Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture Sponsored Panel
62nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University, Kalamzoo, MI
May 13–15, 2027
Organizers: Catherine McNally (MIT) and Andy Chen (Harvard University)
This panel will bring into conversation emerging scholars working across Byzantine studies to reevaluate inherited historiographical traditions and to reflect on the epistemological conditions through which Byzantium has historically been construed. Papers will reexamine the twentieth-century historiographical frameworks that have shaped the study of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean, with particular attention to the scholarly marginalization of communities that resist clear confessional, ethnic, or imperial categorization. Long governed by disciplinary models rooted in nationalism, positivism, and colonialism, Byzantine historiography has often privileged imperial centers rooted in doctrinal orthodoxy at the expense of peripheral, typically heterodox communities that complicate fixed notions of empire. However, disciplinary predispositions towards normative accounts which present Byzantium as monolithic become untenable when confronted with the reality of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean’s fractured geopolitical landscape, linguistic hierarchies, and diverse forms of social organization.
The papers may come from relevant disciplines in Byzantine, Islamic, and eastern Mediterranean studies such as, but not limited to, history, art and architectural history, and comparative literature, with a preference for those incorporating innovative technological applications and/or integrating understudied archives into their approach.
Abstracts of 300 words are due September 15, 2026, and must be submitted using the ICMS CONFEX PORTAL (https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8539).
A full description of the panel and funding information are available at https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/62nd-icms.
Please submit any questions to Catherine McNally at csmcn[at]mit[dot]edu.
