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Vassa Kontouma or Vassa Kontouma-Conticello, born in Boulogne in 1967, is a Franco-Greek historian and Byzantinist. She specializes in the history of ideas within the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world, particularly focusing on theological questions. She is also an expert on specific authors, such as John of Damascus.
Vassa Kontouma | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967 Boulogne, France |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | history |
| Sub-discipline | Byzantine studies |
| Main interests |
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She was born in Boulogne in 1967 to Greek parents.[1] She traveled to numerous European countries before returning to France in 1984. Kontouma then pursued studies in philosophy and oriental languages, eventually completing a thesis on the theology of John of Damascus under the supervision of Pierre Magnard.[2] Her research focused on his treatise "De Fide orthodoxa", which remained one of her ongoing subjects of research.[3] She has been teaching at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) since 1998, became a lecturer in 2012, and later became the dean of the section of religious sciences within the institution.[1][4] In 2016, she also obtained her Habilitation.[5][6] The historian serves as the president of the association of the French Institute of Byzantine Studies (IFEB).[7][8][9]
In 2017, in collaboration with the French School at Athens, Xavier Bisaro, and Flora Kritikou, she organized a research project on the Byzantine chants of Candia (Venetian Crete),[10] an art form that is relatively unknown but characterized by a close connection between Latin and Greek traditions.[10] She is a specialist of John of Damascus, among others.[11] Thus, alongside other scholars, she revisited the commonly accepted biography of John of Damascus, offering new interpretations of his life.[12]
In collaboration with Eastern Orthodox Bishop Job Getcha, Kontouma contributed to an interreligious work to present Eastern Orthodox Christian theology.[13] She was also involved in explaining her research, participating in discussions on platforms such as France Culture[5][9] and France 2.[14]
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