The Caucasus is often seen as a borderland region, positioned on the edge of empires, hosting a patchwork of cultures and faiths, and cut by valley and river into a wide array of smaller levels and units. But those very conjunctions, equally, can create exceptional connection every bit as much as division: the borders and borderlands of the Medieval Caucasus may be viewed as fluid, connective environments as much as lines of demarcation or conflict. Both in imagination and lived experience, borderlands and borders were and are subjects that loom large in Caucasian history.
To further discussions and dialogue on these issues, The Medieval Caucasus Network are organising another annual series of panels at the International Medieval Congress- Europe’s largest medieval scholarly conference. We welcome papers in the fields of History, Art History, Archaeology, Medieval Studies, Literature, Historical Linguistics or other medieval topics relating to Caucasian cultures.
Possible paper subjects may include, but are not limited to:
- The construction, change, and experience of medieval borders and borderland regions in the Caucasus;
- The imagination of borders and borderlands in medieval Caucasus culture and writing;
- Examining and questioning the conceptual framework of borders and its role in studies of the medieval Caucasus;
- Cultural and social borders and boundaries within and around the Caucasus;
- The Caucasus itself as a border or borderland region and its conception as such.
Travel funding may be available, but we cannot guarantee this; if travel funding does become available, scholars travelling from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Russian Federation, Iran or Turkey will be given priority. The International Medieval Congress expects that the conference will take place in person; however, in the event that travel becomes impossible, the conference will take place online.
For further information, please see the full conference CFP at https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc- 2022/.
Deadlines for Expressions of Interest
Please submit an expression of interest to John Latham-Sprinkle (John.LathamSprinkle@ugent.be) or James Baillie (james.baillie@univie.ac.at) by 15th September. Please send a paper title, academic affiliation, and a 100 to 200 word abstract. Please also indicate whether you will require travel funding in order to attend, and if so, approximately how much you estimate will be necessary.