Equal Opportunity Lecture Series

Written Artefacts across World Regions: Incommensurabilities and Comparisons

Lecture Series (hybrid format)

Convenors: Mariapaola Gritti and Martin-Jörg Schäfer

In the Winter Semester 2023/24, the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures convened the lecture series ‘Understanding Written Artefacts: Untold Stories / Schriftartefakte verstehen: Unerzählte Geschichten’ to explore aspects of written artefacts that have not yet been brought to the foreground of scholarly conversations in written artefact studies. The series also reflected on some of the cultural and disciplinary norms and ethical challenges that have shaped written artefact research so far. This year’s lecture series aims to expand these conversations on the (changing) norms, emphases, and trajectories of development that characterise contemporary written artefact research by presenting materials and perspectives from across world regions, and specifically from beyond Euro-American scholarly centres. In making room for further ‘untold stories’, we want to focus particularly on the connections – the similarities, the entanglements, but also the incommensurabilities – that emerge when we look at research on artefacts originating from or located in different regions or at research informed by different scholarly and conservation traditions as well as by different cultural and political contexts. We hope that contributions to the series will enable us to discuss the powers and pitfalls of cross-cultural comparison as a productive yet also potentially limiting approach in written artefact research. Comparisons can sharpen our sensibility for the cross-cultural diversity of written artefacts and writing practices, but also stifle our capacity to convey radically diverse modes of knowledge and practice to our audiences. What aspects of written artefacts and of writing practices invite or, instead, defy comparisons? What insights can comparisons yield, what understandings might they obscure? And what thematic, methodological, and epistemological expansions can a focus on cross-cultural or cross-regional incommensurabilities help us envision? Lectures in the series will explore these questions by looking at case studies from Algeria, India, Iran, Mali, Mexico, Thailand, and Yemen.

The series comprises lectures in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. Consecutive interpretation into English will be provided for the lectures in Arabic, French, and Spanish.

The series will be presented in hybrid format. We look forward to having you with us in the lecture hall, or alternatively on Zoom.

All lectures will be held on Mondays, 6:15 pm — 8:00 pm CET, at Erwin-Panofsky Hörsaal (ESA C), Hauptgebäude, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, and online (ZOOM).

Registration: https://www.zfw.uni-hamburg.de/oeffentliche-vortraege/programm-wise/11-written-artefacts-across-world-regions/anmeldeformular-zoom.html

Date	Lecturer	Title
14 October 2024	Hanna Wimmer, Art History Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg	Introduction – Written Artefacts across World Regions: Incommensurabilities and Comparisons
21 October 2024	María Isabel Álvarez Icaza Longoria, Art History Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico – in Spanish with interpretation into English	La atribución regional y cultural de los manuscritos mesoamericanos calendáricos-rituales-adivinatorios / The Regional Culture Attribution of Calendrical-Ritual-Divinatory Mesoamerican Manuscripts
28 October 2024	Mohammed Tawaf, History École nationale des chartes, Paris, France – in Arabic with interpretation into English	Archives and Archival Practices in Yemen
11 November 2024	M.V. Muralikrishnan, Vedic Studies Vadakke Madham Brahmaswan, Thrissur, India	Key Features and Significance of the Manuscripts in the Panthal Collection: An Important Collection within the DiPiKA Project
18 November 2024	Nathael Cano, Heritage Conservation Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico	Pictographic Manuscripts from New Spain: The Heritage Science Approach
25 November 2024	Djibril Dramé, African Studies The British Library, London, United Kingdom	Malian Manuscripts through the Lens of Jenne: Socio-Linguistic Diversity in Digitised Collections
2 December 2024	Thaneerat Jatuthasri, Thai Studies Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand	Investigating Thai Court Dance-Drama Manuscripts: Texts, Paratexts, and Text-Performance Relations
9 December 2024	Djamel-Eddine Mechehed, Archival Studies & Codicology Lmuhub Ulahbib Manuscript Library, Béjaïa, Algeria – in French with interpretation into English	L'exploitation codicologique de la collection de manuscrits (arabes et berbères) de Lmuhub Ulahbib - Kabylie, Algérie / The Codicological Study of the (Arabic and Berber) Manuscript Collection of Lmuhub Ulahbib in Kabylia, Algeria
16 December 2024	Elaheh Shahpasand, Qur’ānic Studies University of Qur’ānic Sciences at Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran	The Impact of the Idea of “the Masculinity of the Qur’ān” on Ten Qur’ānic Readings, with Case Studies from the Astan Quds Razavi Manuscript Library in Mashhad, Iran

Understanding Written Artefacts: Untold Stories

Lecture Series (hybrid format)

Convenors: Mariapaola Gritti and Martin-Jörg Schäfer

Since 2019, the Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts" at Universität Hamburg has investigated written artefacts (manuscripts, inscriptions, etc.) originating in different times – from the beginning of writing up until today – and in different regions of the world. Artefacts studied range at present from Mesopotamian clay tables to the graffiti sprayed on Hamburg’s walls. The lecture series presents this research and by doing so explores the geographical, cultural, and historical diversity of written artefacts and of writing as a human practice. At the same time, it raises the question of which aspects of written artefacts, of the historical contexts from which they stem, and of the social contexts in which they are used we have as of yet failed to consider or account for. Which creators and users of written artefacts and which types of artefacts have we deemed (un-)worthy of our attention? Whose perspectives on written artefacts have we incorporated into our research? What bodies of knowledge about written artefacts have we, instead, backgrounded? And what spoken and unspoken cultural and disciplinary norms have led to such marginalisations? With this lecture series we would like to begin telling some of the still-untold stories about writing and written artefacts that questions such as these bring into view.

