Medieval and early modern performance and performers in the Eastern Mediterranean

Call for papers for a conference: June 7-9, 2007--Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, with the co-sponsorship of the New York University Humanities Council, Humanities Dean Edward Sullivan, and the NYU French Department.

Papers on all kinds of performances and performers are welcome. Types of performance include singing, recitation, and reading aloud of dramatic, lyric, narrative, and religious literature; liturgical/ religious services and pilgrimage practices; dances/ dancing; instrumental practices; folkloric practices and performances. Kinds of performers include singers, storytellers, actors, readers, priests/ religious; acrobats and gymnasts, dwarfs, ventriloquists, and entertainers who performed with animals. We invite exploration of all types of audiences and patrons, from royal courts to peasants. We also invite examination of the particular contributions of all the many peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, as well as papers bearing on contacts and reciprocal influence between groups.
Papers should be 20 minutes in length, given in English. Performers are also invited to participate; to discuss possibilities, please contact the conference organizers.
We hope that this conference will bring together scholars and performers from many countries and cultures.
Please send the title of your proposed paper with a 150-word abstract, and a short CV, to performance2007@boun.edu.tr AND to ebv1@nyu.edu. The deadline for application is Nov. 1, 2006.
A few practical details: The conference fee is $50. Local housing will be arranged. Note: This will be a small conference, with limited participation.

Arzu Ozturkmen, Department of History, Bogazici University
(performance2007@boun.edu.tr)
&
Timmie (Evelyn Birge) Vitz, Department of French, New York University
(ebv1@nyu.edu)