Panel on ‘Oriental Studies in Europe, 1500–1700’ – Renaissance Society of America Annual Conference 17–21 March 2019 (Toronto, Canada)

RSA Panel on ‘Oriental Studies in Europe 1500–1700’

Papers are sought for a panel on ‘Oriental Studies in Europe, 1500–1700’ to be submitted to the RSA 2019.

Western Europe saw an unprecedented level of scholarly activity in Arabic, Persian and Turkish in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The engagement with languages of the East came in many different forms including Latin translations of the Qurʾān and refutations of the holy book of Islam; the study of biblical texts in the languages of the Middle East; the study of scientific, literary and philosophical texts in in Arabic, Persian and Turkish as well as the compilation of dictionaries, word-lists and phrasebooks and composition of primers and grammars of these three languages by European Orientalists. 

The panel will discuss the historical development of Oriental Studies in early modern Europe through manuscript collections and early printed editions of Arabic, Persian and Turkish texts, such as the printed output of the Medici Press in Rome or Erpenius’s publishing house in Leiden as well as marginalia and annotations on manuscripts and printed books. 

Interdisciplinary approaches and papers from the disciplines of intellectual history, book history and print culture and textual and literary studies are very welcome.

The topics are not limited to but may include:

– institutionalisation of the teaching of Oriental languages and the founding of chairs for Arabic at universities such as Bologna, Paris and Oxford

– early printed editions in Turkish, Persian and Arabic

– technical issues arising from printing with Arabic type; the availability and sourcing of materials for printing Arabic; the centres for printing with Arabic type; the printers, correctors and typesetters of Arabic type; printing Arabic-, Persian- and Turkish-language books with non-Arabic type

– early Oriental dictionaries, grammars, phrasebooks and their authors

– bible translations into Arabic, Persian and Turkish

– Qurʾānic studies in early modern Europe

– Oriental manuscripts in royal, public, ecclesiastical, university and private early modern libraries; scholarly collections of Oriental books

If you would like to join us, please send an e-mail to me, Nil Palabiyik (nil.palabiyik@lmu.de), immediately to register your interest.

I will need a:

– paper title (15-word maximum)

– an abstract (150-word maximum)

– A short CV

– full name, current affiliation, and email address

by 5 August at the latest.