Call for papers | 7th International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies “Institutional identities in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages”, University of Edinburgh, 18-19 May 2026 — LIMITE : 20/03/2026

Institutions provide a focal point for the development of communal identities both in the pre-modern world and today. Religious institutions, state structures, military roles, professional associations, and local governments could foster a sense of solidarity and community between members. Beyond solidarity, institutions could impose identities on individuals by labelling and limiting their religious choices, sorting them into a caste or class, and binding them to the land or an occupation in some way, such as through slavery or serfdom. Conversely, institutions and institutional actors could foster new identities that provided sites of resistance and survival against dominant structures. In Late Antiquity and the Medieval world, these institutional identities could transcend the institution that created them both spatially and temporally. Membership within the Islamic umma extended far beyond the ninth-century Abbasid Caliphate, and the names of Roman offices outlasted the Western Roman Empire and took on new meanings. Observing the long chronological expanse of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, we can see a world of overlapping and conflicting institutions and changing and fragmented identities deriving from them.

This conference will examine institutions in the broadest sense and the dynamic process by which they actively created identities and responded to existing identities. Taking such a wide lens allows for the exploration of this topic across a temporal and geographical range, within a variety of cultures, and to consider these processes’ implications in political, economic, cultural, and social contexts. We invite papers that focus on the intersection of institutions and identities in Late Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire, and then Islamic world; however, we also welcome papers from other pre-modern disciplines.

We kindly welcome submissions from individuals or groups, both in-person and virtual. Lunch will be provided on both days for those who attend in person.

Submissions

The deadline for abstracts is the 20 March, and notification of acceptance will be confirmed by the 31 March. Please submit your abstract of no more than 300 words and a 100-word professional biography to edibyzpg@ed.ac.uk. 

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