TWELFTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
“The Fifth Century: Age of Transformation”
Yale University
23 - 26 March 2017

The Society for Late Antiquity announces that the Twelfth Biennial  
Conference on Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity will be held at  
Yale University on the topic of “The Fifth Century: Age of  
Transformation.” The conference will be cosponsored by the University  
of Groningen.

In chronological terms there can be little doubt that the fifth  
century is the pivot point of Late Antiquity. It is arguable that it  
also represents the major watershed between a monolithic world still  
dominated by the Roman Empire in the fourth and the more tessellated  
worlds of the sixth century. Whereas the fourth century is still very  
much an age of continuity with the earlier empire, the fifth can  
rightfully be viewed as the moment when Mediterranean Eurasia and  
North Africa witnessed profound political, social, religious, economic  
and cultural transformations. Shifting Frontiers XII seeks to  
investigate the nature and impact of these changes. We are  
particularly interested in six areas of research which reflect this  
transformational trend.
1)      Shifts in the archaeological and material record: archaeology of  
the frontier; art and power; spoliation, collectionism, preservation
2)      State formation, re-formation, transformation: emperors, kings,  
rulers; law codes; new loci of political power – desert and steppe
3)      Transformations in religious authority: east and west – tension and  
cooperation; traditional religion; notions of the divine; popular  
practice
4)      Changes in climate, environment, geography: demography, disaster,  
microclimates / macroclimates; resource allocation
5)      Literary transformations: epitomes, canons, excerpts; commentary;  
vernacular literature (Aramaic, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian);  
translation / transcription
6)      Identity transformation: ethnicity and identity; gender and  
sexuality; uses of alterity – etic and emic

As in the past, we intend for the conference to provide an  
interdisciplinary forum for historians, archaeologists, and  
specialists in religious studies, near-eastern or Asian studies, and  
scholars of Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Georgian, Armenian and  
Persian literature. The conference should open a forum for the  
exploration of intersections between the world cultures of Europe,  
Asia, and Africa and the ways in which these peoples and places  
collided and were recombined to launch the global Middle Age.
Proposals should be clearly related to the theme of the conference and  
one of the above areas of research, and should state clearly both the  
problem being discussed and the nature of the new discoveries,  
insights, or conclusions that will be presented.  Abstracts of not  
more than 500 words for 20-minute presentations may be submitted via  
e-mail to Professors Noel Lenski and Jan Willem Drijvers, at  
shiftingfrontiers.12@gmail.com. Deadline for submission of abstracts  
November 1, 2016.

For further information see the conference’s website:  
https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1854599