Qur'anic Manuscripts: State of the Field
May 4-6, 2017
Central European University, Budapest
Program
THURSDAY, 4 MAY
17:00 – 18:30 OPENING SESSION AND KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Welcome address and introductory remarks by Aziz Al-Azmeh (CEU)
Keynote Address by François Déroche (Collège de France)
Location: CEU, Nador 15, Auditorium B
18:30 – 19:30 Reception
FRIDAY, 5 MAY
9:00 – 11:00 SESSION 1. OVERVIEW: CURRENT PROJECTS ON QUR'ANIC MANUSCRIPTS
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
Overview of the most recent projects in the field of Qur’anic manuscript studies, focusing on the materiality of these artefacts. The overview aims to present and discuss both collaborative and individual projects.
Chaired by: Aziz Al-Azmeh (CEU)
Panel Speakers
Michael Marx (Corpus Coranicum, Berlin)
Efim Rezvan (Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg)
Morteza Karimi-Nia (Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, Tehran)
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30 Visit to Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy od Sciences (MTA)
12:30 – 13.40 Lunch
13:40 – 15:00 SESSION 2. TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
The session explores the characteristics of the later qirā’āt tradition as the comprehension of the relationship between qirā’āt and manuscript texts is essential in understanding the context of early undated Qur’anic fragments.
Chaired by: Kinga Dévényi (MTA)
Panel Speakers
Silini Naila (Université de Sousse, Tunisie)
Shady Nasser (Harvard University)
15:00 – 16:30 SESSION 3. DIGITAL ENCODING: PERSPECTIVES AND EXAMPLES
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
Digital encoding is a revolutionary approach to manuscript studies, because of the technical possibilities it affords and the radical change in approaching texts. Examples of digital editions and phylogenetic analysis will be illustrated.
Chaired by: Huw Jones (Cambridge University Library)
Panel Speakers
Barbara Bordalejo (University of Leuven)
Alba Fedeli (CEU) and Andrew Edmondson (University of Birmingham)
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 – 18:30 SESSION 4. POLICY AND POLITICS OF ACCESS TO THE OBJECT
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
Institutions have different policies on availability and online access to manuscripts. This session will present the case of Cambridge Digital Library, and the Italian project for cataloguing and studying the new manuscripts discovered in the Great Mosque of Sana’a in 2007.
Chaired by: Alba Fedeli (CEU)
Panel Speakers
Yasmin Faghihi (Cambridge University Library) and Huw Jones (Cambridge University Library) Mario Boffo (Former Italian Ambassador to Yemen)
SATURDAY, 6 MAY
9.30 – 11.00 SESSION 5. MARGINALIA IN ARABIC PAPYROLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DATED DOCUMENTS
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
The session focuses on new elements featured in papyri and epigraphic materials and their role in comparison with undated manuscripts from the beginning of Islam.
Chaired by: François Déroche (Collège de France)
Panel Speakers
Eva Mira Youssef-Grob (University of Zurich)
Frédéric Imbert (Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beirut)
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.30 – 13.15 SESSION 6. PROSPECTS IN PERSPECTIVE: IMPLICATIONS OF MATERIAL EVIDENCE
Location: Nador 15, Room 103
A roundtable and discussion aimed at considering the implications and impact of the material evidence for Qur’anic studies at large.
Chaired by: Nadia Al-Bagdadi (CEU)
Panel Speakers
Stefan Wild (University of Bonn)
François Déroche (Collège de France)
Walid Saleh (University of Toronto)
Aziz Al-Azmeh (CEU)
13:20 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 Closing Remarks
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THIS CONFERENCE HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE FRITZ THYSSEN FOUNDATION AND IS ORGANISED BY THE CEU CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES AND THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY AT CEU
and under the Aegis of the Ambrosiana:
