[spectre] CFP: What is a border? Intl. Grad. Conf. (CEMS, Budapest, 1-3 Jun 17)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Margarita Voulgaropoulou <mvoulgaropoulou at gmail.com>
Date: Nov 12, 2016
Subject: CFP: CEMS International Graduate Conference (Budapest, 1-3 Jun 17)

Budapest, Central European University, June 1 - 03, 2017
Deadline: Jan 31, 2017

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 invites graduate students of Late Antique, Islamic, Jewish, 
Byzantine, Medieval, Ottoman studies, and 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.

Conference Description

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 “the natural 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 of civilizations” 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.

Possible paper topics might include, but are not limited to:

Border ontologies and epistemologies
  Negotiating, contesting, and appropriating spaces – sites of cultural, 
religious, social, political, economic, artistic encounters, 
transformations, and exchange
The dynamics of borders and identities – the role of different sensory 
mechanisms in (re)articulating communal boundaries and identities, 
multiple identities and cultural mobility
Practices of representation - multisensory engagement with various 
aspects of daily life, the anthropology of smells and sounds, sumptuary 
restrictions on food
Bordering the body – the politicization of bodily images and the 
genderization of conflicts
Geopolitics, power practices, sovereignty
Politics of translation as means of enforcement, representation, and/or 
appropriation
Please submit by January 31, 2017 a short paper proposal (no more than 
250 words, together with a brief biography and contact information) to 
the following address: cemsconference at ceu.edu

Keynote Speakers

Verena Krebs (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

David Thomas (University of Birmingham)

Greg Woolf (Institute of Classical Studies, London)

Accommodation and Travel Grants

All participants will be offered accommodation for the full duration of 
the conference (3 nights) at the CEU Residence Center. In order to 
encourage the participation of individuals with limited institutional 
support a small number of partial travel grants will be available to 
cover travel expenses. Those who wish to be considered for the grant 
should include an additional justification alongside their paper 
proposals. Please note that there is no conference fee. For further 
information, do not hesitate to contact the organizers at 
cemsconference at ceu.edu .

Sponsors

Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies

ACRO, Academic Cooperation and Research Support Office

Organizing Committee

Matea Laginja (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies)

Emese Muntán (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Stduies)

Iuliana Soficaru (PhD Student, Department of Medieval Studies)

For further information, do not hesitate to contact the organizers at 
cemsconference at ceu.edu or at our Facebook page.

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: CEMS International Graduate Conference (Budapest, 1-3 Jun 17). In: 
H-ArtHist, Nov 12, 2016. <http://arthist.net/archive/14193>.

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