2nd Annual International Graduate Edinburgh Byzantine Conference
University of Edinburgh, 30 November-1 December 2018
The 2nd Annual International Graduate Edinburgh Byzantine Conference will focus on “Reception, Appropriation, and Innovation: Byzantium between the Christian and Islamic Worlds”.
Reception and appropriation (whether reuse, imitation, or variation) have long been recognised as necessary tools for the interpretation of Byzantine literature, art, architecture and archaeology. Innovation is a somewhat more controversial term for Byzantine Studies. During the 20th c. there were numerous attempts by prominent Byzantinists (R. Jenkins and C. Mango) to not only disassociate the concept of originality from Byzantine Studies, but also to demean Byzantine culture as a result of such a lack. The next generations of scholars have often been more careful and sensitive to the fact that today’s demands for creativity and originality have themselves been informed and moulded by a specific, Western cultural mindset over the course of, at least, the last five centuries (L. Brubaker, Av. Cameron).
Therefore, the key theme of this conference is dialogue – dialogue between Byzantium and its neighbouring cultures. This conference will… read more