Scribal Practices and the Social Construction of Knowledge in Antiquity, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam

Scribal Practices and the Social Construction of Knowledge in Antiquity, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam PDF Author: Myriam Wissa
Publisher: Orientalia Lovaniensia Analect
ISBN: 9789042933149
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Book Description
Scribal practices across disciplines are often explored through divisions between words, stiches and verses, sections, scribal hands and marks, correction and copying procedures. This volume offers a different perspective: writing as shown here is, at its heart, a deeply social practice connecting narrative to the different categories of knowledge (linguistic, political, administrative, legal, historical and geographic) and literacy. The twelve essays investigate how scribal practices are related to the construction of knowledge and challenge the conventional boundaries. They address various types of knowledge whose potential is triggered by certain needs and values in the context of Antiquity, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam from al-Andalus through Egypt, Syria to Iraq, Anatolia and Bactria as far afield as Ethiopia. The vast majority of the papers are related thematically and the overall connection between the articles is the salient feature of this volume. The papers also demonstrate how the local context has shaped scribal practices allowing for cross-cultural comparison.

Knowledge Construction in Late Antiquity

Knowledge Construction in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Monika Amsler
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3111010317
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description
Social Studies of the sciences have long analyzed and exposed the constructed nature of knowledge. Pioneering studies of knowledge production in laboratories (e.g., Latour/Woolgar 1979; Knorr-Cetina 1981) have identified factors that affect processes that lead to the generation of scientific data and their subsequent interpretation, such as money, training and curriculum, location and infrastructure, biography-based knowledge and talent, and chance. More recent theories of knowledge construction have further identified different forms of knowledge, such as tacit, intuitive, explicit, personal, and social knowledge. These theoretical frameworks and critical terms can help reveal and clarify the processes that led to ancient data gathering, information and knowledge production. The contributors use late-antique hermeneutical associations as means to explore intuitive or even tacit knowledge; they appreciate mistakes as a platform to study the value of personal knowledge and its premises; they think about rows and tables, letter exchanges, and schools as platforms of distributed cognition; they consider walls as venues for social knowledge production; and rethink the value of social knowledge in scholarly genealogies--then and now.

Coptic Culture and Community

Coptic Culture and Community PDF Author: Mariam F. Ayad
Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
ISBN: 1649033281
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 473

Book Description
A wide-ranging exploration of the daily lives of ordinary Coptic Christians, from late Antiquity until today This volume brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to examine aspects of the daily lived experiences of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority from late Antiquity to the present. In doing so, it serves as a supplement and a corrective to institutional or theological narratives, which are generally rooted in studying the wielders of historical power and control. Coptic Culture and Community reveals the humanity of the Coptic tradition, giving granular depth to how Copts have lived their lives through and because of their faith for two thousand years. The first three sections consider in turn the breadth of the daily life approach, perspectives on poverty and power in a variety of different contexts, and matters of identity and persecution. The final section reflects on the global Coptic diaspora, bringing themes studied for the early Coptic Church into dialog with Coptic experiences today. These broad categories help to link fundamental questions of socio-religious history with unique aspects of Coptic culture and its vibrant communities of individuals. Contributors: - Nicola Aravecchia, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA - Mariam F. Ayad, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt - Renate Dekker, Leiden, the Netherlands - Lois M. Farag, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA - Ihab Khalil, Coptic Museum of Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada - A.D. MacDonald, Sydney, Australia - Ash Melika, California Baptist University, Riverside, California, USA - Samuel Moawad, Institute of Egyptology and Coptology, Münster, Germany - Helene Moussa, Coptic Museum of Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada - Alanna Nobbs, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia - Carolyn Ramzy, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Christina Thérèse Rooijakkers, Leiden University, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands - Youhanna Nessim Youssef, Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm, Sweden

The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies

The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004537899
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 429

