Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany, 26–28 July 2019
Secrets and secrecy are key features in late-antique, Byzantine, and early Islamic literature. They can manifest as hidden knowledge or sanctity, as disguise or the veiling of intentions, as a physical and metaphorical absence, as the creation of new identities or even as alternative modes of existence. An international conference organised by Anne Alwis (Kent), Anis Ben Amor (Tunis), Kirill Dmitriev (St Andrews) and Konstantin Klein (Bamberg) and funded by the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and the Humanities (AGYA) will be investigating the role of secrets and secrecy in a diachronic and interdisciplinary way.
*Friday 26th July 2019*
16:00 Registration
18:15 Welcome Address
18:30 *Zachary Yuzwa (University of Saskatchewan) – *“A Flower Among Thorns”: Hiddenness and Holiness in the Lives of Katherine Tekakwitha
20:00 Dinner for Speakers
*Saturday 27th July 2019*
9:00 Coffee and Registration
9:30 Introduction to the Conference
*Session I*
10:00 *Benjamin Pohl (University of Bristol) – *The Hidden Narrator
10:10 *Stavroula Constantinou (University of Cyprus) – *Authorship and Secrecy: The Hidden Agenda of a Fifth-Century Hagiographer
10:40 *Kirill Dmitriev (University of St Andrews)* – Secrecy as a Narrative Strategy in the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat
11:10 Coffee
*Session II*
11:30 *Jan-Markus Kötter (University of Düsseldorf)* – Literary Absence
11:40 *Lieve Van Hoof (Ghent University) – *Self-Fashioning Through Secrets: The Years 363–388 in Libanius’ Letter Collection
12:10 *Christa Gray (University of Reading) – *Concealing the Body: Hidden Burials in Jerome’s Lives of Holy Men
12:40 Lunch for Speakers
*Session III*
14:00 *Anne Alwis (University of Kent)* – Lifting the Veil
14:10 *Marlena Whiting (University of Amsterdam) – *Secret Women. Female Pilgrims Disguised as Men in Early-Byzantine Hagiography
14:40 *Laura Franco (Royal Holloway, London) – *Between Concealment and Disguise: The Cases of the Cross-Dressing Saints Euphrosyne/Smaragdus (BHG 625) and Mary/Marinus (BHG 1163)
15:10 Coffee
*Session IV*
15:30 *Dionysios Stathakopoulos (King’s College, London) – *Secret Sanctity
15:40 *Klazina Staat (Ghent University)* – Late-Antique Latin Lives of Chaste Couples: Secrecy as a Strategy of Belief
16:10 *Christodoulos Papavarnavas (University of Vienna) – *Martyrdom and Secret Holiness: The Role Swap Between a Martyr and a Flute Player
16:40 Coffee
*Session V*
17:00 *Leah Tether (University of Bristol)* – Literary Discretion
17:10 *Isabel Toral-Niehoff (Free University of Berlin) – *The Gentle Art of Safeguarding Secrets. Confidentiality in Arabic Advice Literature
17:40 *Lale Behzadi (University of Bamberg) – *Al-Jāḥiẓ on the Difficulty of Keeping a Secret
18:30 City tour
20:00 Dinner for Speakers
*Sunday 28th July*
9:30 Coffee
*Session VI*
10:00 *Jenny Oesterle (University of Heidelberg) – *Secrecy and Knowledge
10:10 *Georg Leube (University of Bayreuth) – *Gnosis on the Via Dolorosa: The Scope of Hidden Meaning in Early and Classical Arabic-Islamic Historiographical Accounts of Ali’s March to Siffin
10:40 *Enass Khansa (American University of Beirut) – *The Concealed Gates of Heaven
11:10 Coffee
*Session VII*
11:30 *Benjamin Gray (Birkbeck College, London) – *Masquerading Voices
11:40 *Tina Chronopoulos (Binghamton University, New York) – *Ineffable Speeches in the Greek Lives of St Katherine of Alexandria
12:10 *Klaus van Eickels (University of Bamberg) – *Revealing Secrets: Assassinations Explained or Prevented by Letters in Crusading Historiography
12:40 Lunch for Speakers
*Session VIII*
14:00 Konstantin Klein (University of Bamberg) – Concealing Vision: Seen but not Heard
14:10 Julia Doroszewska (University of Warsaw) – Secrets of the Saints: Tricks and Disguises in the Saintly Apparitions of the Late-Antique Miracle
Collections
14:40 James Corke-Webster (King’s College, London) – Seeing and Secrecy: Visibility and Martyrs
15:10 Break
15:20 *Alexandra Vukovich (University of Oxford) – *Final Conclusions
16:00 Walking tour
20:00 Dinner for Speakers
*Venues*
Friday (Keynote) – Theology Building; An der Universität 2, 96045 Bamberg, Room U2/00.25
Saturday & Sunday – Oriental Studies Building, Schillerplatz 17, 96045 Bamberg, Room SP17/00.13
Registration is not required. Please direct any questions at
konstantin.klein[at]uni-bamberg.de
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Dr. Konstantin M. Klein
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
Lehrstuhl für Alte Geschichte
Fischstraße 5-7
D-96045 Bamberg
Tel.: 0951-863-2349
Fax: 0951-863-2348
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