Gotha Manuscript Talks, Fall 2022Thinking Manuscript Provenance Beyond Europe

5 October 2022

Photo: Universität Erfurt

The study of the provenance of manuscripts is of increasing significance. Yet, its focus has often been on European actors. The fall series of the Gotha Manuscript Talks 2022 is devoted to manuscript provenance beyond Europe. It is organised by the Gotha Research Library in cooperation with CSMC.

Provenance studies is a comparatively young field within the study of manuscripts, which has received a lot of scholarly and public attention in recent years. A wealth of Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian manuscripts that can be seen in European museums or that are stored in collections and archives found their way there illegitimately in the age of colonialism. There is now a heightened awareness of this issue, both among the general public and the scientific community. At the same time, comparatively little attention is paid to the fact that manuscripts were moved not only to Europe, and Europeans were by no means the only actors in these movements.

The fall series of the Gotha Manuscript Talks 2022 takes the analytical angle of provenance, but refocuses it away from European actors. In four lectures in October and November, speakers will address numerous questions that are relevant in this context: How can we recover the agency of non-European actors in the field of manuscript movements? In which cultural, religious, or social milieus did manuscripts circulate in the Ottoman and Safavid Empires? How can the study of the provenance of manuscripts help us understand the nature and significance of books and book collections and material culture more generally in the Middle East? To what extent does the transfer of manuscripts from one owner to another shed light on social or economic disparities, on the social ascent or descent of individuals and groups? In what ways does it help us to understand the relations of such groups and individuals to institutions of learning and political elites?

The Gotha Manuscript Talks are organised by the Gotha Research Library in cooperation with Konrad Hirschler of CSMC. It is the succesor of the series ‘Scattered, Looted, Vandalized, and Destroyed: Manuscripts and Violence’, which took place in spring 2022. Starting on 12 October, all lectures will be held on Wednesday evenings at 6:15 pm.