[classicsnw] Final Call for Papers: CRASIS Annual Meeting on Hellenism

From: CRASIS <crasis.aws@xxxxxx>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2015 09:20:05 +0100

*[image: Inline image 1] *

*FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS*

* (with apologies for cross-posting)*

*HELLENISM:*

*Interaction, Translation and Culture Transfer*

*Keynote and Master: Dr. Benjamin Wright (Lehigh University, Pennsylvania)*

CRASIS, the interdisciplinary research institute for the study of the
ancient world at the University of Groningen, is organizing its fifth
Annual Meeting and Master Class. CRASIS brings together researchers from
Classics, Religious Studies, Ancient History, Late Antiquity Studies,
Archaeology, Ancient Philosophy, and Legal History, focusing on Greek and
Roman societies as well as on Jewish and Near Eastern civilizations and
their mutual interaction. The CRASIS Annual Meeting and Master Class is a
two-day event, set up as a meeting place for students at PhD or Research
Master level, Post-Docs, and senior staff to promote discussion and
exchange of ideas beyond disciplinary boundaries.

We cordially invite *PhD and Research Master Students, Post-Doctoral
Researchers*, as well as *Senior* *Researchers* to submit a proposal for
the CRASIS Annual Meeting and PhD/ReMa Master Class (*11-12* *February 2016*
).

The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting and Master Class will be, *Hellenism:
Interaction, Translation and Culture Transfer.* We in the modern world are
used to thinking of the globe as a fairly small place, one that is getting
smaller all the time with instant access to information and almost
unlimited possibilities for continuous contact with other people. Increased
exposure to other people and places also brings with it exposure to
different cultures. Although in some regions of the world, imperial
domination may have ceased, the cultures of those former imperial nations
continue to serve colonialist and imperialist agendas. Whether we see
t-shirts for sale with the Coca-Cola logo and slogan in Thai or we watch
wars waged to establish “democratic” political institutions (and all their
attendant institutions) in places where they have never flourished, most
people in the world have interacted in a variety of ways with what is often
dubbed “Western” culture, often articulated through English, the language
of the dominant culture. Yet cultures are not monoliths, nor are they
stable entities unaffected by the people who practice and enact them. Not
only does the receiving culture undergo change: the dominant culture is
also affected. Indeed all culture is dynamic and local.

The ancient Mediterranean, in some ways like the modern world, became a
fairly small place after Alexander’s conquests and into the Roman period.
People in the Near East, Central Asia, and Africa came into close contact
with Hellenistic – and later Roman – culture in the form of the Greek and
Latin languages, education, and social and political institutions.
Increased mobility and intensified trade routes facilitated the movement of
people and goods between distant communities. Numerous peoples lived under
the rule of Hellenistic kings and queens, particularly the Ptolemies in
Egypt and the Seleucids in the Near East, and later the Roman empire
dominated the entire Mediterranean basin. In scholarly analyses of the
dominance of Hellenistic and Roman cultures in Africa and the Eastern
Mediterranean, the tensions between indigenous cultures and those cultures
are magnified. Yet, we find that in those areas dominated by Hellenistic,
and later Roman, rule a more nuanced and complex set of interactions takes
place. The same breadth of intellectual resources that are necessary for
understanding these intersections in the modern world must be applied to
the ancient world as well.

These interactions raise critical questions. Did the intersection of
Hellenistic and Roman cultures with indigenous cultures create social
tension? If so, how was that tension resolved (or not) and what strategies
were employed? What kinds of accommodations or translations were made in
the process? How did indigenous populations fare under foreign Hellenistic
and Roman rule? Who prospered and who did not? How did such cultural
contact affect issues such as ethnic or religious identity during the
Hellenistic and Roman periods? What cultural symbols—literary and
material—reflected and constructed those identities?

We welcome papers exploring these questions with textual, visual, and
material sources. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

- *Translation*: How did language function as a cultural marker or as a
transmitter of culture? What role did language play in the larger arena of
cultural contact?
- *Material Culture*: How do the material sources help us to understand
cultural contact and interactions? How did material cultural symbols and
markers work to create and reinforce local or new identities?
- *Identity*: What aspects of identity became significant markers of
similarity or difference, of being an insider or outsider?
- *Literature*: How did literature become a vehicle for cultural
expression, change and transmission?
- *Theory*: What theoretical models and approaches help to illuminate
how we ought to think of culture and the way that cultural contact and
transmission worked in the Hellenistic world? What models help us to arrive
at a more nuanced view of identity formation and valorization in the
ancient world?

*Keynote Speaker and Master*

This year’s Keynote Speaker and Master is Benjamin Wright, professor of the
History of Christianity in the Religion Studies Department at Lehigh
University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His area of expertise is the history
of Judaism in the Second Temple period, with a focus on Jewish Wisdom
literature, the translation of Jewish literature from Hebrew into Greek
(Septuaginta, Ben Sira, Aristeas) and the Dead Sea Scrolls. His broad array
of publications in these and other areas shows his interest in larger
questions such as Hellenization, (cultural) translation, heritage and
identity. In September 2015 his commentary on the Letter of Aristeas
appeared with De Gruyter (Berlin). He is currently preparing a commentary
on the Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sira, has recently co-edited a new English
translation of the Septuagint, and will be Dirk Smilde Fellow at the Qumran
Institute in Groningen from February to May 2016.

*Deadline for Abstracts*

PhD and Research Master Students are invited to submit an abstract (500
words) for the Master Class (February 11th), explaining how their own
research relates to the theme. We invite Post-Docs and senior scholars to
submit a title and short abstract (250 words) for a lecture on the
conference day (February 12th). Proposals should be submitted no later than *9
November 2015 *with Sjoukje Kamphorst, via crasis.aws@xxxxxx. *Please
accompany your application for either event with a brief academic
background.*

*Information for PhD/ReMa Students*

Research Master students are expected to submit a paper of 3000-4000 words
and PhD students a paper of 5000-6000 words. These papers will circulate
among the participants and are to be submitted before *11* * January 2016*.
During the Master Class participants will present their paper, followed by
a response and discussion under the expert guidance of Professor Benjamin
Wright. The Master Class is an *OIKOS* and *ARCHON* activity and students
will earn 2 ECTS by active participation.

For more information, send an e-mail to crasis.aws@xxxxxx or see:
http://www.rug.nl/crasis.

On behalf of CRASIS,

Lidewijde de Jong

Sjoukje Kamphorst

Onno van Nijf

Mladen Popović

--
CRASIS is the Groningen Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture,
Religion and Society of the Graeco-Roman World. Follow CRASIS on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/rug.crasis>or find out more about us on
www.rug.nl/crasis.

[classicsnw] Final Call for Papers: CRASIS Annual Meeting on Hellenism

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