Moving Byzantium @ Leeds 2022, sessions at 2022 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 4–7, 2022
“Moving Byzantium: Mobility, Microstructures and Personal Agency” had a successful five-year run at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 2015 to 2021, while it was funded through the Wittgenstein-Prize, the highest scholarly award of Austria, which was bestowed on Prof. Claudia Rapp in 2015. It demonstrated the crucial importance of these issues for our understanding of the Middle Ages, especially from the vantage point of Byzantium.
In order to foster the research questions and methodological approaches of the project also after the end of the funding period and to continue discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), we plan to organize two sessions under the label “Moving Byzantium at the International Medieval Congress 2022 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (4-7 July 2022). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2022 is “Borders”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for fifteen-minute papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
It is not yet clear whether we will be able to cover the Full Four Day Registration for the IMC (standard rate or student rate) for scholars selected for presentation in the sessions of “Moving Byzantium”, we certainly hope so. In any case, participants are expected to secure their own funding for their expenses for travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests (300 words max.), by 3 September 2021 to Dr. Ekaterini Mitsiou, Project Coordinator. Papers will be selected by 13 September 2021 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 21 September 2021.