Archive for February 17th, 2026

1.Call for Chapters: Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies: Language, Sense, and Proof in the Early Modern World

Editors: Dr Mary Katherine Newman and Dr Rana Banna

What counted as evidence in the early modern world? 

How did language itself – spoken, written, translated, or performed – shape conceptions of proof? 

And how did sensory experience lend authority, or uncertainty, to what language claimed as true?

We invite chapter proposals for an edited volume examining how encounters through language and the senses shaped the production of evidence in the early modern period (c.1492–1700). Building on the interdisciplinary reading group Evident Tongues, Evident Bodies held at UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies, the volume considers how early modern thinkers understood the interplay between linguistic practice and sensory experience in the making of knowledge and truth.

From translation and foreign tongues to sacred utterance, magical speech, the rhetoric of governance, the emerging idioms of science, and the ambitions of poetic language, the early modern world was marked by intense reflection on how words could signify, persuade, and prove. At the same time, theorists and practitioners across domains – from physicians and natural philosophers to theologians, travellers, jurists, and dramatists – debated the evidentiary authority of the senses: what could be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled as proof?

We seek contributions that illuminate how words, sounds, and sensations became sites of truth, persuasion, or belief, and how embodied perception shaped practices of verification, uncertainty, and doubt. Proposals may explore texts, performances, rituals, objects, archives, or embodied practices, and we welcome work that bridges disciplinary boundaries.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Language, translation, and sensory perception: as instruments for verifying truth and negotiating authority in colonial and cross-cultural encounters
• Poetic and literary explorations of evidence: how language and embodied experience imagine or question the conditions of proof
• Material texts and visual proofs: scripts, diagrams, maps, and other graphic traces that make evidence visible
• The search for a perfect or universal language: across poetic, philosophical, scientific, occult, and theological traditions, as a pursuit of linguistic certainty and epistemic clarity
• Legal and theological forms of testimony: confession, revelation, and witnessing as practices of verbal and embodied proof
• Theology and religious treatises: revelation, prophetic vision, and the moral or divine authority of evident speech
• Magical and occult philosophies: alchemy, astrology, divination, and demonology, and their verbal and sensory conjuring of hidden or divine evidence
• Scientific and empiricist efforts to produce evidence: the use of plain rhetorical style, sensory observation, and experiment, alongside continuities with poetic and magical idioms of proof
• Medical and anatomical observation: the witnessing of bodies, wounds, and symptoms as persuasive demonstrations of truth
• Bodily proofs: the senses and bodily perception as modes of testing and demonstrating truth
• The evidentiary status of sound: sermons, songs, chants, oaths, spells, and other vocal acts that establish, challenge, or authenticate belief
• Sensory epistemologies in science and natural philosophy: the interplay of observation and description in producing credible knowledge
• Deception and error: illusion, mistranslation, and doubt in the interpretation of sensory or linguistic evidence
• Pedagogies of the senses and of speech: the training of bodies, tongues, and minds to discern reliable evidence
• Afterlives and continuities: the persistence and transformation of early modern sensory and linguistic epistemologies in later practices of proof

Interdisciplinary approaches welcomed, including, but not limited to:

Literature | History/History of Science | Religious Studies | Art History | Translation Studies | Sensory Studies | Legal History | Theatre & Performance | Philosophy | Anthropology | Colonial & Global Studies | Linguistics | Book History | Musicology

Submission details:

Title

Synopsis/abstract (300-400 words)

Author biography (100-150 words)

Deadline for submissions: 12th April 2026

Please send proposals (300-400 words) with short author biographies (100-150 words) to: mary.newman.14@ucl.ac.uk and r.banna@ucl.ac.uk

Full chapters (6,000–8,000 words) will be due in April 2027

Dr Mary Katherine Newman (she/her)

Quirk Postdoctoral Fellow (2025-6)

Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL

www.maryknewman.com
Coordinator Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation

2. Announcing the Mediterranean Seminar Summer Skills Seminars for 2026

This year the Mediterranean Seminar in conjuction with the CU Mediterranean Studies Group is offering thirteen Summer Skills Seminars – intensive four-day boot-camps for scholars, researchers, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, librarians, teachers, professionals and afficionados. Led by leading authorities and emerging scholars in their respective fields, the Summer Skill Seminars provide either a foundation or an intensive focus on different aspects of Mediterranean Studies. Acquire new skills to augment your research profile and open new areas of specialization, explore a new subject area or theme to enrich your teaching or simply expand your field of knowledge in these small-group hands-on four-day synchronous remote workshops.

