CALL. 16.12.2019: Engaging with Empire - Cambridge (MA, USA)
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 16/12/2019
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 06-07/03/2020
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Andrew Deloucas; Evelyne Koubková; Zachary Rubin.
INFO: gsanes2020@gmail.com - evelyne.koubkova@yale.edu - zachary_rubin1@brown.edu
CALL:
This graduate symposium brings together students of ancient history to present and discuss their work, thereby developing a community and network among young scholars. Student presentations will be received in a supportive environment and given feedback by faculty members from the participating universities. We invite presentations from graduate students in the field of Assyriology and related areas of study. We welcome a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches to the conference topic, both as specific case studies and more general perspectives. The topic of this symposium is to engage with contemporary study of empire in the Ancient Near East. Empire in Ancient Near Eastern studies, like most terminology, has undergone great fluctuation in meaning and scope over time; unfortunately, such permeability of definition has fostered some neglect in interdisciplinary research parallel to our field. Because cuneiform source material extends for over three millennia in a dozen disparate languages and across cultures, it is our duty to address this material, not with exceptionalism, but as historians of culture and development in dialogue with others who study the same. Demarcation and terminology at current remains fuzzy in the study of Empire in the ancient Near East, wherein topics of power, space, body, and economy, which lay the forefront of majority historiography, analysis, and model, often fail to be recognized within larger socio-political frameworks and systems. How we should understand the concept of empire, how may empire have understood itself, and how we can wrestle with our material outside, and within, its grasp through primary and secondary material is the goal of this year’s assembly. Call for papers: Please send us an abstract of max. 250 words before December 16th. The paper should last 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute discussion; you are encouraged to include a PowerPoint presentation or handout for the audience. The maximum number of speakers is limited and, if needed, will be selected through an anonymous evaluation in consultation with Faculty members. We strongly encourage Faculty and colleagues from nearby universities attend. Presenting students will greatly benefit from your presence and feedback. The symposium will begin on Friday, March 6th with a keynote lecture on the 3rd floor of the Harvard Semitic Museum, followed by a reception. Student presentations will take place on Saturday, March 7th. We encourage everyone to stay for a final dinner and a cheerful gathering on Saturday night. We expect all participants to stay in town for two nights. There is no conference fee and student speakers will be provided with accommodation, pending conference funding. Students who are not presenting, but wish to participate, are welcome to do so, but will be responsible for their own accommodation. We ask all participants to cover their travel expenses. We will distribute a detailed schedule of the event to all registered participants at a later date. For registration see below. Registration: We ask everyone who wishes to participate, either as speaker or non-speaker, to send an email to <gsanes2020@gmail.com> before December 16th. Please indicate your full name, university, department, and year of study (if student). If you wish to present, please include your abstract in your email and write ABSTRACT in the subject heading.