REPORT ON THE ASOR/EPHE-PSL EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM
Randall Younker, Chair, ASOR Committee on Membership and Outreach
The Salle Liard, at the Sorbonne. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The ASOR Committee on Membership and Outreach had its first overseas event at the Sorbonne in Paris Sept 4-6, 2018. The main venue was in the elegant Salle Liard, a gilded room with paintings of some of the great French philosophers for inspiration (although the wooden benches were a bit hard!).
The event was co-sponsored with the EPHE-PSL — the École Pratique des Hautes Études, of the Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University. Honorary Chairs were Susan Ackerman, President of ASOR, and Hubert Bost, President of EPHE-PSL. The event was co-organized by Vanessa Bigot Juloux (EPHE-PSL, Andrews University, ASOR) and Randall W. Younker (Andrews University, ASOR). As part of her organization efforts, Vanessa created a very nice webpage for the event, and we invite all ASOR members to visit it!
The event was divided into morning sessions on the topic of “Interaction between Violence, Order, and Conflict within the Political Sphere of Ancient Worlds,” and afternoon sessions, on “Collaborative Projects among European and International Scholars for the Study of Ancient Worlds Using Digital Approaches.” Nineteen different scholars presented papers in the “Violence” sessions, and there were fifteen different “Digital Approaches” presentations, some with multiple presenters.
ASOR president Susan Ackerman delivering opening remarks. Photo: Randall Younker
There were about 55 individuals that attended, and we had 47 hits from colleagues following us on streaming video. The participation favored younger scholars—doctoral students and post-docs. A few senior scholars also joined, including Martha Roth from Chicago, who was very supportive.
Susan gave a speech at the beginning letting folks know about ASOR, its history, etc., and attended every session! The venues were pleasant—and the extras—coffees, receptions, and the special tour hosted by one of the curators of the Near Eastern section of the Louvre—open only to our group–was wonderful. We received many compliments for holding the event and there was much appreciation for the role of ASOR. The participants were enthusiastic. Several of the young scholars joined ASOR.
Paris symposium at the Louvre. Photo: Randall Younker
Since it was our first event, there were naturally some glitches (mostly technological) and other things we saw that can be improved, but overall it was a success. We hope to conduct a survey of the participants to help us gauge the success of the event and to help the Membership and Outreach Committee consider how we can obtain the maximum benefits for ASOR from such events in the future.
In short, we plan to use this event and what we have learned from it to create even more successful events in the future. Our next symposium is tentatively planned for Palermo in April — so stay tuned!
