CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline for abstracts: Friday, 25 March, 2011

The Thirty-Seventh Annual Byzantine Studies Conference (BSC) will be held at DePaul University in Chicago from Thursday evening, October 20, through Sunday lunch, October 23.

The conference is the annual forum for the presentation and discussion of papers on every aspect of Byzantine studies, and is open to all, regardless of nationality or academic status. It is also the occasion of the annual meeting of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America (BSANA), conducted by the current BSANA officers:

President: Robert Ousterhout (University of Pennsylvania)
Vice President: Ann Marie Yasin (University of Southern California)
Secretary: Kathleen Maxwell (Santa Clara University)
Treasurer: Elizabeth Fisher (George Washington University)

For more information, please see our website:

http://www.bsana.net
****************************************** We welcome proposals on any aspect of Byzantine studies. Proposals may be submitted either as individual abstracts or bundled as panels. Proposals consist of a cover sheet with your proposed title, proposed panel information (if part of a panel proposal) and your contact information and, on separate pages, two copies of an abstract of no more than 500 words, formatted and submitted according to the detailed instructions below.

The abstract is the basis for judging the proposed paper for acceptance. All abstracts, including those bundled for proposed panels, will be reviewed by each member of the Program Committee and accepted on their own merits. The program chair will group individually submitted papers into sessions, with the expectation that many sessions will be interdisciplinary. The session topics in the final program will depend on the subjects represented in the submissions.

Papers in all disciplines of Byzantine Studies are welcome. We particularly invite abstracts the following topics: Orthodox-Catholic interactions and ecumenical dialogue; methodologies in Byzantine archaeology; papers in honor of Walter Kaegi; Byzantium and modernity; secular arts and culture; collections of Byzantine art; Byzantium and Islam; Byzantine Italy and Sicily; Papyrology; Sinai; Coptic studies. All proposed papers must be substantially original and never have been published or presented previously in a public forum. Each contributor may deliver only one paper. The Program Committee may give preference to those who did not present a paper at the last BSC.

All abstracts will be reviewed by each member of the Program Committee:
Alice Christ (University of Kentucky)
Sharon Gerstel (UCLA)
Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio State University, Chair of the Committee)
Kostis Kourelis (Franklin & Marshall College)
Ralph Mathisen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Stratis Papaioannou (Brown University)

If accepted, the abstract will be published in the Byzantine Studies Conference’s annual Abstracts of Papers. Submission of the accepted abstract for publication constitutes agreement to present the paper at the conference.

To deliver your paper at the BSC, you must be a member of BSANA in good standing: to join or renew your membership in the BSANA, complete the membership form posted on the BSANA website and send it along with your dues payment to the current BSANA Treasurer (contact information listed on the membership form): http://www.bsana.net/membershipform.pdf You can verify your membership status at the BSANA website listed above.

Notice of acceptance or rejection will be sent by email by May 15th.

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The Abstract
The abstract should be no more than 500 words in length and should indicate the paper’s original contribution in sufficient detail and with some indication of the contributor’s conclusions so that the Program Committee can assess its merits. Papers will be limited to 20 minutes in length. Follow the Instructions for Preparation of the Abstract to facilitate its publication in the Abstracts of Papers. BSANA has no staff, and failure to prepare your abstract carefully will make it impossible to publish.

The Cover Sheet
On a separate cover sheet include:
• • name
• • address
• • your preferred academic affiliation (or the designation “Independent Scholar” with city and state of residence); graduate status, if applicable
• • phone and fax numbers
• • e-mail address that will be active on May 15
• • the paper’s title
• • indication of proposed panel or preferred session (if any)
• • indication of any projection or other special facilities needed
• • statement of whether you would prefer to be notified of acceptance or rejection by post rather than by e-mail

Graduate students must indicate their status on this sheet in order to be eligible for the Graduate Prize Competition and/or travel subsidy (see below).

Method of Submission
Please submit your proposals by e-mail as described below. The deadline for submission in all cases is 25 March, 2011.

Submissions. The three-part proposal (cover sheet plus 2 copies of abstract) must be submitted as a single e-mail attachment in the form of a MICROSOFT WORD document, with the abstract formatted according to the Instructions for Preparation of the Abstract.

The e-mail should be sent to the BSANA Vice President:

Ann Marie Yasin (yasin@usc.edu)

Greek Fonts. To avoid any problems arising from the use of different Greek fonts, if either the title or the body of your abstract includes Greek, we ask that you submit, in addition to the email attachment, a second copy on paper to the address given below so that the Greek can be verified. [Many Greek fonts are available free online. One possibility is SPIonic which is compatible with Times New Roman, can be used to download texts from the TLG using it, and is freeware.]

Ann Marie Yasin, BSANA VP
Associate Professor of Classics and Art History
University of Southern California
Classics Department
3501 Trousdale Pkwy, THH 256
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0352

The submission of a proposal and its acceptance represent a commitment from the contributor to read the paper in person at the BSC. Those who cannot attend must withdraw their papers no later than June 1. Failure to do so may adversely affect your future chances to present papers at the BSC.

For further inquires contact the Program Chair: Anthony Kaldellis (kaldellis.1@osu.edu)

Local Arrangements. Questions concerning local arrangements may be directed to the chair of the Local Arrangements Committee: Elena Boeck (eboeck@depaul.edu)

Instructions for Preparing the Abstract Basics:
• Maximum word count: 500 words.
Use MICROSOFT WORD. If your abstract includes Greek characters, send a paper copy of the abstract to the program chair to verify the Greek. Other alphabets should be transliterated.
Printing: preferably on a laser printer.
Margins: one inch at the top and bottom, 0.75 inches at each side.
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Line Spacing: Single spaced.

Title and Author
• Title Line(s): Boldface. Centered at the top of the page.
Titles may not be longer than two lines.
Capitalize only first letters of words.
Do not put your title in quotation marks; do not underline it.
• Skip one line (i.e., double space) below the title (= above the author line).
• Author Line content: Your name, followed on the same line (in parentheses) by your institution or (for independent scholars) your city.
To avoid ambiguity, you may list city and country.
Please do not give titles or letters representing degrees, orders, etc. Please list only a single, primary institutional affiliation in parentheses. • Author Line Style & Format: Plain text (not boldface); a single line centered below the blank line following the title line. • Skip one line (i.e., double space) before the first line of the body of the abstract.

Style Considerations
• If your paper is a study based on a particular manuscript, consider citing the MS in your abstract title as a help to scholars when they search our abstracts for previous studies of MSS.
• Please follow the Bulletin Codicologique convention for proper citation of manuscripts (in abstract titles or in the body of your abstract).

Abstract Text
• Abstract Text: Flush left (no right-hand margin justification). Indent first lines of each paragraph five spaces.
Leave one empty line between paragraphs.
• No footnotes. If you need to include a citation, put it within your text in parentheses.
• Please do NOT use the future tense (“This paper will investigate...”).
• Your abstract may be edited for grammar and stylistic consistency (e.g., to remove the future tense).
• Italicize titles and words in foreign languages. Quotations and titles in foreign alphabets other than Greek should be transliterated.
• Avoid using tables or diagrams in the abstract. Photographs cannot be reproduced.

Sending the Abstract
• Your submission should include three items in one Microsoft Word file:
1) A cover sheet with the information requested in the Call for Papers;
2) The abstract formatted as described above;
3) A second copy of the abstract with no Author Line to ensure the anonymous judging of abstracts.
• Submit all three items in a single e-mail attachment with page breaks inserted between items. E-mail this document to the BSANA Vice President, Ann Marie Yasin (yasin@usc.edu) before 25 March.