[Bilimsel Haber] Language as Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (330-2013) Colloquium, May 24, 2014, U of Birmingham

[Gonul Pultar]

From: Gemma Norman <GLN256 at bham.ac.uk>



Language as Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (330-2013)




The students of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek 
Studies at the University of Birmingham are proud to announce the 15th 
Annual Postgraduate Colloquium, which will take place on Saturday, 24th 
May 2014.

Keynote speaker: Dr Maria Georgopoulou, (Director of the Gennadius 
Library, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens)



The colloquium will bring postgraduate students together to discuss the 
significance of language in the eastern Mediterranean from Late 
Antiquity to the Modern Age. Beginning with the observation that all 
studies are routinely possessed by language, it is important to 
understand the relationship between language and culture. A major goal 
is to examine the role of culture in linguistic meaning, language use 
and, conversely, the role of linguistic form and culture in social 
action and in cultural practices. Language is a key to understanding the 
social, symbolic and expressive lives of members of society.

How, we will ask, can we learn more about language, and, what can we say 
about language in the Mediterranean basin?

Studies of ritual and performance, of patronage and status often draw on 
linguistic evidence to talk about various forms of cultural production: 
attesting to the crucial and hitherto unacknowledged role of language in 
the creation of cultural subjectivities. Language as a term should not 
be limited to literary forms, as verbal products, but may be extended to 
encompass a broader range of visual narratives, including, potentially, 
painting, architecture and other kinds of material culture. We are 
interested in the production, interpretation and reproduction of social 
meanings, as expressed and accrued through language and in exploring the 
relation to culture and society.



We invite proposals for 20-minute papers in all fields of Byzantine, 
Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies. Topics may include but are not limited to:

Language ideology
Ideological context of architecture
Visual culture
Literacy and education
Literary analysis
Multicultural communities
Objects and words as symbols of identity
Representation, power and social status
Theories and practices of image-making
Ideas about communication or trade
Perceptions and sounds of speech
Cultural history of texts



Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words to George Makris at 
GTM036 at bham.ac.uk by Monday, 24th March 2014.



Registration is free



Kind regards,

Gemma Norman
PhD Candidate
Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
University of Birmingham
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/bomg/pg/norman-gemma.aspx



GEM - Gate to the Eastern Mediterranean
http://gembirmingham.org/





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