09/03/2015 - 11/03/2015
Residencia de Estudiantes. C/Pinar 21 (Madrid)
Despite the constantly growing research regarding the literary history of the Islamicate World, our knowledge about what was available/popular/read in different periods and regions is still dismally patchy. There is hardly a period or a region during the long and diverse history of the Muslim world for which we can present a clear and detailed picture of which books were available and popular in any given discipline among the various circles, communities and societies (Muslim and non-Muslim alike). Nor do we know much, regarding most periods of Islamic history, about the diffusion of books, the processes of survival, selection and transmission of books, or the mechanisms and ways to include books in a teaching curriculum (the term “curriculum” itself carrying a rather vague meaning),exclude them from it, or remove them from the library shelves . We do not know why at certain stages works by authors of earlier generations became obsolete, while at other periods a clear preference for the more antique literature prevailed. We are equally ill informed regarding the different ways to manage scholarly information at any given time, nor do we possess comprehensive studies discussing theoretical and practical approaches of Muslim scholars towards scholarship or their changing predilection for specific literary genres.
Scientific committee: Maribel Fierro (ILC, CCHS-CSIC), Sabine Schmidtke, Sarah Stroumsa
Secretary: Virginia Vázquez (virginia.vazquez@cchs.csic.es)
Organized by: ILC, CCHS-CSIC
Sponsored by: Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation
More information and programme here: http://www.cchs.csic.es/en/node/289017