This year’s Summer Skills Seminars include:

May 18-21 – Reading Archival Latin

May 18-21 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts

June 15-18 – Reading Ottoman Turkish

June 15-18 – The Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)

June 22-25 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography

June 22-25 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction

June 29 – July 2 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction

June 2 9 – July 2 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)

July 6-9 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction

July 13-16 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction

August 3-6 – Reading Medieval Catalan

See below & individual announcements for details.

Regular registration is open until 26 April 2026. Numbers are limited so please register early to guarantee a place. 

EXCUSE CROSS-POSTINGS – PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the individual instructor directly.

May 18-21 2026 – Reading Archival Latin 
Focusing on the documents in Latin held at the Archive of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, this seminar presents an introduction to Latin diplomatics and the reading of unedited archival documents through the incredible rich collection of Barcelona’s ACA. The seminar combines hands-on reading practice with units on different genres of documents, abbreviations, research techniques, dating systems, and other relevant information.
Instructor: Brian A. Catlos
Prerequisites: Intermediate reading knowledge of Latin is required, but no previous experience in paleography or diplomatics.

May 18-21 2026 – Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts
Participants will explore Greek manuscript culture through an introduction to paleography with a historical background on the evolution of Greek script. The course emphasizes the major hands and writing styles from antiquity through the Byzantine period, including majuscule and minuscule scripts as well as humanistic and Renaissance scripts. Techniques for deciphering common manuscript abbreviations, ligatures, and symbols, which are essential for understanding Greek manuscripts, will be covered in depth. Participants will also receive guidance on navigating digital repositories and databases for Greek manuscripts, along with tools for accessing online reproductions and secondary literature.
Instructor: Manolis Ulbricht
Prerequisites: Participants need to have reading knowledge of Greek (whether ancient, medieval or modern). The language of instruction is English.

June 15-18 2026 – Reading Ottoman Turkish
This course offers an introduction to Ottoman Turkish, providing an intro level course to the language and a brief overview of Ottoman paleography. By the end of the course, the student will be able to read basic texts in print, recognize different paleographic styles, types of documents, as well as understand how and what dictionary to use for different types of texts. The course is perfect for students with knowledge of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic, with an interest but no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish.
Instructor:  Oscar Aguirre Mandujano
Prerequisites: Reading of Turkish and/or Persian and Arabic; no prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish necessary. The language of instruction is English.

June 15-18 2026 – Introduction to the Archivo General de Indias: A Global Archive (NEW)
This course offers an in-depth introduction to the Archive of the Indies (Archivo General de Indias) in Seville, one of the world’s most important repositories for the study of the Spanish Empire and the early modern Atlantic world. Founded in 1785, the archive houses millions of documents produced by Spanish colonial institutions governing the Americas and the Philippines from the 15th to the 20th centuries, featuring the five continents and numerous different languages. The course is open to anyone -undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, librarians, archivists and general public- interested in early modern, Atlantic, and global history, even with little or no research experience.
Instructor:  Jorge Díaz Ceballos
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least an intermediate level of reading Spanish. The language of instruction is English.

June 22-25 2026 – Medieval & Early Modern Cartography: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with an overview of key concepts and methodologies in the study of Mediterranean and Early Modern cartography and the interpretation of maps. The course will address the themes of mobility, connectivity, and encounter in relation to the visual culture of peoples and territories across the sea. Participants will acquire an art historical tool kit to assist them in conducting their own research on the visual culture and artistic production of the medieval Mediterranean.
Instructor: Karen Mathews
Prerequisites: Recommended: AP Art History courses or introductory surveys. Some upper division or graduate art history coursework is ideal but not required

June 22-25 2026 – Medieval Mediterranean Coinage: An Introduction
This Summer Skills Seminar will introduce participants to the dynamic interactions of Roman and Sasanian coinages in the Late Antique period, which gave way to the tripartite division of Latin, Byzantine, and Islamic coinages of the succeeding centuries. We will examine how these three coinages developed and interacted through the later medieval centuries, laying the groundwork for the modern monetary systems.
Instructor: Alan Stahl
Prerequisites: None.

