New Issue of 'manuscript cultures'How Manuscripts Affect and Create Social Realities

17 April 2023

Photo: CSMC

Volume 19 of the journal 'manuscript cultures' is out now. The new edition is dedicated the topic of written artefacts and agency and explores how manuscripts are perceived to influence reality and even create social relations.

In the last decades, the idea that not only humans but also inanimate objects can have agency has become popular in anthropology, art history, and the social sciences. The new volume of manuscript cultures, edited by Michael Kohs and Sabine Kienitz, considers the agency of manuscripts (or written artefacts in general) – an aspect that has not yet received the necessary attention in research. Written artefacts should not merely be seen as passive objects containing texts but need to be understood as ‘actors’ that unfold their power and efficacy. They have Wirkmacht, to use a German term.

The first section of the volume gathers case studies on magical and divinatory written artefacts. The papers illustrate the broad spectrum of written artefacts connected with the topics of magic and agency. Written amulets might be the most obvious case of agency in written artefacts; moreover, users of multiple-text manuscripts that contain magical recipes and instructions seem to ascribe an inherent power to them. The potency of such manuscripts can be activated by their very presence, direct contact to the human body, or by their material and visual features. Magical manuscripts are perceived to be actively intervening in the everyday world of human actors.

Contrastingly, in the volume’s second section the focus of the contributions is on aspects of the agency of manuscripts that have an impact on whole social groups. Written artefacts can affect and even create social relations, for example by connecting people in administrative institutions who are actively involved in the production, use, and circulation of forms and schedules even if these people do not know each other from face-to-face communication. In fact, manuscripts may deeply affect an established community, unfolding an emotional sense of belonging and uniting its members in their joint veneration of the artefact. The agency of manuscripts can thus shape social and cultural practices. The case studies in this section show how manuscripts can establish ‘actual’ social relationships and consequently actively shape whole communities, for example by connecting the owners, scribes, and users of manuscripts.

One guiding question of the volume is how exactly the manuscripts acquire their agency in the course of their production or use. Their power may result from their materiality, their visual organisation, or their contents, for instance. Hence, the agency and impact of a manuscript is often not grounded in its content. What contributes to written artefacts’ agency is rather the writing material that was used – for example, whether it was valuable or not – and performative origin and usage of the artefact, that is, the physical act of production by handwriting.

Like all previous editions, the volume is available as open access and can be downloaded from our website.