CSMC News (2020)

The fourth part of our new video series Working from Home Around the World is online. In this episode, Coleman Donaldson, postdoctoral Research Associate for the Ajami Lab at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, talks about the lab’s research into Ajami, sub-Saharan languages written in Arabic script, how the Hamburg and Bamako offices...

We are happy to announce the launch of our new series Written Artefacts as Cultural Heritage. The series is dedicated to the double role of written artefacts as representations and generators of humankind’s cultural heritage. Its thematic scope embraces aspects of preservation, the identity-defining role of artefacts as well as ethical questions.

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The third part of our new video series Working from Home Around the World is online. In this episode, Doreen Schröter, Project Coordinator Cultural Heritage at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, on the Centre’s involvement with international manuscript preservation projects, the impact of travel restrictions, and the limits of...

Dunhuang Manuscript Culture, the new volume in our series Studies in Manuscript Cultures (SMC) explores the world of manuscripts from ninth-tenth century Dunhuang, an oasis city along the routes today collectively known as the Silk Roads. The study centres around four groups of manuscripts from the mid-ninth to the late tenth centuries which attest...

SfarData, created by Malachi Beit-Arié, is a bilingual (Hebrew/English) codicological database of the dated medieval manuscripts written in Hebrew script documented in 250 libraries in situ. Recently the database received a major upgrade. In order to secure the existence of the database and its sophisticated search of almost one thousand...

The second part of our new video series Working from Home Around the World is online. In this episode, Alesssandro Bausi, Co-Spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ and Head of the project ‘Beta maṣāḥǝft: Manuscripts of Ethiopia and Eritrea’ talks about Hamburg as an international research hub, the chances...

We are happy to announce the publication of issue 13 of the open access journal manuscript cultures. Titled Homiletic Collections in Greek and Oriental Manuscripts, the issue contains the proceedings of the conference ‘Hagiographico-Homiletic Collections in Greek, Latin and Oriental Manuscripts – Histories of Books and Text Transmission in a...

We are happy to announce that volumes 18 and 20 of 'Studies in Manuscript Cultures' (SMC) have been published. Titled Canones: The Art of Harmony with a focus on Canon Tables and their importance for structuring, organizing, and navigating the Four Gospels united in a single codex, volume 18 has been edited by Alessandro Bausi, Bruno Reudenbach and...

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures is happy to announce the publication of the first edition of the newly-started Artefact of the Month (AoM). For this special occasion, Cécile Michel, Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ at CSMC and Director of Research at the Centre national de la...

For a globally operating research institution such as the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, international cooperation, transfer of knowledge and skills, and the uninhibited exchange of ideas are crucial. So, what happens when a global pandemic puts a sudden stop to this? In the filmed interview series Working from Home Around the World...

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at Universität Hamburg announces the J. P. Gumbert Dissertation Award 2021 for a doctoral dissertation defended in 2019 or 2020. The award includes a prize money of 5,000 Euros and a fellowship for a research stay at CSMC (earliest from April 2021). The call closes on Friday, 8 January 2021...

This biannual workshop on Ajami manuscripts will host a range of presentations across various research fields and will be followed by a short tutorial on exploring Ajami manuscripts using a software tool called Tropy. Please take note that the Workshop is only open for members of the CSMC and UWA.

Wednesday and Thursday, 18-19 November 2020, 10:00...

The CSMC invites applications for full doctoral scholarships (1200 EUR/month, starting in October 2021) by international doctoral candidates from all disciplines concerned with the study of manuscripts and other written artefacts. The application deadline is 15 January 2021.

Further information can be found in the call on this website.

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures hosts the virtual data linking workshop titled ‘Prospects for data analysis in written artefact research’. The workshop is scheduled for Monday, 16 November 2020, from 10 am to 1:30 pm CET via Zoom and is open to the public.

Participants from outside the CSMC and the Cluster of Excellence...

The virtual ten-part lecture series ‘Maps and Colours’ starts on 3 November 2020 and will be held on Tuesdays from 4.15 to 5.45 pm CET. Go here for the full programme, including times, titles, and speakers. You can sign up for access via Zoom through our registration form.

Please note that recording the lectures is strictly prohibited.

‘Maps and...

The English version of the documentary film Thus speaks Taram-Kubi, Assyrian Correspondence can be watched for free online during the 8th Annual Arkhaios Film Festival, Virtual Edition, 5 to 11 October 2020. The film is a joint effort by director Vanessa Tubiana-Brun and Cécile Michel, co-author of the film, Principal Investigator at the Cluster of...

