Primary Source Symposium

Date
Thu November 2nd 2017, 12:00am - Sat November 4th 2017, 12:00am

Movement of Objects and Textual Mobilities

Stanford Humanities Center | November 2-4, 2017

Following on the successful 2016 “Reformations” conference, the 2017 Primary Source Symposium will focus on cultural exchange through the movement of objects (gifts, textiles, booty, books, spices, animals, etc.). The goal of the symposium is to understand better the ways in which objects served as agents of cultural translation across linguistic, political, religious, geographic or gendered “borders.” 

Thursday, November 2

5:30pm | Keynote: Sharon Farmer (UC Santa Barbara)

"Border Crossings: Objects, Social Networks, and Immigrant Identities in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century France" 

6:30pm | Reception

Friday, November 3

9:00-10:30 | Religious Borders: Europe and Islam

Anne Lester (University of Colorado, Boulder) — “Intimacy and Abundance: Eastern Textiles in Relic Containers in the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade” 

Therese Martin (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid) — “Luxury Objects and Cultural Exchange in Medieval Iberia” 

10:30-11:00 | Coffee Break

11:00-12:30 | Ottoman Manuscripts in Stanford Collections

A Round Table discussion with Tuna Artun (Rutgers); Alexander Key (Stanford University); and Ali Yaycioglu (Stanford University)

12:30-2:00 | Lunch 

2:00-3:30 | Asian Contact

Valerie Hansen (Yale University) — Beijing's place on the Newly Connected Global Network of the Year 1000.

John Kieschnick (Stanford University) — “The History of Chinese Buddhism in Three Objects”

3:30-4:00 | Coffee Break

4:00-5:00 | Keynote: Anthony Cutler (Penn State University)

“When the Medium is the Message: On the Transport and Meanings of Ivory in the Absence of Texts.”

6:00-9:00 | Dinner for Symposium Participants 

Saturday, November 4

9:00-10:45 | After-life of Objects

Ali Yaycioglu (Stanford University) — “When Owners Die: Objects, Death and Afterlife”

Shirin Fozi (University of Pittsburgh) — “The Bruno Monument in Hildesheim Cathedral: Donation, Redemption, and a Joyous Soul in the Year 1200”

Respondents: Daniel Lord Smail (Harvard University) and Sanjay Subrahmanyam (UCLA)

10:45-11:00 | Break

11:00 | Keynote: Daniel Lord Smail (Harvard University)

"(Medieval) Things in Motion" 

Concluding Remarks