TextWorlds: Global Mapping of Texts From the Pre-Modern World

Texts from the pre-modern world form a critical basis for our knowledge of worlds past, from Egyptian hieroglyphic papyri and Babylonian cuneiform tablets to Inka quipu knots, Chinese oracle bones, and Viking rune stones. But how do these bodies of historical source material compare? How many are there? And where do they come from? TextWorlds brings together scholars from philology, history, and archaeology to explore text corpora of the pre-modern world in a comparative perspective. Through a series of workshops, working groups, and lecture series, concluded with a two-day conference in early 2022, TextWorlds will forge a lasting scholarly network for the study of texts as an integral basis for our understanding of world history. The network counts researchers specialising in philology, archaeology, and history, highlighting the diversity of humanities disciplines present at Uppsala University.

The TextWorlds Seminar Series is taking place in the Autumn 2020 and Spring 2021. You can read more about the series and browse the individual seminars here. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a concluding conference has been postponed until June 2022.

Our concluding conference, TextWorlds: Digital Perspectives on the Composition and Distribution of Writing from the Ancient World, is taking place at Uppsala University Thursday 16 June 2022 from 9.00-17.00 CEST (UTC+2). See the web page for more details and a full programme (coming soon). For registration for the event, in-person or remote, please see this link.

The network is funded for 2020-21 by CIRCUS – The Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society, an initiative of the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University. The TextWorlds research programme aims to integrate and evaluate knowledge and resources from a wide range of philological subfields through data collection, refinement, and analyses conducted jointly by network members. Through engagement with humanities and social science researchers from Sweden and across Scandinavia, the network also arranges workshops and lecture series in collaboration with existing research projects at Uppsala University and the Digital Humanities Uppsala forum. Network guest lectures, seminars, and workshops are advertised on this webpage and associated departmental webpages regularly. TextWorlds activities are free and open for everyone interested. For inquiries, please contact network coordinator Seraina Nett.

Contact

Grant administrator: Rune Rattenborg (rune.rattenborg@lingfil.uu.se) (Assyriology)
Network coordinator: Seraina Nett (seraina.nett@lingfil.uu.se) (Assyriology)
Circus project coordinator: Ingrid Berg (ingrid.berg@circus.uu.se)

Network members

Last modified: 2022-05-09
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