October 2024
Workshop: Genesis of Writing
Glottographic writing is known to have originated independently of any pre-existing writing four times in antiquity, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and Mesoamerica. For each of these areas scholars past and present, relying chiefly on archaeological finds, have explored the ‘origins’ of writing and have attempted to reconstruct the structure of early writing systems. Beyond this, considerable recent...
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 3/9
Mohammed Tawaf:
Archives and Archival Practices in Yemen
Informal Talk: William G. Boltz
Why No Alphabet in East Asia?
William G. Boltz (University of Washington)
Based on the prima facie evidence of the modern literate world, the alphabet would seem to be both the simplest and most straightforward way to reduce speech to writing, and therefore the natural ‘default’ recourse in that regard. And yet, with the specific exception of Korean han’gul, this ‘natural’ glottographic...
November 2024
Workshop: Filling Space with(in) Script
In his ‘poesie der fläche’ (poetry of the space), Franz Mon describes how the arrangement of writing – for example the ‘expansion, nesting, sequencing, jamming, dropping and many other gestural movements’ – adds value to the written text. As he states, the ‘optical gesture naturally joins the phonetic and semantic – as a supplement, extension, tension, negation.’ [1] While Mon only refers to...
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 4/9
M.V. Muralikrishnan:
Key Features and Significance of the Manuscripts in the Panthal Collection: An Important Collection within the DiPiKA Project
Workshop: Exploring Cultural Heritage with X-rays
‘Focus on Cultural Heritage Workshop’
jointly organised by Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’
Exploring Cultural Heritage with X-rays
With this workshop, we aim to bring together UWA members and DESY (beamline) scientists, as well as curators, conservators, archaeologists, and art historians to highlight and discuss the...
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 5/9
Nathael Cano:
Pictographic Manuscripts from New Spain: The Heritage Science Approach
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 6/9
Djibril Dramé:
Malian Manuscripts through the Lens of Jenne: Socio-Linguistic Diversity in Digitised Collections
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 2/8
José Maksimczuk:
Material for Thought: Reflections on the Manuscript Transmission of Aristotle's Organon
Gender in Manuscript Cultures Lecture: Maya Stiller
Inscriptions as Mirrors of Patronage: Gender and Spirituality in Korean Buddhist Temples
Maya Stiller (University of Kansas)
This lecture examines the multifaceted roles of inscriptions found in the interior of Korean Buddhist temples. Written in literary Sinitic and Siddham script, these inscriptions conveyed religious teachings, reinforced the temple’s authority, and commemorated its patrons...
December 2024
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 7/9
Thaneerat Jatuthasri:
Investigating Thai Court Dance-Drama Manuscripts: Texts, Paratexts, and Text-Performance Relations
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 8/9
Djamel-Eddine Mechehed:
The Codicological Study of the (Arabic and Berber) Manuscript Collection of Lmuhub Ulahbib in Kabylia, Algeria
Informal Talk: Avni Chag
From Parchment to Pedestal: Venerating an Indic Manuscript in the Secular Space
Avni Chag (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
In 2014 when the Weston Library re-opened its doors after a major state-of-the-art refurbishment, little did library staff know that the new dedicated gallery space for the library’s most treasured artefacts would be swarmed with visitors to view a small manuscript booklet of...
Lecture Series: Written Artefacts across World Regions
Lecture 9/9
Elaheh Shahpasand:
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
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 3/8
Silvia di Vincenzo:
Philosophy at School: Intertwining Voices from the Margins and the Social History of Logic
January 2025
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 4/8
John Marenbon:
Early Mediaval Latin Manuscripts and the Social History of Logic
February 2025
Workshop: Mathematical Notes: Materiality and Epistemology
The study of notes written in mathematical language has long been an indispensable ingredient of a wider history of the mathematical sciences. Thus, the analysis and interpretation of the notes of prominent figures such as Galileo, Newton, Hilbert and Einstein have provided us with important insights into research processes and scientific thinking. At the same time, mathematical notes and...
March 2025
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 5/8
Hanna Gentili:
The Power of the Mise-en-page: Notebooks and Study Materials in the Jewish Renaissance
April 2025
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 6/8
Michael Engel:
Between Grand Ambitions and Tentative Conclusions: Averroe's Middle Commentary on Aristotle's De generatione et corruptione in its Hebrew Guise
June 2025
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 7/8
Margherita Mantovani:
The Image of Death and the Misplaced Quire: A Tale of Two Codices
July 2025
Lecture Series: Philosophy By Hand. The Agency of Manuscripts in Shaping Human Thought
Lecture 8/8
Caterina Tarlazzi:
Latin Manuscripts of Logic, 1080-1200 or: The Turmoil Below the Surface