The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture

09/08/2026

The Mary Jaharis Center is pleased to announce the first lecture in the 2026–2027 East of Byzantium lecture series. Nicole Berlin will discuss "Antioch as a Center: New Research on a Dispersed Archaeological Legacy." October 2 at 12:00 PM ET on Zoom. Register: https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/

09/08/2026

CFP: Material Culture and the Making of Communities, British Archaeological Association sponsored session at the 2027 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 5–8, 2027

Submissions due September 21, 2026

The British Archaeological Association invites paper proposals for potential BAA-sponsored sessions at the 2027 International Medieval Congress (IMC), taking place at the University of Leeds from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 July 2027.

Proposed BAA Sponsored Session: Material Culture and the Making of Communities

This session explores the ways in which material culture—particularly buildings, architectural sculpture, art objects, and the practices surrounding their production and use—participated in the formation, negotiation, and expression of community identities in the medieval world. Bringing together approaches from architectural history, archaeology, art history, and social history, the session asks how communities were materially constituted and how material environments in turn shaped ideas of belonging, collective identity, and social distinction.

The session is particularly interested in the relationship between communal patronage, communities of artisans, and the buildings through which communities represented themselves. Medieval buildings were rarely the products of isolated patrons or individual makers. Their construction and embellishment depended upon networks of patrons, donors, craftsmen, workshops, institutions, and users. These relationships could produce distinctive material expressions of collective identity, while also revealing tensions over status, authority, resources, and participation.

Rather than treating buildings and works of art simply as expressions of pre-existing communities, the session seeks to examine how material culture actively made communities.

The session would therefore complement the broader IMC 2027 theme of ‘Communities’ while offering a specifically material and interdisciplinary perspective. It would be particularly suited to papers that combine close analysis of buildings or objects with questions of patronage, production, use, identity, and social organisation.

The session could include case studies from different geographical regions or periods in order to encourage comparative discussion of how medieval communities used material culture to construct and communicate collective identities.

Material Culture and the Making of Communities, British Archaeological Association sponsored session at the 2027 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 5–8, 2027 The British Archaeological Association invites paper proposals for potential BAA-sponsored sessions at the 2027 Inte...

09/08/2026

CFP: Recounting Trauma and Defeat in Medieval and Premodern Literary, Visual and Other Cultural Artifacts, session at the 2027 Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, University of Houston, May 20-23, 2027, and Online, May 15 & 16, 2027

Submissions due September 22, 2026

Contrary to what we might think in modern times, Medieval and Premodern subjects were not immune to the violence and ravages of war and, despite the latter frequent occurrences, people from earlier historical periods were clearly traumatized by relentless wars and the destruction and violence they wrought. The trauma or psychological wounding brought about by wars was further exacerbated when premodern subjects or communities experienced a reversal or defeat.

At this seminar we aim at interrogating a variety of cultural products (literary texts or genres, the oral and/or archaeological record, visual artifacts or manuscript illuminations, historical documents) from the premodern period within a global geographical sphere. We will engage in a discussion of the trope of defeat along two different axis, personal (or individual) and communal. How does the trauma of defeat impact the self, communities, or the body politic? How can we extricate the severe trauma caused by war, rapine, military annihilation and defeat from the medieval and premodern archive? Does literature help to portray trauma or does it obscure it and erase it? How is trauma articulated or expressed? Can we identify in the documents and artifacts we study examples of communal trauma (understood as that which affects the community collectively) as opposed to melancholic or nostalgic trauma which distresses the individual subject? Is the remembrance of trauma emotionally traumatic in medieval and premodern times or is it ever channeled into forms of resignation, mourning and remembrance?

All critical methodological approaches are welcome, but we especially encourage contributions that engage in a wide-encompassing and interdisciplinary hermeneutics that takes into account material and emotional responses to traumatic events.

Organizer
Montserrat Piera, Temple University

Recounting Trauma and Defeat in Medieval and Premodern Literary, Visual and Other Cultural Artifacts, session at the 2027 Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, University of Houston, May 20-23, 2027, and Online, May 15 & 16, 2027 Contrary to what we might think in modern...

09/08/2026

Job posting: Roger E. Covey Professorship in Silk Road Studies, Indiana University Bloomington

Applications due September 30, 2026

The Department of Central Eurasian Studies in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington seeks to make a tenure-track or tenured hire (open rank) to fill the Roger E. Covey Professorship in Silk Road Studies. The successful candidate will contribute to the Department’s mission in the study of Central Eurasia and play a leading role in advancing Silk Road Studies across the Hamilton Lugar School and beyond.

