4th International Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Graduate Conference
Otherness in Byzantium: Imagining, Encountering, Excluding
May 22, 2026:
Start Time: 09:45
Location: Central European University, Room D-001, Quellenstrasse 51, 1100 Wien
May 23, 2026:
Start Time: 10:15
Location: Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies University of Vienna, Lecture Hall, Postgasse 9, 1010 Wien
Abstract: How the Other is constructed has been extensively explored within post-structuralism and deconstructive theory, starting with the seminal works of Derrida and Foucault. 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: May 22
09:00–09:45 ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION
Central European University, Room D-001
09:45–10:00 WELCOME
10:00–11:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Koray Durak | Boğaziçi University
Manifestations of Identity and Otherness in Byzantium and Byzantine Studies
11:00–11:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:30–12:30 FIRST SESSION: THE MODERN BYZANTINE OTHER
11:30–12:00 Diana Pugachova | Free University of Berlin
Invisible Hands: Reshaping the Image of the “Male Monk” within Manuscript Studies
12:00–12:30 Cenker Sarıkaya | Koç University
The Byzantine “Other” as a Constructed Lieu de Mémoire: Perspectives on Varangians in the Scholarly Circles of the Late Nineteenth-Century Constantinople
12:30–13:30 LUNCH
13:30–15:00 SECOND SESSION: RECENTERING GENDER MINORITIES
13:30–14:00 Syed Hassan Askari | Higher School of Economics
Crossing Boundaries: Gender, Bodies, and the Making of the “Other” in Byzantium
14:00–14:30 Gunhyuk Lee | Central European University
Mediating Otherness: Women’s Donations and Institutional Agency in Late Antique Egypt
14:30–15:00 Hayriye Bilici| Koç University
Foreign Marriages: Crossing Bridges
15:00–15:30 COFFEE BREAK
15:30–17:00 THIRD SESSION: CONSTRUCTING THE OTHER IN LITERARY SOURCES
15:30–16:00 Giorgos Terzis | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Between Empire and Frontier: Constructing Otherness and Hybrid Identity in the Epic Romance Digenes Akritas
16:00–16:30 Giulia Gollo | University of Cologne / KU Leuven / ÖAW Vienna
Narratological Mechanisms of (An)Othering in Byzantine Hagiography
16:30–17:00 Dikaios Panteleakis | University of Crete
“Anatolikoi” and “Barbaroi:” Conflict, Confrontation and Perceptions of “Otherness” in the Land of Morea during the 15th c.
17:00–17:30 COFFEE BREAK
17:30–18:30 FOURTH SESSION: VISUALIZING THE OTHER
17:30–18:00 Hale Berrin Karaca | Koç University
The “Other” Religious Spaces of Byzantium: Examining the Dominican Church of San Domenico (Arap Camii) and its Frescoes
18:00–18:30 Michael Kiefer| Heidelberg University
“Cultural Crossdressing” in Constantinople – Middle Byzantine Court Dress and the Islamic Other
18:30–20:30 BUFFET DINNER
DAY 2, May 23
09:30–10:15 ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION
University of Vienna, Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Lecture Hall
10:15–10:30 WELCOME
10:30–11:30 FIRST SESSION: CHOOSING OTHERNESS
10:30–11:00 Cemre Melis Yordamlı | University of Oxford
A Voluntary Other: The Patronage of Anna Notaras after the Fall of Constantinople
11:00–11:30 Giorgi Turašvili| Ilia State University
Self-Imposed “Otherness:” How Monastery of Petricon (Bachkovo) Enforced its Separate Identity
11:30–12:00 COFFEE BREAK
12:00–13:00 SECOND SESSION: CONSTRUCTING THE RELIGIOUS OTHER
12:00–12:30 Pantelis Levakos | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens / KU Leuven
Liturgical Space and the Performance of Otherness: the Synodikon of Orthodoxy as Ritualized Boundary – Making in Byzantium
12:30–13:00 James Cogbill | University of Oxford
Fear of the Hidden Religious Other in Late Thirteenth Century Constantinople
13:00–14:00 LUNCH
14:00–15:30 THIRD SESSION: THE FOREIGN OTHER
14:00–14:30 Misel Gara | Eötvös Lorand University
Aliens and Sojourners in the Polis: The Early Christian Normative Social Imaginary as non-Citizen
14:30–15:00 Xinyu Wang | University of Cologne
Byzantine Perception of Venetians and Its Practical Implementation Before the Fourth Crusade
15:00–15:30 Alberto Martínez-Cordone| The University of Salamanca / The University of Roma Tre
The Otherizing Depiction of the Ottomans in John Anagnostes’ Account of the Last Capture of Thessalonica (15th Century)
15:30–16:00 COFFEE BREAK
16:00–17:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Ingela Nilsson | Uppsala University
Recognizing the Other in Byzantine Studies
17:00–20:00 WINE RECEPTION
Co-organized by graduate students of the Department of Historical Studies at the Central European University and the Ancient, Byzantine and Medieval Studies Cluster of the Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna: Ada Kök (Central European University), Alessandra Guido (University of Vienna), Dachi Pachulia (Central European University), Gunhyuk Lee (Central European University), Hans-Nikos Christoforakis (University of Vienna), Kassandra Cox (Central European University), Luidmila Eramova (University of Vienna), Marieke Verbiest (University of Vienna), Olga Vlachou (Central European University), Panagiotis Kouloukis (University of Vienna).
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. We would like to especially thank our two keynote speakers Ingela Nilsson (Uppsala University) and Koray Durak (Boğaziçi University).
