AMPRAW: Authority and Legitimacy

With great pleasure we announce our Call for Papers for this year’s Annual Meeting for Postgraduates in the Reception of the Ancient World (AMPRAW).

AMPRAW is an annual conference that is designed to bring together early-career researchers in the field of classical reception studies, and will be held for the ninth consecutive year. It aims to contribute to the growth of an international network of PhDs working on classical reception(s), as well as to strengthen relationships between early career researchers and established academics.

AMPRAW 2019 will be held at Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands) from Thursday 28 to Saturday 30 November 2019, in collaboration with OIKOS (National Research School in Classical Studies), NKV (National Association for all interested in Classical Studies) and Brill Publishers. The programme includes two conference days, and an optional cultural excursion on the third day. It is organized by and for postgraduates and early career researchers working in all areas of classical reception. Thanks to generous contributions of our sponsors, there will be no conference fee. Besides that, we offer a limited number of travel bursaries to speakers without research budgets or with limited funding. Lunch and coffee breaks will be provided to all speakers.

Confirmed keynote speakers:
• Dr Justine McConnell (University College London, United Kingdom)
• Dr David Rijser (University of Groningen, the Netherlands)
• Dr Nathalie de Haan (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
The conference will further involve contributions by specialists from Radboud University and OIKOS.

This year’s theme: Authority and Legitimacy
Classical reception has always and invariably been linked to the concept of authority. The very idea of the ‘classical’ involves the establishment of an authoritative canon (or canons), which is renegotiated and recreated throughout time. Furthermore, aspects from the classical world, or what is perceived as such, have always functioned as authoritative examples in various cultural processes and narratives.
Closely related to authority is the concept of legitimacy. Throughout history, classical antiquity has been quoted, excerpted, and framed to claim legitimacy. From the Franks under the Carolingians to the modern ‘alt-right’ movements, all claim legitimacy with reference to a certain idea of classical authority.

We invite papers of 20-25 minutes dealing in all possible ways with the following questions:
• What exactly constitutes the authority of Classical Antiquity?
• Where, when and why has it gained, or lost, its legitimacy?
• What are the structures behind the formation of an authoritative canon?
• How have people tried to maintain or subvert ‘classical’ authority: which social negotiations are at play?
• How do classical precedents function in historical and modern-day issues and mechanisms of power and legitimacy?
• How do classical examples function as anchors in new developments and innovation? In other words, how can new ideas obtain legitimacy by being anchored upon authoritative examples?
• How do the concepts of authority and legitimacy function in European and non-European reception of classical antiquity?
We encourage proposals in the fields of, but not limited to, archaeology, literary studies, linguistics, (art) history, media studies, religious studies, cultural sciences, history of law and political science, dealing with all time periods. The conference will be held in English.

If you would like to present a paper at AMPRAW 2019, please send an abstract of around 200 words to ampraw2019@ru.nl before May 20th 2019, together with a short biography stating your name, affiliation, and contact address. Please indicate in your submission whether you would like to apply for a travel bursary. Applicants will be selected and notified before the end of June.

The Organizing Committee of AMPRAW 2019
For more information, visit: www.ru.nl/hlcs/ampraw2019