The NETWORK of scholars from South-Eastern (SEE) and Western Europe (WE) is devoted to the history of the monastic economy in a comparative perspective and to the assessment of its relevance in the longue durée. The aim is to nurture research in the field, namely by fostering contacts and bringing together academics from different thematic and institutional backgrounds.
The economics of Western and Orthodox monasticism are usually treated separately and are rarely (if at all) subject to systematic comparative studies. The three years project (2107-2019) joins the efforts of the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS) and the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (GCE) at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in the University of St. Gallen with the aim to identify elements of the economic culture proper to those regions which are related to their monastic tradition.
Academic Coordinator of the Network: Assoc. Prof. Roumen Avramov (CAS).
Network Activities
The NETWORK intends to build a scholarly community interested in the history of the monastic economy. To this effect we foresee to use tools as: small, properly targeted and calibrated workshops; organization of guest lectures for a well prepared and competent audience; research support to scholars by facilitating their work in an environment and location which are appropriate to their (and the project’s) agenda.
The main organizational features of our proposal are as follows:
- The main fora for discussion will be the annual workshops to be held in 2017 – 2019.
- Up to 3 additional guest-lectures by prominent scholars in the field will be organized annually in Sofia.
- In the third (final) year of the project, the workshop will evolve into a concluding conference bringing together previous participants, as well as other invitees.
- Part of the budget will be devoted to research allowances. They will include panoply of possibilities aiming at supporting research on the monastic economy: more or less prolonged research stays abroad or in the home country for work with archival documents; trips for interviews or visits in specific monasteries; meetings with colleagues… The expenses will be subject to strict accountability. The common denominator of all forms of support will be their contribution to scholarly mobility, to the comparative perspective of the project, and to the communication within the NETWORK
- CAS secures the coordination of the project
- At the end of the three-year period the NETWORK will present its research output as a guest edited issue of a journal or a collection of papers included in a coherent edited volume.
- Project idea
- Guest Lectures: Prof. Victor Roudometof; Prof. Elias Kolovos
- Workshop I: Does Monastic Economy Matter? Religious Patterns of Economic Behavior – Sofia, 10-12 November, 2017 (Full Programme) (Participants and Abstracts) (Snapshots)
- Workshop II. Does Monastic Economy Matter? Religious Patterns of Economic Behavior – Sofia, 9-11 November, 2018 (Full Programme) (Participants and Abstracts) (Photo Gallery from the Workshop);
- Workshop III. Does Monastic Economy Matter? Religious Patterns of Economic Behavio – Sofia, 18-20 October, 2019 (Full Programme);
- Call for Applications: Research Allowances;
- Scholars and their projects selected for support under the Research Allowances scheme of the NETWORK;