4th International Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Graduate Conference

22 May 2026, 09:45-18:30 | Central European University | Room D-001, Quellenstrasse 51, 1100

23 May 2026, 10:15-17:00 | University of Vienna | Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Lecture Hall, Postgasse 9, 1010

The Ancient, Byzantine, and Medieval Studies Cluster of the Vienna Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna and the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Central European University are pleased to announce the 5th International Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Graduate Conference.

How the Other is constructed has been extensively explored within post-structuralism and deconstructive theory, starting with the seminal works of Derrida and Foucault. These ideas have intersected with and influenced various fields in the humanities and social sciences, including post-colonial theory and gender studies, which have dealt with the construction of racialized and gendered bodies through the opposition between normative selves and stigmatized or otherized identities. Within Byzantine studies, the exploration of otherness has opened new avenues for understanding how parts of Byzantine society defined themselves in relation to external groups as well as internal others, such as heretics, non-Christians, and marginalized communities.

In this conference, we wish to approach the concept of otherness from two complementary perspectives. On the one hand, we intend to investigate how the Byzantines imagined an idealized self-identity, in a dialectic way, through the construction of the Other. This includes exploring the strategies used by social groups to construct a self-perception distinct from outsiders. On the other hand, we aim to address the issue of deconstructing our own gaze as scholars dealing with regions and peoples that have been historically otherized.

Program

Day 1: 22 May 2026

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION: 09:00–09:45

WELCOME: 09:45–10:00

KEYNOTE LECTURE: 10:00–11:00

• Koray Durak: Manifestations of Identity and Otherness in Byzantium and Byzantine Studies

COFFEE BREAK: 11:00–11:30

SESSION 1: 11:30–12:30 | Constructing the Religious Other
Chair: István Perczel | Central European University

• Pantelis Levakos: Liturgical Space and the Performance of Otherness: the Synodikon of Orthodoxy as Ritualized Boundary – Making in Byzantium
• James Cogbill: Fear of the Hidden Religious Other in Late Thirteenth Century Constantinople

LUNCH: 12:30–13:30

SESSION 2: 13:30–15:00 | Recentering Gender Minorities
Chair: Larisa Ficulle Santini | Austrian Academy of Sciences

• Syed Hassan Askari: Crossing Boundaries: Gender, Bodies, and the Making of the "Other" in Byzantium
• Gunhyuk Lee: Mediating Otherness: Women's Donations and Institutional Agency in Late Antique Egypt
• Hayriye Bilici: Foreign Marriages: Crossing Bridges

COFFEE BREAK: 15:00–15:30

SESSION 3: 15:30–17:00 | Constructing the Other in Literary Sources
Chair: Krystina Kubina | University of Vienna

• Giorgos Terzis: Between Empire and Frontier: Constructing Otherness and Hybrid Identity in the Epic Romance Digenes Akritas
• Giulia Gollo: Narratological Mechanisms of (An)Othering in Byzantine Hagiography
• Dikaios Panteleakis: "Anatolikoi" and "Barbaroi:" Conflict, Confrontation and Perceptions of "Otherness" in the Land of Morea during the 15th c.

COFFEE BREAK: 17:00–17:30

SESSION 4: 17:30–18:30 | Visualizing the Other
Chair: Grace Stafford | University of Vienna

• Hale Berrin Karaca: The "Other" Religious Spaces of Byzantium: Examining the Dominican Church of San Domenico (Arap Camii) and its Frescoes
• Michael Kiefer: "Cultural Crossdressing" in Constantinople – Middle Byzantine Court Dress and the Islamic Other

PIZZA DINNER: 18:30–20:30

DAY 2: 23 May 2026
 

ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION: 09:30–10:15

WELCOME: 10:15–10:30

SESSION 1: 10:30–11:30 | Choosing Otherness
Chair: Baukje van den Berg | Central European University

• Cemre Melis Yordamlı: A Voluntary Other: The Patronage of Anna Notaras after the Fall of Constantinople
• Giorgi Turašvili: Self-Imposed "Otherness:" How Monastery of Petricon (Bachkovo) Enforced its Separate Identity

COFFEE BREAK: 11:30–12:00

SESSION 2: 12:00–13:00 | The Modern Byzantine Other
Chair: Cosimo Paravano | University of Vienna

• Diana Pugachova: Invisible Hands: Reshaping the Image of the "Male Monk" within Manuscript Studies
• Cenker Sarıkaya: The Byzantine "Other" as a Constructed Lieu de Mémoire: Perspectives on Varangians in the Scholarly Circles of the Late Nineteenth-Century Constantinople

LUNCH: 13:00–14:00

SESSION 3: 14:00–15:30 | The Foreign Other
Chair: Péter Bara | Central European University

• Misel Gara: Aliens and Sojourners in the Polis: The Early Christian Normative Social Imaginary as non-Citizen
• Xinyu Wang: Byzantine Perception of Venetians and Its Practical Implementation Before the Fourth Crusade
• Alberto Martínez-Cordone: The Otherizing Depiction of the Ottomans in John Anagnostes' Account of the Last Capture of Thessalonica (15th Century)

COFFEE BREAK: 15:30–16:00

KEYNOTE LECTURE: 16:00–17:00

• Ingela Nilsson: Recognizing the Other in Byzantine Studies

WINE RECEPTION: 17:00–20:00

Organizers

Ada Kök | CEU; Alessandra Guido | UniVie, Dachi Pachulia | CEU , Gunhyuk Lee | CEU, Hans-Nikos Christoforakis | UniVie, Kassandra Cox | CEU, Liudmila Eramova | UniVie, Marieke Verbiest | UniVie
Olga Vlachou | CEU, Panagiotis Kouloukis | UniVie

Keynote Speakers

Ingela Nilsson | Uppsala University
Koray Durak | Boğaziçi University

Session Chairs

Baukje van den Berg| Central European University
Cosimo Paravano | University of Vienna
Grace Stafford | University of Vienna
István Perczel | Central European University
Krystina Kubina | University of Vienna
Larisa Ficulle Santini | Austrian Academy of Sciences
Péter Bara | Central European University

Participants

Alberto Martínez-Cordone | The University of Salamanca / The University of Roma Tre, Cemre Melis Yordamlı | University of Oxford, Cenker Sarıkaya | Koç University, Diana Pugachova | Free University Berlin, Dikaios Panteleakis | University of Crete, Giorgi Turašvili | Ilia State University, Giorgos Terzis | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Gulio Gollo | University of Cologne / KU Leuven / ÖAW Vienna
Hale Berrin Karaca | Koç University, Hayriye Bilici | Koç University, James Cogbill | University of Oxford
Michael Kiefer | Heidelberg University, Misel Gara | Eötvös Lorand University, Pantelis Levakos | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens / KU Leuven, Syed Hassan Askari | Higher School of Economics, Xinyu Wang | University of Cologne
 

Acknowledgements

The organizers of the conference would like to gratefully acknowledge the support and funding provided by the Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna, the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna, and the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) at CEU.