Applicants should have an established or emerging record of innovative research on the overland and/or maritime Silk Roads (2nd century BCE through 15th century CE) and their relevance to the contemporary world. We welcome applications from scholars whose research advances understanding of one or more aspects of the histories, societies, religions, languages, politics, diplomacy, material worlds, and interconnections of the overland and/or maritime Silk Roads. Candidates must demonstrate proficiency in one or more major languages necessary to conduct original research in their area of specialization, including the use of primary sources. Proficiency in one or more languages taught in or closely affiliated with the Department is also highly desirable.

Candidates must have a PhD degree by the starting date of the appointment. Proficiency in one or more languages necessary to conduct original research in their area of specialization, including the use of primary sources (e.g., Turkic, Iranian, Central Asian, Sino-Tibetan languages) is required.

Applications received by September 30, 2026 will receive full consideration.

The appointment begins August 1, 2027.

The Department of Central Eurasian Studies in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington seeks to make a tenure-track or tenured hire (open rank) to fill the Roger E. Covey Professorship in Silk Road Studies. The successful candidate will contribu...

09/08/2026

Funding opportunity: Visiting Fellowships, Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Center

Applications due October 3, 2026

The Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre for the Study of the History, Languages, and Cultures of Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia is currently accepting applications for its 026/27 Visiting Fellowship scheme. Visiting Fellows spend a period of between 3 and 9 months pursuing independent research projects relevant to the study of the history, languages and cultures of Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

ONGC Visiting Fellowships are open to all applicants who are not members of the University of Oxford, and who are not ordinarily resident in Oxford and its immediate vicinity. Applicants for Fellowships should hold a doctorate at the time of application, or equivalent qualification in their field of research (e.g. holding a curatorial post in a museum or library). Applicants must have a home institution and be ready to provide a letter that grants them the necessary academic leave to come to Oxford.

09/07/2026

TODAY, September 7, is the final day to submit proposals for Mary Jaharis Center sponsored sessions at the 2027 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 5–8, 2027. More info & submissions: https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2027

09/06/2026

TOMORROW, September 7, is the final day to submit proposals for Mary Jaharis Center sponsored sessions at the 2027 International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 5–8, 2027. More info & submissions: https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/imc-2027

09/04/2026

DEADLINE APPROACHING: Less than 2 weeks left to submit an abstract for Studying East of Byzantium XIII: Centers and Hubs, a 3-part workshop for doctoral students and recent PhDs with Muriel Debié and Nicholas Matheou. Abstracts due September 13, 2026. Learn more and apply at https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/studying-east-of-byzantium-xiii-centers-and-hubs/

09/03/2026

CFP: Saints in Translation: Crossing Languages, Hagiography Society sponsored session at the 62nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, May 13–15, 2027

Submissions due September 15, 2026

Martyr texts, apophthegmata, saints’ lives, and miracle stories are among the most widely circulated and often adapted texts of the Late Antique and Medieval periods. This panel invites participants to explore the nature and mechanics of this dissemination, as well as the narrative productivity, of hagiography through the lens of translation. Taking a broad approach to the reception and transmission of texts between languages, topics might include the mechanics of medieval translation, language use/selection, translation as rewriting, genre and authentication across linguistic traditions, as well as adaptations which reflect the new cultural and historical context(s).

The panel aims to stimulate discussion of hagiographic translation in the Late Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Global Middle Ages. Particular attention given to papers that explore the translation of texts from and into European vernacular, Slavic, Near Eastern, and African languages, as well as between Greek and Latin.

Saints in Translation: Crossing Languages, Hagiography Society sponsored session at the 62nd International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, May 13–15, 2027 Martyr texts, apophthegmata, saints’ lives, and miracle stories are among the most widely circulated and often a...

09/03/2026

Funding opportunity: APS Franklin Research Grants

Applications due October 1, 2026

Since 1933, the American Philosophical Society has awarded small grants to scholars in order to support the cost of research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge. The Franklin program is particularly designed to help meet the costs of travel to libraries and archives for research purposes; the purchase of microfilm, photocopies, or equivalent research materials; the costs associated with fieldwork; or laboratory research expenses.

Applicants are expected to have a doctorate or to have published work of doctoral character and quality. Independent scholars and faculty members at all four-year and two-year research and non-research institutions are welcome to apply provided that all eligibility guidelines are met.

American citizens and residents of the United States may use their Franklin awards at home or abroad. Foreign nationals not affiliated with a U.S. institution must use their Franklin awards for research in the United States.

Applicants submitting materials for the October 1 deadline will be notified by January 2027 decision for work beginning in February 2027 through January 2028.

Since 1933, the American Philosophical Society has awarded small grants to scholars in order to support the cost of research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge. The Franklin program is particularly designed to help meet the costs of travel to libraries and archives for research purpose...