“Time and Things: New Perspectives on the Premodern World”
An Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference Co-Sponsored by the Program in Ancient Studies and the Medieval Studies Institute
March 22nd, 2024
Social Science Research Commons (2nd Floor, Woodburn Hall)
Schedule of Events
9:00: Welcome remarks from Lindsey Mazurek (Director, Ancient Studies) and Jeremy Schott (Director, Medieval Studies)
Panel 1: Literary Narratives
9:05-9:25: Benjamin Hoover (English), “Boy Bishops and ‘Benjamin-Buttoning’: The Dynamics of Subversive Age in John Mirk’s Festial”
9:30-9:50: Maggie McLaughlin (Comparative Literature), “Let Loose Your Longing: Erasure, Citation, and Matter in Anne Carson’s Translation of Sappho’s Poetry.”
9:55-10:15: Lee Czerw (Germanic Studies), ““Niemant wz der selben zeit: Arthurian and Tristanian Temporalities in Middle High German Tristan Narratives.”
10:20-10:40: Simon Kaplan, “Tombs, Tunes, and Textiles: Dialogues with the Future in the Iliad.”
10:45-11: Response, TBA
11:00-11:30: Break, coffee and snacks provided
Panel 2: Objects and Things
11:30-11:50: Lindsay Ruth (Central Eurasian Studies), “Methodius of Olympus in the Syriac Tradition through the Lens of Manuscripts in the British Library”
11:55-12:15: George Yfantidis (Art History), “Revising the Past in the 8th-Century Mosaic Programs of Hagia Eirene and the Small Sekreton in Constantinople.”
12:20-12:40: Zack Kozak (Classical Studies), “Rural Community use of Sacred Space in Syria’s Limestone Massif.”
12:45-1:00: Response, Lindsey Mazurek (Classical Studies)
1:00-1:45: Lunch
Panel 3: Histories
2:00-2:30: Zofia Ahmad (Central Eurasian Studies/History), “Historiography, Rome, and the Huns”
2:30-3:00: Sammy Allen (Religious Studies), “Providential Computation: Reconstructing Theodoret’s Theology of History.”
3:00-3:30: Tom Amos Driver (History), “The Bride, the Bailiff, and the Bishop: Love, Transgression, and Confession in 15th Century Norwich”
3:30-3:45: Response, Jeremy Schott (Religious Studies)
3:45-4:00: Break
Keynote Lecture
4:00-5:30: Gregor Kalas (University of Tennessee), “Eighth-Century Rhetoric on Social Justice and the 'Penitentiary' at San Nicola in Carcere, Rome."
Reception
7:00 PM: Reception at Backspace Gallery (112 W 6th St, Bloomington, IN 47404, inside Bonne Fête. http://backspacegallery.com/)
See the CFP below:
In his book The Past is a Foreign Country, the wide-ranging scholar David Lowenthal argued that the past holds a particular power in shaping the present. But when we study the past, we are fundamentally grappling with two problems: the passage of time and what it means for our understanding of texts, objects, ideas, and practices from previous periods. Is the past inaccessible? If we can access it, how can we best account for its foreignness? This conference seeks to promote discussion between a diverse group of scholars about the fundamental problem of grappling with artifacts of the past given their inextricable connection to the present.
We invite graduate students at Indiana University working in any geographic area of the premodern world (broadly defined) to submit abstracts of 200 words for consideration. Participants need not have a minor in either program to participate. Papers should be around 15 minutes. They may deal with any type of evidence from any perspective and need not directly address the conference theme, though we hope to put together a panel that deals directly with the theme of “Time and Things.” Some sample topics for this panel might include history of ideas, treatments of time, and reception of material culture and literary tropes. All students who submit abstracts will be invited to a workshop about preparing their papers and presentations in Spring 2024.
Please direct all questions to Lindsey Mazurek (linmazur@indiana.edu) or Jeremy Schott (jmschott@indiana.edu).
The College of Arts