Identity and the Other in Byzantium, ANAMED Library Talk with Ivana Jevtić (Koç University) and Koray Durak (Boğaziçi University), Koç University via Zoom, November 10, 2020, 6:00 pm (Istanbul Time)

The Library Talks jointly organized by the Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) Library and Tarih Vakfı (the History Foundation) will continue on November 10, 2020 with Ivana Jevtić (Koç University) and Koray Durak (Boğaziçi University). The Byzantine Empire, a medieval state with roots in the ancient Mediterranean culture and home to different languages and ethnicities, represents a fertile ground for the study of identity as well as the perceptions and representations of the Other. The trifold model of the Byzantine identity – Greek culture, Christian Religion, and Roman imperial framework – has almost become a cliché in the definitions of Byzantium. Yet, the steady growth of scholarship on the Self and Other in Byzantium calls for fresh critical assessments.

Stemming from the Fourth International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium (ANAMED; 23–25 June 2016), the articles in the book Identity and the Other in Byzantium (Istanbul, 2019) offer new textual, archaeological and, art historical material that is necessary for a fuller understanding of Byzantine construction of the Self and Other in its various dimensions. In this talk, Jevtić and Durak will present the most salient perspectives presented in this book and discuss the contribution of Identity and the Other in Byzantium to the scholarship in the field. 

Ivana Jevtić is currently an assistant professor at Koç University, Department of Archaeology and History of Art. 

Koray Durak is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University.

Advance registration required.