Conference: Central and Eastern Europe in the Global Middle Ages (U. of Illinois)

Date: June 22, 2017

Central and Eastern Europe in the Global Middle Ages
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
June 22, 2017

This conference will contribute to an ongoing discussion at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, inspired by the journal The Medieval Globe, which promotes a global understanding of medieval civilization and challenges anachronistic boundaries, categories, and expectations. Specifically, in this forum we hope to demonstrate that the lingering anachronistic division of Medieval Europe into “Eastern” and “Western,” imposed by the contemporary notions of geopolitics and inherited from Cold War scholarship, obscures the study of pre-modern topics and even misconstrues the realities of Central and Eastern European culture, life and politics. Instead, we propose to explore divisions and affinities in Medieval Europe in the framework of networks, communities, and other forms of association. Focusing on the central, eastern, and southern European lands, speakers will examine how their research projects contribute to a holistic understanding of the Global Middle Ages, demonstrating cross-regional interconnectivity, illustrating the deeper roots of global processes, or offering new perspectives on the pre-modern and its importance for our understanding of the present global situation. Integrating the study of history, literature, religion, fine-arts, and many others, the interdisciplinary and trans-national nature of medieval studies is especially relevant today, when nineteenth-century Romantic visions and twenty-first century short-sighted nationalisms encourage a pigeonholing projection of the past, while an understanding of the deep roots of our global interconnectivity can offer new perspectives on and approaches to the problems of globalization.

Conference Program:
June 22 
(All events, unless otherwise noted, in 210 General Lounge, Illini Union building, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801)
9 am Welcoming remarks, David Cooper, Director of REEEC, organizer
9:15-11:45 Panel 1: Rus’ and its Environs
Chair: John Randolph (Illinois)
  • Ines Garcia de la Puente (Boston U), “The Translated Worlds of Kievan Rus’”
  • Olenka Pevny (Cambridge), “‘Living’ Orthodoxy and Petro Mohyla’s Restoration of the Kyivan Rus Patrimony”
  • Matthew Romaniello (Hawaii), “Commodities without Context? Rethinking the History of Medicine in Medieval Russia”
  • Michael Bechtel (U Chicago), “The End of the Nomadic Military Elite: Technology and Institutional Change in Late Medieval Central Eurasia”
12-1 Lunch break

1:15-3:00 Panel 2: Central Europe
Chair: Carol Symes, editor, The Medieval Globe (Illinois)
  • Julia Verkholantsev (U Penn), “Medieval Historian at Work: Historical Method and Linguistic Thought”
  • Paul Milliman (Arizona), “The First Invention of Eastern Europe: Sclavia, Scythia, and the East in the Medieval Map of Civilization”
  • Eva Doležalová (Center for Medieval Studies, Prague), “Image of the Jews in the High and Late Medieval Bohemian Society in Comparison to the Holy Roman Empire”
3-3:15 Short break

3:15-5 Panel 3: Southeastern Europe
Chair: Martin Camargo (Illinois)
  • Gabriela Currie (Minnesota), “Eurasian Sonic Borderlands: Cultural Encounters in the Danubian Plains”
  • Donna Buchanan (Illinois), “Sonic Politics of the Sacred: Bells and Belfries in the Bulgarian Middle Ages and Contemporary Medieval Imaginary”
  • Robert Romanchuk (Florida State), “The ‘Formulaic Style’ and Its Role in the Translation of Digenis Akritis into Old Slavic”
5-5:20 Closing Discussion
The conference is free and open to the public.

Co-Sponsored by:
Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center Ralph and Ruth Fisher Endowment
Program in Medieval Studies
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures