Department of Theology & Religion, University of Birmingham
15th–16th July 2020
Keynote Speakers:
Dr Molly Zahn, University of Kansas
Dr Elisa Uusimäki, Aarhus University
Deadline for Abstracts: Saturday 28th March, 2020
We invite postgraduate students and early career researchers to submit proposals for twenty-minute papers broadly related to the topic of Categories and Boundaries in Second Temple Jewish Literature. Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a working title should be sent to categoriesandboundaries2020@gmail.com. Please note that speakers can apply for travel bursaries and that selected papers may be considered for publication in peer-reviewed proceedings.
We welcome abstracts engaging with, but not limited to, the following themes:
- • Categorical or genre-related distinctions/similarities/tensions in Second Temple texts and related literature
- • Physical boundaries (e.g. city limits, border regions, topographical features, walls, buildings)
- • Understanding vocational roles (e.g. priests, prophets, scribes, sages)
- • Cross-border cultural interaction (e.g. travel, international trade, migration, treaties)
- • The role of boundaries in the construction of space/place (e.g. ritual, political)
- • Rhetorical or symbolic creation/uses/deconstruction of borders and boundaries in the formation of “self” and the knowledge of “other”
- • The relationship between land, space, and identity
- • The function of power in delineating categories or boundaries (e.g. elite scribes connected to political power, literate scribes reflecting an oppressed/defiant community)