Transformations of the Seventh Century I: Connected Cultures
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Dept. of History, Durham Univ.
Organizer Name
Helen Foxhall Forbes
Organizer Affiliation
Durham Univ.
Presider Name
Helen Foxhall Forbes
Paper Title 1
Elite Female Dress and East-West Connections in the Seventh Century
Presenter 1 Name
Katie Haworth
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Durham Univ.
Paper Title 2
Transformed by Slavery? The Remaking of Seventh-Century North Africa
Presenter 2 Name
Thomas J. MacMaster
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Morehouse College
Paper Title 3
From the Byzantine to the Arab World: Economy and Landscapes in Seventh-Century North Africa
Presenter 3 Name
Anna Leone
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Durham Univ.
Start Date
10-5-2018 1:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1340
Description
Transformations of the Seventh Century I: Connected Cultures
Transformations of the Seventh Century II: Disciplines in Dialogue
The seventh century saw significant transformations across Europe and the Mediterranean world, resulting in profound religious, political, cultural, social and economic changes which affected communities and societies in diverse ways. This session seeks to examine specific moments of transformation within the seventh century, and the ways in which scholars can bring together different kinds of disciplines to investigate the evidence for these changes. . The seventh century is also crucial in considering periodisation of late antiquity and the early middle ages. The Italian peninsula in AD 600 is usually understood to be firmly part of ‘late antiquity’ while northern Europe in the same period is generally perceived as the ‘early middle ages’; at the same time, some recent scholarship argues that ‘Byzantium’ begins only in the seventh century. However, all these areas were connected via political, economic, cultural, religious and other networks and this varying periodisations are problematic if not considered as part of a whole. A similar issue is seen in terms of methodological approaches. Scholarship of the seventh century often uses a range of different types of evidence or disciplinary approaches, but even so interdisciplinary study presents challenges as well as offering potential. Moreover, even the concept of ‘interdisciplinary research’ is taken in substantially different ways by practitioners who operate within the frameworks of different scholarly traditions, disciplines or departments, and with unspoken disciplinary assumptions.
Session one will consider how different societies and cultures experienced and negotiated these changes, and the ways in which different cultures came into contact with new networks of trade, exchange, knowledge and communication which were built up across Europe and the Mediterranean.
Session two will examine the disciplinary structures, approaches and assumptions which underpin research into the seventh century, and in particular will focus on how to bring different disciplines together for fruitful dialogue.
Helen G. Foxhall Forbes
Transformations of the Seventh Century I: Connected Cultures
Schneider 1340
Transformations of the Seventh Century I: Connected Cultures
Transformations of the Seventh Century II: Disciplines in Dialogue
The seventh century saw significant transformations across Europe and the Mediterranean world, resulting in profound religious, political, cultural, social and economic changes which affected communities and societies in diverse ways. This session seeks to examine specific moments of transformation within the seventh century, and the ways in which scholars can bring together different kinds of disciplines to investigate the evidence for these changes. . The seventh century is also crucial in considering periodisation of late antiquity and the early middle ages. The Italian peninsula in AD 600 is usually understood to be firmly part of ‘late antiquity’ while northern Europe in the same period is generally perceived as the ‘early middle ages’; at the same time, some recent scholarship argues that ‘Byzantium’ begins only in the seventh century. However, all these areas were connected via political, economic, cultural, religious and other networks and this varying periodisations are problematic if not considered as part of a whole. A similar issue is seen in terms of methodological approaches. Scholarship of the seventh century often uses a range of different types of evidence or disciplinary approaches, but even so interdisciplinary study presents challenges as well as offering potential. Moreover, even the concept of ‘interdisciplinary research’ is taken in substantially different ways by practitioners who operate within the frameworks of different scholarly traditions, disciplines or departments, and with unspoken disciplinary assumptions.
Session one will consider how different societies and cultures experienced and negotiated these changes, and the ways in which different cultures came into contact with new networks of trade, exchange, knowledge and communication which were built up across Europe and the Mediterranean.
Session two will examine the disciplinary structures, approaches and assumptions which underpin research into the seventh century, and in particular will focus on how to bring different disciplines together for fruitful dialogue.
Helen G. Foxhall Forbes