The "end of antiquity" long dominated
European self-imagining: it was seen as a cataclysmic event of abiding
significance, and was the subject of what is commonly accepted as the
first "modern" European history, Gibbon's Decline and Fall. At this
conference we would like to open the issue up to the rest of the world.
We solicit contributions pertaining to any ancient histories, including
the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. We also understand 'ancient' to
be flexible in temporal terms: for the Americas, for instance, the end
of antiquity arguably comes as late as 1492.
Participants may approach the theme of from a variety of
perspectives. They might, for example, explore the relationship
between two or more "endings"; they might adopt a comparative
perspective, exploring similarities; they might consider questions of
discontinuity and tradition in specific cultures or the relationship of
the ancient to what follows as an historiographic problem.
Possible specific areas that might be explored in this connection might
include for example religious traditions; cities as social, economic
and cultural centers; intercultural relations; global networks for the
transfer of ideas; maps and mapping.
Contributions that are explicitly pedagogical are also welcome.
There may be room for one "off-theme" panel at our meetings; people
(especially graduate students) with an interesting proposal that does
not quite fit the theme above should feel free to submit
proposals. Papers should be 20 minutes in length. There will be
no parallel sessions, so that there will be ample room for discussion.
Paper proposals for 20 minute presentations consisting of a topic and a
one paragraph description (no more than 200 words) should be sent to
Charles Hedrick at
Hedrick
(at) ucsc.edu or Michele Salzman at
michele.salzman (at) ucr.edu
no later than March 15. Speakers will be notified of acceptance by
March 31, 2007.
People interested in attending without presenting a paper should
contact Claudia Rapp at claudiar (at) history.ucla.edu.
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