Research Description

In my thesis, I will try to examine various modes of collective-memory creation, while reconstructing the one author’s political activity, social network and rhetorical techniques. The activity of John Mauropous partially belongs to the narrow circle of Constantinopolitan intellectuals and, partially, to the provincial society of ecclesiastics, since he has been exiled from the capital. Working with his letter collection, which was popular enough to survive in two different manuscripts (from 11^th and 14^th century), I am hoping to get a better understanding of Mauropous’ social positioning in different Byzantine power structures, and also his testimony of the experience in such structures.

Moving away from the usual questions asked in studies of epistolography, such as who did the author write to? or what happened in the time this letter was sent? I am more interested in the question of the writer’s context – how did Mauropous use his letter collection to complement the works of his peers? Therefore, I will analyze the ways in which this corpus works as a collective unity and the way it works with other sources of the time (letters and sermons of Michael Psellos, history of Michael Attalleiates and John Skylitzes’ Synopsis of histories). A very important aspect of the analysis would be the examination of rhetorical techniques in all of these works, which can revile the ways of expressing personal stance or evaluation of the past.

Publications

“The geography of grief: space discourse in John Mauropous’ letter collection.” Annual for Social History  XXIII. pp. 32-54 (2016). (in Serbian)

Book review: Radić, Radivoj, Drugo lice Vizantije. Beograd: Evoluta 2014. pp. 326. in: “Making and Remaking of Byzantium.” Limes Plus, Belgrade (2016). 135-136.

Anđelković. Oparnica. Popović. “Analysis of applications for war reparations to Local People’s Committee of Rebelj 1945-1946.” Petničke Sveske 67 (2010). pp. 7-31. (in Serbian)

Conference Papers

“The Nature of Mauropous’ Promotion – The Social Activity Displayed in a Letter Collection” – 43rd Annual Byzantine Studies Conference at the University of Minnesota in Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN. 5th-8th October 2017.

"Mauropous’ letter 64 as a reversed arrival speech.” 19th Oxford University Byzantine International Graduate Conference. February 2017.

Epistolary Memoires – the case of storms in John Mauropous’ letter collection.” 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies. Belgrade. August 2016.

Awards

Fellowship 2017

Katevatis Grad School in Hellenic Studies, 2017.

Graduate Studies Funded by the State Budget of the Republic of Serbia, 2015/16.

The Classical Association of the United Kingdom, for the 2014 Byzantine Greek Summer School at the University of Birmingham.