Cultural Memory in Late Antiquity, 25th International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 2–5, 2018

Problems of cultural memory abound in late antiquity. Issues like the precise import of myths of origins for  'barbarian' groups, the memory of councils, fathers and holy men for confessional disputes, or class ical culture in a Christian Empire, have provoked lively (and often controversial) debate. Indeed, the existence of late antiquity as a distinct period could be seen as rooted in a claim about cultural memory: the persistence of aspects of the cultural inheritance of the ancient world as a framework through which people understood their world into the later centuries of the first Millennium CE.

Piggybacking on the overall IMC 2018 theme of ‘Memory', we invite submissions which offer critical perspectives on problems of cultural memory in late antiquity. Our aim is for these sessions to be as inclusive as possible, bringing together scholars working on a wide range of fields, periods and geographical areas in the study of late antiquity, and ensuring an appropriate gender balance across panels. We particularly invite submissions from scholars who have not previously-or do not usually-present at the Leeds IMC, to encourage new and fruitful intellectual exchanges between those who work on late antiquity/the early middle ages within different departments and disciplines. Possible themes  might include:

• the reconstruction of Roman or 'barbarian' pasts
• institutional memory, whether at a macro-level (e.g. church, empire) or micro (e.g. monastic communities, schools, army units)
• the inculcation and invocation of collective memory for community building
• the contestation of the    past and collective memory for political purposes (broadly construed)
• late ancient conceptions of memory (e.g. Augustine in Confessions), notions of time, and the creation of histories for humanity (e.g. universal histories, chronicles, engagements with biblical time)
• modern appropriation/ re-use of late antiquity

If you are interested in presenting, e-mail a title along with an abstract of no more than 250 words to the organisers. The deadline for submissions is 31 August 2017. And if you have any questions, feel free to write to us.

Organizers
Richard Flower, Exeter
Adrastos Omissi, Glasgow
Robin Whelan, Oxford