Thinking with Islamicate Manuscripts

About

How is thinking and working with a manuscript different from working with an edited text? What challenges arise from a codex containing multiple texts with different dates and authors? How does ‘archival turn’ and social history of the collections inform how we approach manuscripts contained in them? How can digital tools be helpful in editing a text that differs from manuscript to manuscript? Which digital tools are particularly helpful for different aspects of working with manuscripts?

These are just some of the important methodological questions that students hoping to work with Islamic manuscripts face when embarking on research or while in the field, often without any recourse to practical guidance. The course will explore these and other questions by focusing specifically on how to think and work with Islamicate manuscripts, with an emphasis on the sources in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian from Central Asia and the Middle East (c. 1200-c. 1700).

Financial aid is available, in limited numbers.

Course leader

Tijana Krstic (Department of Historical Studies, Central European University, Vienna, Austria) & Bruno De Nicola (Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria)

Target group

Target group:
advanced undergraduate and graduate students, post docs
archivists and curators of collections with Islamicate manuscript holdings
specialists in digital humanities and cultural heritage management

Minimum prerequisite:
3 years of completed BA studies in Middle Eastern History or Islamic Studies (or a related field)
basic knowledge of Arabic, Persian or Ottoman Turkish

Fee info