EAST OF BYZANTIUM WORKSHOP

Darlene Brooks Hedstrom, Brandeis University
Timothy Greenwood, University of St. Andrews

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Studying East of Byzantium XII: Spaces is a three-part workshop that intends to bring together doctoral students and recent PhDs studying the Christian East to reflect on the usefulness of the concept of “Spaces” in studying the Christian East, to share methodologies, and to discuss their research with one another and senior specialists in the field. The workshop continues the efforts of East of Byzantium, the partnership between the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross and the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University (from 2022–), to foster an interdisciplinary community of early career scholars engaged in the study of the diverse traditions of the medieval Christian East, including Syria, the South Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.

The theme for East of Byzantium XII is Spaces. The late twentieth century witnessed what some have called a “spatial turn”, using concepts of space and place to interrogate not only architecture, topography, and geography but also gender, social and political structures, theology, and religious experience. East of Byzantium welcomes doctoral students working in the Christian East to explore the concept of spaces from these and other perspectives.

We welcome topics on any aspect of spaces and places as it pertains to your project and invite all graduate students and recent PhDs working in the Christian East whose work considers, or hopes to consider, the theme of spaces in their own research to apply.

Workshop Format
The workshop events will be led by Darlene Brooks Hedstrom and Timothy Greenwood and facilitated by Christina Maranci and Brandie Ratliff. Meetings will be held on Zoom. The first event on October 24 will be a short introductory session where participants introduce themselves and their projects. During the second event on February 13, participants will provide a short 10-minute update on their research and have the opportunity to pose questions or problems to the group. At the final two-day event on June 4–5, each participant will deliver a 20- to 25-minute presentation based on their project. While research projects may be on any topic and need not focus specifically on spaces, the workshop theme should be the focus of the presentations. Individual presentations will be followed by a 10-minute response from Darlene Brooks Hedstrom or Timothy Greenwood and a general discussion. The timing of the workshop meetings will be determined when the participant list is finalized.

Eligibility
Doctoral students or recent PhDs studying the Christian East. All disciplines are welcome. Early career researchers should have received their PhD in 2025. Priority will be given to graduate students.

Abstracts
Interested students should submit a C.V. and a 200-word abstract no later than September 21, 2025. The abstract should describe the writing project that you will pursue during the workshop and how it relates to the workshop theme. The final output should be based on the dissertation project and may be in the form of a conference paper, a dissertation chapter or excerpt, or an article.

Complete Papers
Papers should not exceed 5,000 words in length including footnotes. Complete papers must be submitted no later than May 4, 2026.

Timeline
September 21, 2025: Abstracts due
October 1, 2025: Organizers notify workshop applicants of status
October 24, 2025: Workshop, Part I (Zoom)
February 13, 2026: Workshop, Part II (Zoom)
May 4, 2026: Complete papers due
June 4 and 5, 2026: Workshop, Part III (Zoom)

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Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom is Chair of the Department of Classical and Early Mediterranean Studies and Myra and Robert Kraft and Jacob Hiatt Associate Professor of Christian Studies in the Departments of Classical and Early Mediterranean Studies and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. Dr. Brooks Hedstrom is an archaeologist and historian of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean world (circa 300-1000 CE) with a specialization in the history of monasticism. She is Senior Archaeological Consultant for the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project-North, in Wadi Natrun, Egypt. Her work combines texts, material culture, and theory to examine the history of monastic makers of late antique objects and spaces. She publishes extensively on late antique Christian archaeology, monasticism, and the history of archaeology. Professor Brooks Hedstrom is the author of the monograph The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt An Archaeological Reconstruction and is currently working on an excavation monograph for a monastic residence at the Monastery of John the Little in Wadi Natrun.

Timothy Greenwood is Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of History at University of St. Andrews. His research centers on the history and culture of medieval Armenia between 400 and 1100 CE through literary, epigraphic, and architectural sources as well as Persian, Byzantine, and Islamic perspectives. He is the author of many publications, including the recent articles “Negotiating the North: Armenian perspectives on the Conquest era” and “Composing world history at the margins of empire: Armenian and Byzantine traditions in comparative perspective” and The Universal History of Step’anos Tarōnec’i: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Professor Greenwood was elected as a Correspondant étranger of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 2022 and Fellow of The British Academy in 2024.