Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals secures €240,000 in RIF funding

The Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals (CeMAR) of the University of Cyprus has secured funding for two projects under the highly competitive call of the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) “Excellence Hubs”.

The aim of “Excellence Hubs” is to promote scientific excellence that is a fundamental part for the sustainable development of the European Research, Technological Development, and Innovation (RTDI) System, through the funding of pioneering research projects in cutting-edge fields.

According to a press release by the University of Cyprus, the project “Maternal Milk: Breastfeeding in Middle and Late Byzantium (8th–15th c.)” [MaternalMilk] coordinated by CeMAR’s director Prof. Stavroula Constantinou and the project “Byzantines on Stage: Reimagining Byzantium in the Modern Greek Theatrical Production” [BStage] coordinated by CeMAR’s research associate Dr Andria Andreou have secured a total funding of €240,000, with the first proposal ranking second in the category “Social Sciences and Humanities”.

It adds that MaternalMilk will investigate the social, ideological, and medical meanings and uses of breastfeeding, and their visual, medical, theological, and literary representations from middle to late Byzantium, contributing to the much-needed creation of a cultural history of breastfeeding.

BStage will unearth an extended, understudied corpus of Greek theatrical works (19th–20th c.) thematising Byzantium. It will focus on works whose protagonists are either powerful men or transgressive women. BStage will provide a new avenue into the study of theatre and extend the fields of Byzantine, Greek, and Reception Studies.

"This major success reflects once again the innovative work carried out at CeMAR. CeMAR conducts important interdisciplinary research highlighting the need for a holistic examination of all medieval arts and their interaction with rituals," it says.

The activities of CeMAR are addressed to both researchers and the general public and aim at the study and promotion of the medieval world and the European medieval heritage.

It notes that despite its recent establishment, CeMAR has managed to secure nine major competitive research projects and to collaborate with more than ten universities and various non-academic institutions. CeMAR has also launched an annual, international, and diamond open access journal entitled Eventum: A Journal of Medieval Arts & Rituals.