Erasure in Late Antiquity: Call for Papers

*Leeds International Medieval Congress, 6th to 9th July 2020*

*The Postgraduate and Early Career Late Antiquity Network *



Various forms of erasure have attracted significant interest in recent
scholarship. Whether reassessments of *damnatio memoriae*, temple
desecration and redecoration, or the deliberate denial of links to
preceding movements during processes of cultural and religious change,
these concerns are particularly relevant to the late antique world.
Censorship, the manipulation and alteration of space, and concepts of
absence in theology and philosophy are also closely connected to notions of
erasure, as well as more sudden processes of replacement and change. Yet
there have been few attempts to consider erasure as a more general
phenomenon in late antiquity. What were the means by which inclusion and
exclusion took place? Were there commonalities in erasing processes? How
can scholars recover the traces of what has been erased, and how can the
academic community identify and assess its own erasures?



We invite postgraduate and early career researchers from a variety of
backgrounds to present and discuss erasure across the field of late
antiquity in a series of panels. The Late Antiquity Network was founded in
2012 to provide a unified platform for junior researchers working on a
broad range of geographical and disciplinary areas within the period. We
hold workshops and organise panels at larger conferences to provide
opportunities for junior researchers to build connections with others in
the field, present their research in a constructive environment, and
discuss key current trends and issues. Participants in these panels are
encouraged to interpret ‘erasure’ in a broad sense, thinking about how the
theme intersects with their own research interests. Applications from
masters students, those early in their PhDs, and individuals without
current institutional affiliation are particularly encouraged. Papers
should be no more than 20 minutes, leaving 10 minutes for discussion.



Some suggested topics for discussion, which we invite participants to read
in relation to their own themes or bodies of evidence:



- ‘Remembering to forget’ and self-conscious erasure

- Narrative exclusion and literary erasure

- Physical and spatial erasure

- Erasure and the dynamics of censorship

- Erasure of boundaries (epistemological, ethnic, etc)
- Erasure and changes in religion and culture
- Partial erasure, deliberate or accidental

- Erasure in manuscripts and papyri

- The removal and replacement of individuals

- Erasure and power dynamics

- Concepts of absence and erasure in philosophy and theology

- Sculptural, pictorial and visual inclusion and exclusion generally

- Erasure and the problems of sources’ representation

- Erasure in or by contemporary scholarship



The deadline for abstracts (300 words) is midnight on Friday, September
6th. Please include a brief bio noting your career stage.



Abstracts and queries can be sent to: lateantiquenetwork@gmail.com



*Rebecca Usherwood (Trinity College Dublin), Becca Grose (Reading), and the
Network Committee.*