From Zachary Rubin <zachmrubin@gmail.com>:linebreak==============linebreaklinebreaklinebreakCALL FOR PAPERSlinebreakSpaces of Memory in the Ancient Near Eastlinebreak72nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (RAI)linebreakSofia, July 19–23, 2027linebreaklinebreakConcepts of memory spaces have been formulated across the humanities (e.g., by Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, and Jan Assmann) to explain a universal phenomenon, by which localities, either real or imagined, can be charged with cultural meaning and made into containers of cultural memory. Such mnemotopoi abounded the worlds of the Ancient Near East. They took forms as various as monuments, cityscapes, sculptures, inscriptions, landscapes, rituals, and cosmologies. Yet memory is precarious. As the civilizations of the Ancient Near East endured thousands of years of continuity and change, and new sociopolitical realities took hold, the previous significance assigned to these special spaces could be altered—if not outright forgotten.linebreaklinebreakThis workshop will explore the dynamics of memory spaces in the ancient Near East, loosely defined, through interdisciplinary perspectives in dialogue. It will explore the lives of these significant places and objects: how they were formed, preserved, transformed, and negated, and how the changing significance of the spaces and the memories encoded within them both influenced by larger social forces and were influenced by them in turn. Participants are welcome to integrate philological, archaeological, art historical, and sociological frameworks relating to all sub-disciplines of ancient Near Eastern studies.linebreaklinebreakAll interested participants should submit the following information to the co-organizers: the title of their paper, the name of the author(s) with their institutional affiliations and email address(es), and an abstract (250 words max.). Contributions will be selected based on their scholarly merits and their cohesion with the theme of the workshop.linebreaklinebreakWe are intending to publish the proceedings of the workshop in a peer-reviewed volume or journal. As such, we must ask all interested participants to submit papers that have not currently been published, or are not in the process of being published elsewhere.linebreaklinebreakFor more details, please contact the co-organizers of the workshop: Zachary Rubin of Fudan University (zachmrubin@gmail.com<mailto:zachmrubin@gmail.com>) and Johannes Bach of the University of Pisa (johannes.bach@gmx.net<mailto:johannes.bach@gmx.net>).linebreaklinebreak--- linebreak