CALL. 31.01.2017: Fifth International Graduate Conference of Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studie
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 31/01/2017
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 01-02-03/06/2017
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Central European University (Budapest, Hungary)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Matea Laginja (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies); Emese Muntán (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Stduies); Iuliana Soficaru (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies)
INFO: call - cemsconference@ceu.edu
CALL:
The Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) at Central European University and its junior members are proud to announce the forthcoming Fifth International Graduate Conference on Building, Bending, and Breaking Boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean World.
This three-day conference invitesgraduatestudents of Late Antique, Islamic, Jewish, Byzantine, Medieval, Ottoman studies, and other related disciplines, to present their research on the manifold and complex processes of constructing, negotiating,transgressing, and subverting social, political, cultural or confessional boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean from Antiquity to the Early Modern period.
What is a border? What are the sites and strategies of boundary-construction and who are its agents?Boundaries shape and forge categories by enforcement and reinforcement of power ingrained within a built environment, conceptual or physical. Thus, they do not necessarily indicate territorial margins, but can also embrace theoretical, temporal, and metaphorical borders. They can be natural or artificial, sharp or blurry;they can be understood in positive and/or negative terms as means of protection or as instruments of exclusion; and they can mark conceptual territories, such as “the human,” “the holy,” “the family,” or “thenatural world.” Triggered by new waves of immigration, the meaningfulness of state borders and the necessity of their control have been subject to debate, alongside questions concerning the boundaries surrounding identities, cultures or religions. Moving beyond the border of nation-states and the “clash ofcivilizations” paradigm, the main objective of this conference is to explore the historically contingent, fluid,and dynamic nature of borders by shedding light on the intricate mechanisms through which boundaries were erected, maintained, crossed, and transgressed throughout the eastern Mediterranean world
Please submit by January 31, 2017 a short paper proposal (no more than 250 words, togetherwith a brief biography and contact information) to the following address: cemsconference@ceu.edu