CALL FOR PAPERS: Southern Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls

Scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls has long been held as an example of international and interfaith cooperation. Yet, that scholarship has almost exclusively been associated with approaches and perspectives from the Global North (Europe, Israel, North America, and the UK). The purpose of this free online conference is to draw together researchers and scholarly perspectives from the Global South, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. What is the history of scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls in these regions? What is the nature and extent of public interest in the Scrolls? What methods, approaches, and perspectives have prevailed, and why? What opportunities exist to study the Scrolls and in what ways are they engaged? What new insights and/or trajectories on the Scrolls have emerged or are emerging, and why?

We invite papers on any topic connected to the Dead Sea Scrolls and related Second Temple studies from researchers trained or based in Central or South America and the Caribbean, Africa, Oceania, Asia, or Australia and New Zealand. We particularly invite papers that examine perspectives that might be considered distinctive of the regions where participants are based.

Paper presentations will be limited to researchers connected to the Southern Hemisphere and Global South, but the broader international community of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars will be invited to join the conference and participate in the discussions.

CONFERENCE DETAILS
When: 1–2 September and 8–9 September 2025

Format: Speakers will be requested to submit a video recording of their paper by 1 August 2025. Recordings should not be more than 20-minutes in length. The prerecorded papers will then be shared with participants, who will be invited to watch them before the live meetings on 1–2 September and 8–9 September.

The meetings on 1–2 September and 8–9 September will be comprised of four (4) two-hour-long meetings held on Zoom (that is, two hours each day). The live sessions will be dedicated to questions and discussion of the pre-circulated papers.

We will endeavour to coordinate the scheduling of the meetings on 1–2 September and 8–9 September 2025 to support participants from different time zones to attend.

Language: Please submit papers and paper proposals in English. The use of Translated Captions will be supported for the live online meetings on 1–2 September and 8–9 September.

Offer a paper
To submit a paper proposal, please send a 250-word abstract and short statement of eligibility (e.g., nationality, institutional affiliation) to [email protected]. Registration for the conference will be free.

Call for papers closes May 31 2025