We welcome Dr Ulfat Abdurasulov as the new Petra Kappert Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. Dr Abdurasulov specialises in the history of Islamic Central Asia (seventeenth to early twentieth century), the history of the Russian protectorates in Central Asia, early modern diplomatic history as well as the history of early...

The programme of the workshop ‘Maps and Colours’, scheduled for 5 & 6 November 2020 via video, has been published and can be accessed here.

Additionally, you can now sign up for one or both sessions for free via this link.

The workshop functions in dialogue with the virtual ten-part lecture series ‘Maps and Colours’ that starts on 3 November 2020...

Three sessions of the Fifth Summer School in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies: ‘Introduction into Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Traditions’, to be held from 21 to 25 September 2020, will be made open to the public via Zoom. To sign up for one or several of these talks, please send an email to aethiopistik@uni-hamburg.de.

On 22...

In exactly two weeks, from 21 to 25 September 2020, the Fifth Summer School in Ethiopian and Eritrean Manuscript Studies is scheduled to start. Due to the present circumstances, all events will be held online via Zoom.

This year’s edition will focus on introducing its participants to the history, tools and resources used in Ethiopian and Eritrean...

On 5 & 6 November 2020, the workshop ‘Maps and Colours’ is scheduled to take place. For a preliminary programme, go here.

The workshop functions in dialogue with the virtual ten-part lecture series ‘Maps and Colours’ that starts on 3 November 2020; for a full programme, including times, titles, and speakers, go here. It has been organised by Dr...

The ten-part lecture series ‘Maps and Colours’ starts on 3 November 2020 in exactly two months, and all lectures will be held virtually. For the full programme, including times, titles, and speakers, go here. Additionally, a workshop will be held in November 2020, and an exhibit is scheduled for August 2021.

‘Maps and Colours’ examines maps of East...

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures would like to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Professor Dr Johan Peter Gumbert (1936-2016). Born in Nijmegen, Netherlands, Gumbert served as Professor, and later Professor Emeritus, of Western Palaeography and Codicology at Leiden University with a particular focus on Latin and...

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures is happy to announce that Professor emer. Dr Ulrich Bismayer has accepted the Steering Committee’s proposal to make him a Permanent Fellow. A specialist in the field of mineralogy, Bismayer has been a long-standing and valued member of the CSMC, and we are looking forward to his continued...

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures congratulates Bin Wang on successfully defending the doctoral dissertation titled ‘The Spatial Arrangement of Ancient Chinese Tomb Manuscripts (5th-2nd c. BCE): An Archaeological Survey.’

The defense took place on 14 August 2020 at 2 pm via video conference call.

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures welcomes back Professor Dr Ronny Vollandt as he resumes his position as Petra Kappert Fellow.

At his home university, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, Professor Dr Vollandt teaches Jewish Studies. He currently (co-)directs a number of projects dealing with Jewish manuscripts in...

The workshop "Recipes and Recipe Books Across Manuscript Cultures" has been moved to 12 and 13 April 2021. The venue remains the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Room 0001, Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg.

The workshop was originally scheduled for 16 and 17 November 2020.

Details on the programme and speakers are to be announced.

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures congratulates Philippa Sissis on successfully defending her doctoral dissertation titled “Zwischen Artefakt und Produkt. Das humanistische SchriftBild in den Kopien Poggio Bracciolinis in Florenz um 1400“. The defense took place on 7 Juli 2020 at 2 P.M. via Zoom.

On 2 July 2020 at 4 P.M., Dr Éloi Ficquet (EHESS Paris) will give a talk titled "The workings of contemporary Ethiopian administrative history: what the 20th century imperial archives begin to say". The talk will focus on novel avenues of study of Ethiopian institutions enabled by the increased availability of the archives of the early twentieth...

Roberta Zollo was interviewed by MARKK in Motion, the video podcast of the MARKK, about the exhibition “The Power of Writing: The Manuscript Culture of the Toba Batak from North Sumatra”. The exhibition opened its doors on 7 May 2020 at the MARKK in Hamburg and was curated by Prof Dr van der Putten, his doctoral student Roberta Zollo (both Centre...

Tuesday, 9 June 2020 at 2 p.m., Dr Iris Iran Farkondeh (Paris) will give a talk titled ‘Profiling Kashmirian Sanskrit manuscripts, a description of the manuscript material and prospects of future material analyses’. Dr Farkondeh was a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures until May 2020.

