistic workshops from a wide range of methodological approaches, in particular interdisciplinary projects.
Applications should be submitted through the form below.
Application Deadline: October 14, 2018
We are pleased to add that the transportation and accommodation expenses of all participants will be covered by the Vehbi Koç Foundation.
For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.