The lecture series comprises talks in English and in German. It will be presented in hybrid format. We look forward to having you with us in the lecture hall, or alternatively on Zoom.  

All lectures will be held on Mondays, 6:15 pm — 8:00 pm CET, at Erwin-Panofsky Hörsaal (ESA C), Hauptgebäude, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, and online (ZOOM)

Date	Lecturer	Title
23 October 2023	Konrad Hirschler Islamwissenschaft, Sprecher Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Untold Stories: Was bedeutet Provenienz in der Forschung zu Schriftartefakten?
6 November 2023	Anastasia Poliakova Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures & Hermann Behling Palynology and Climate Dynamics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen	The Kyzyl-Chin Valley: Dramatic Past and Unclear Future of a Unique Landscape and Unknown Rock Carving Site
13 November 2023 In-person only (no Zoom session)	Dmitry Bondarev & Darya Ogorodnikova African Studies, Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Timbuktu Libraries: Fake Ownerships, Alternative Histories
20 November 2023 The lecture will be given via Zoom but will also be shown in the lecture hall	Philippa Sissis Kunstgeschichte, Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Die Ausweitung des Archivs. Wie Künstler des Black Atlantic durch Schreiben Geschichte schaffen
27 November 2023	Claudia Colini, Kyle Ann Huskin & Ivan Shevchuk Archaeometry, Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Forgotten Names, Lost Lives, Secret Identities: Difficulties and Ethical Dilemmas of Revealing Hidden Writing with Multispectral Imaging
4 December 2023	Kaja Harter-Uibopuu Alte Geschichte, Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Epigraphik im toten Winkel – tote Winkel in der Epigraphik: Beispiele aus der griechisch-römischen Antike
11 December 2023	Xiaomeng He Sinology, Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts” / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Beyond Silence: Untold Stories of Looted Artefacts from Ancient China and Scholarly Ethical Complexities
18 December 2023	Sanja Ewald Kulturanthropologie, Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Die (fast) vergessene Hall of Fame – Das Projekt Alsen. Zur Speicherung von ephemeren Graffitischriftzügen im ehemaligen Zementwerk Itzehoe
8 January 2024	Martin Jörg Schäfer Neuere deutsche Literatur und Theaterforschung, Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	„Ohrenbläser“, „Worteingeber“, „König der Echos“. Hamburger Souffleure, Souffleusen und Soufflierbücher, 1770-1820
15 January 2024	Sebastian Schirrmeister Judaistik, Exzellenzcluster „Understanding Written Artefacts“ / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures	Reise(n) nach Jerusalem. Die verborgenen Wanderungen deutsch-jüdischer Archive

Between Invisibility and Autonomy: Negotiating Gender Roles in Manuscript Cultures

Lecture Series (hybrid format)

Convenors: Eike Großmann and Johanna Seibert

Women’s contributions to the production and use of written artefacts have been neglected or even made invisible in many manuscript cultures. Their agency being written out is only one of the numerous blind spots when pursuing a gender perspective in the study of manuscript cultures. The aim of this lecture series is to explore precisely these blind spots by raising questions which enable us to grasp the multiple roles women have played in manuscript cultures. At the centre of each lecture lies the question of how women contribute to the production, circulation, and dissemination of manuscripts, inscriptions, graffiti, and other written artefacts. Did they function as patrons or scribes? If they were allowed to write in the first place, what kind of artefacts were they expected to produce? In which ways did female production of written artefacts subvert the existing order and modes of gendered dominance? Or did their actions possibly contribute to supporting, stabilising, and perpetuating their own disadvantage? How was their exclusion then rationalised and explained in cases where they were denied active (and passive) participation in manuscript cultures?

It is through perspectives such as these that women’s roles in historic and contemporary manuscript cultures become visible. Exploring a range of examples — liturgic, devotional, biographic, among many others, from ancient Assyria and Egypt to medieval Japan and Central Europe and on to today’s Thailand and Northern Africa — the speakers shed light on new findings, give unique insights into their fields, and discuss methodological considerations.

All lectures will be held on Mondays, 6:15 pm — 8:00 pm CET, at Warburgstraße 26 (Pavilion) and online (ZOOM)

Date	Lecturer	Title
24 October 2022	Cécile Michel Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Nanterre / Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Universität Hamburg	Gender Studies and Manuscript Cultures: The Case of Assyriology
1 November 2022 (Tuesday)	Michael L. Norton James Madison University (Virginia, US)	In Her Own Voice: Asserting Autonomy Through Liturgy at Klosterneuburg
7 November 2022	Silpsupa Jaengsawang Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Universität Hamburg	Women in Thai-Lao Manuscript Cultures: Alternative Worship of Text(ile) in Compensation of Monkhood
21 November 2022	Melissa Moreton Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton	Women as Scribes: Materials, Methods, and Motives in Medieval Italy and Beyond
28 November 2022	Patricia Stoop Institute for the Study of Literature in the Netherlands (ISLN) / Ruusbroecgenootschap, Universiteit Antwerpen	Women and Their Multiple Roles in Manuscript Production in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Low Countries
12 December 2022	Michael Kohs Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Universität Hamburg	Women as Scribes in Jewish Manuscript Cultures
9 January 2023	Leah Mascia Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Universität Hamburg	Nuns, Domestic Virgins, and Female Devotees in Late Antique Egypt: Evidence From Greek and Coptic Graffiti, Papyri, and Other Written Artefacts
23 January 2023	Britta Frede Islamic Studies / Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, Universität Bayreuth	Female Contributions to Islamic Text Production and Circulation
30 January 2023 (Online only; lecture starts at 6:00 pm)	Bryan Lowe Princeton University	Patrons of Paper and Clay: Methods for Studying Women's Religiosity in Ancient Japan