Please note that the talk will be given...

Prof Dr Kaja Harter-Uibopuu, co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Written Artefacts”, appeared on an installment of the podcast “Wissenswelle”, hosted by the University of Hamburg, to discuss the ‘sound of democracy’ in ancient Greece, the continued relevance of the Roman justice system, and what ancient inscriptions can tell...

Prof Dr Jan van der Putten gave a brief interview about the exhibition “The Power of Writing: The Manuscript Culture of the Toba Batak from North Sumatra”. The exhibition opened its doors on 7 May 2020 at the MARKK in Hamburg and was curated by Prof Dr van der Putten, his doctoral student Roberta Zollo (both Centre for the Study of Manuscript...

On 9 June from 9 to 11 a.m., Johanna Seibert, Coordinator Equal Opportunity at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, will chair the presentation and following discussion titled “International Arrival”, specifically aimed at international staff and to be held entirely in English.

This event is part of the annual Diversity Days through...

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“The Power of Writing” opens its doors to the public at the MARKK in Hamburg today. Jointly curated by the CSMC and MARKK, the exhibition illuminates the manuscript culture of the Toba Batak people of North Sumatra. The artefacts on display cover a wide range of manuscripts made of tree bark and bamboo as well as various other written pieces...

We are happy to welcome Professor Dr Jost Gippert as guest professor at the CSMC.

Professor Gippert is a linguist and specializes in manuscript cultures of the Caucasus. He had already spent three months in Hamburg as Petra Kappert Fellow in 2013 and, together with Caroline Macé, had organized the Workshop: 'Beyond the Physiologus – Animal Stories...

The volume Liturgical Books and Music Manuscripts with Polyphonic Settings of the Mass in Medieval Europe, edited by Prof. Dr. Oliver Huck and Dr. Andreas Janke, has been published in the Georg Olms Verlag. The volume presents a total of eight contributions originating from the 2017 international workshop of the same name. Copies are available at...

The lecture series Maps & Colours has been postponed to to the winter semester 2020/21 due to the current situation. Details and a new programme will be available soon.

To keep you updated on current news and events, we have started an official Twitter account with the handle @CSMC_Hamburg. Should you have material that you would like to see shared through this channel, please get in touch with Kristen Rau at kristen.rau@uni-hamburg.de.

We are happy to announce that Dr Andreas Janke, PI at the UWA cluster, starts his interim professorship at the Institute of Historic Musicology today. Dr Janke will maintain a close cooperation with the cluster during this period.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, the CSMC will close its doors and shift to home office. We will update about any upcoming events as soon as further information becomes available. Until 30 April all public events at CSMC have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. 

We welcome Professor Dr Ronny Vollandt as the new Petra Kappert Fellows at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures.

Professor Dr Vollandt teaches Jewish Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. He is currently (co-)directing a number of projects dealing with Jewish manuscripts in the Near East, e.g. a cataloguing project of the Arabic...

Due to the Corona virus and at the instruction of the President of Universität Hamburg, we unfortunately must cancel the Grand Opening of the EXC ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’, 27 March 2020. We apologise for any inconveniences.

From 7 to 24 March 2020, the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Hamburg will host an exhibition of manuscripts of the Toba Batak from North Sumatra. The Consulate General is located at Bebelallee 15, 22299 Hamburg.

This exhibition is organised in cooperation with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures and the Museum am...

On 6 and 7 March 2020, the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures will host the workshop “Śāradā: Goddess, Learning, Script. On the Sanskrit manuscript culture of Kashmir” at the CSMC, Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, Room 0001.

The topics of the papers presented during the workshop will include the evolution of scribal and orthographic...

On 25 February 2020 from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M., the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures hosts the workshop “Pattern Analysis for Manuscript Research” at the CSMC, Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, Room 0001.

The workshop will focus on novel theoretical approaches on pattern analysis for manuscript research developed by the research project...

On 20–21 February 2020, the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures presents the international workshop titled “By one’s own hand – for one’s own use”. This event will take place at the CSMC, Warburgstraße 26, 20354 Hamburg, Room 0001. Presentations will focus on manuscripts made for the writer’s own use and artefacts from diverse geographical...

From 10 to 14 February 2020, the Winter School on Cuneiform Culture and the Akkadian language will be held at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in Hamburg, Germany in the form of a one-week intensive introductory workshop. All seminars will be held in English by Prof Dr Dr hc Cécile Michel, Principal Investigator at the Centre for the...