Lecture - Leonora Neville and Berke Çetinkaya: "Thinking and Translating "Byzantine Gender""

The Lecture "Thinking and Translating "Byzantine Gender"" by Leonora Neville and  Berke Çetinkaya with the moderator Bihter Sabanoğlu organized by Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center and ANAMED will take place in ANAMED Auditorium on 27 March 2026 at 16:00. The title of Leonara Neville's talk is "Byzantine Gender: Nature and Effort in the Pursuit of Masculinity". 

This in-person event is open to the public, and no registration is required for attendance.

Abstract

Byzantine Gender: Nature and Effort in the Pursuit of Masculinity 

Byzantine ideas about anthropology, ethics, and sexuality created a gender culture unlike that of many modern societies.  While certain ideas about the capabilities and merits of men and women seem familiar, Byzantine gender had different underlying structures based on ancient Greek ideas about nature and human ethical self-determination. These ancient ideas about the nature of men and women were affected by Christianity but remained functional far into the Middle Ages. For Byzantine people, this cultural heritage created the belief that they could control the degree of masculinity or femininity they displayed through their ethical character.  We can better understand Byzantines when we interpret their culture in light of these inherited ideas about gender.

Bios

Leonora Neville

Leonora Neville is the John and Jeanne Rowe Professor of Byzantine History and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on gender, civic religion, historical memory and historiography. She is a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and an editor of several book series, including Cambridge Elements in Rethinking Byzantium, Palgrave’s New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture, and Arc Medieval Press’s Long Roman Empire. She is the author of several monographs, most notably Anna Komnene: The Life and Work of a Medieval Historian, Byzantine Gender, and Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing.

Berke Çetinkaya

Berke Çetinkaya holds BA and MA degrees in History from Boğaziçi University and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focuses on the social, intellectual, and cultural history of Byzantium; education and historiography in late Ottoman and Republican Turkey; reception studies; and digital history. In addition to his published articles and book chapters, he translated Leonora Neville’s Byzantine Gender into Turkish in 2025. He is currently working on his first monograph, Byzantium in Contemporary Politics and Media: Imagined Pasts and Extremist Frontiers On- and Offline, to be published by Arc Humanities Press.

Bihter Sabanoğlu

Bihter Sabanoğlu is an author and art critic based between Paris and Istanbul. She studied English Literature at Istanbul University after graduating from Notre Dame de Sion French High School, and earned her MA in English Language and Literature at Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle. She received further training in Greek and Egyptian epigraphy and Byzantine art history at the École du Louvre. She is currently a PhD candidate working on the reception of Byzantium in the visual arts at Sorbonne Paris III. She publishes on history, art history, contemporary art, and literature. She edited volumes on Jacques Derrida and Ricardo Porro and published her debut novel, Şüpheli Şeylerin Keşfi, in 2022.