Book Description
No one mentions Syriac, – a dialect of the Aramaic language Jesus spoke –, without referring to Sebastian P. Brock, the Oxford scholar and teacher who has written and taught about everything Syriac, even reorienting the field as The Third Lung of early Christianity (along with Greek and Latin). In 2018, Syriac scholars world-wide gathered in Sigtuna, Sweden, to celebrate with Sebastian his accomplishments and share new directions. Through essays showing what Syriac studies have attained, where they are going, as well as some arenas and connections previously not imagined, flavors of the fruits of laboring in the field are offered. Contributors to this volume are: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Shraga Bick, Briouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Alberto Camplani, Thomas A. Carlson, Jeff W. Childers, Muriel Debié, Terry Falla, George A. Kiraz, Sergey Minov, Craig E. Morrison, István Perczel, Anton Pritula, Ilaria Ramelli, Christine Shepardson, Stephen J. Shoemaker, Herman G.B. Teule, Kathleen E. McVey.

A History of Hittite Literacy

A History of Hittite Literacy PDF Author: Theo van den Hout
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108849199
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 455

Book Description
Why did the Anatolians remain illiterate for so long, although surrounded by people using script? Why and how did they eventually adopt the cuneiform writing system and why did they still invent a second, hieroglyphic script of their own? What did and didn't they write down and what role did Hittite literature, the oldest known literature in any Indo-European language, play? These and many other questions on scribal culture are addressed in this first, comprehensive book on writing, reading, script usage, and literacy in the Hittite kingdom (c.1650–1200 BC). It describes the rise and fall of literacy and literature in Hittite Anatolia in the wider context of its political, economic, and intellectual history.

Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone

Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004425616
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 492

Book Description
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era. Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time. Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.

Law, Literature, and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran

Law, Literature, and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran PDF Author: Jutta Jokiranta
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004393382
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
The essays in this collection examine halakhic and rule texts found at Qumran, focusing on legal issues, the role of halakhah in relations with other Second Temple groups, and the literary development and intertextual relationships of the manuscripts.

Creating Standards

Creating Standards PDF Author: Dmitry Bondarev
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110635089
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Book Description
Manuscript cultures based on Arabic script feature various tendencies in standardisation of orthography, script types and layout. Unlike previous studies, this book steps outside disciplinary and regional boundaries and provides a typological cross-cultural comparison of standardisation processes in twelve Arabic-influenced writing traditions where different cultures, languages and scripts interact. A wide range of case studies give insights into the factors behind uniformity and variation in Judeo-Arabic in Hebrew script, South Palestinian Christian Arabic, New Persian, Aljamiado of the Spanish Moriscos, Ottoman Turkish, a single multilingual Ottoman manuscript, Sino-Arabic in northwest China, Malay Jawi in the Moluccas, Kanuri and Hausa in Nigeria, Kabyle in Algeria, and Ethiopian Fidäl script as used to transliterate Arabic. One of the findings of this volume is that different domains of manuscript cultures have distinct paths of standardisation, so that orthography tends to develop its own standardisation principles irrespective of norms applied to layout and script types. This book will appeal to readers interested in manuscript studies, sociolinguistics, literacy studies, and history of writing.

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective PDF Author: Lily Kahn
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004376585
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective is devoted to the diverse array of spoken and written language varieties that have been employed by Jews in the Diaspora from antiquity until the twenty-first century. It focuses on the following five key themes: Jewish languages in dialogue with sacred Jewish texts, Jewish languages in contact with the co-territorial non-Jewish languages, Jewish vernacular traditions, the status of Jewish languages in the twenty-first century, and theoretical issues relating to Jewish language research. This volume includes case studies on a wide range of Jewish languages both historical and modern and devotes attention to lesser known varieties such as Jewish Berber, Judeo-Italian, and Karaim in addition to the more familiar Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino. "On top of Brill’s Journal of Jewish Languages and a number of recent publications providing systematic overviews of Jewish languages as well as related theoretical discussions, this volume is a valuable addition to the increasing interest in Jewish languages and linguistics." -Wout van Bekkum, Groningen, Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXVI 3-4 (2019)

The Composition and Tradition of Erimḫuš

The Composition and Tradition of Erimḫuš PDF Author: Kaira Boddy
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004438173
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Book Description
In The Composition and Tradition of Erimḫuš Kaira Boddy analyses the structure of the lexical list Erimḫuš and explains its role in Mesopotamian and Hittite scholarship.