June 29 – July 2 2026 – Mediterranean Magic: An Introduction
This four-day intensive skills seminar will not only provide participants with an overview of magic’s history (broadly defined) throughout the premodern period but also introduce them to recurring patterns in magical practice and representation, significant symbols, and even tools for bringing similar material into their classrooms or personal reflections. As much as possible the content will be catered to participants interests and needs. Medievalists of all disciplines and ranks, graduate students, qualified undergraduate students, library and archival professionals, independent scholars, and modern magic practitioners or enthusiasts are encouraged to apply.
Instructor: Veronica Menaldi
Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites apart from an interest in magic, astrology, and occult science in both culture and literature.

June 29 – July 2 2026 – Reading Armenian Manuscripts (NEW)
From the fifth century CE onward, Armenian writing has spanned an incredible geographic and cultural scope. This intensive and introductory course guides participants to decipher medieval and early modern Armenian manuscripts, running a textual gamut from the work of professional scribes at the Cilician chancellery to the marginal notes of monastic readers, hard pressed for candles (and eyesight); from the personal correspondence of travelers, far from home, to equally well-traveled romances in the worldly vernacular. Through a combination of small-pair and group work, participants will acquire the paleographic skills to accurately read and describe handwritten texts in the Armenian script — a massive corpus that includes works not only in Classical, Middle, dialectal, and modern Armenian, but other languages as well, such as Turkish (Armeno-Turkish) and Persian (Armeno-Persian).
Instructor: Michael Pifer
Prerequisites: Basic reading knowledge of Armenian (Classical or modern) is required.

July 6-9 2026 – Sephardic Culture: An Introduction 
This Summer Skills Seminar provides participants with the an overview of main currents in Sephardic Studies including historial and cultural trends, texts, sources for the period 900-1700 CE, and attending to the potential of this field to enhance your own research and teaching. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, religious studies, but all interested parties are welcome to apply. Participants will receive a completion certificate which may be listed on your CV and other documents such as grant/fellowship applications. The seminar is held via zoom over four days, with two two-hour sessions each day. Participants are expected to prepare readings in advance of the sessions, which will be a blend of lecture, pair and group discussion, group close readings, and in-class activities.
Instructor: David A. Wacks
Prerequisites: None.

July 13-16 2026 – The Archivo General de Simancas: An Introduction
This seminar offers an introduction early Modern Spanish paleography and the organization of the General Archive of Simancas and an insight into the rich sources of the Spanish monarchy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using a hands-on approach, students will learn to analyze original documents and to read and transcribe sources in early modern Spanish and in other languages, enabling students to read documents at the AGS and from across the global empire of Early Modern Spain.
Instructor: Prof. Rubén González Cuerva
Prerequisites: Applicants should have a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish. The language of instruction is English.

August 3-6 2026 – Reading Medieval Catalan
The vast and rich corpus of medieval Catalan literature has yet to be given its full due in our overall understanding of medieval European literature and culture.  This is the result, in large part, of the fact that medieval Catalan, unlike Old French or Old Spanish, has not evolved to become the major language of a modern European nation state.  For similar reasons, there have been few opportunities, outside a few centers, to study this corpus or to learn to read it in its original medieval language.  The present course seeks to begin to fill this gap in the knowledge of medieval European vernacular literatures by offering the basic skills necessary to read medieval Catalan through study of key texts in the development of 13th through 15th century Catalan letters.
Instructor: John Dagenais
Prerequisites: Applicants should have at least a good reading knowledge of modern Spanish, French, Italian and/or Portuguese or some knowledge of Catalan. The language of instruction is English.

3. Manuscripts in Partition

February 25, 2026

HMML’s manuscripts tell stories of borders, upheaval, and resilience. Across the 20th century, the creation of new nation-states often disrupted libraries and displaced cultural treasures, leaving minority communities and their manuscripts fragmented and at risk. As part of HMML’s 60th anniversary celebration, this lecture uncovers how these manuscripts bear witness to the human consequences of partition and reveals the remarkable work HMML does to reconnect, preserve, and share what was thought to be lost.

Presenter

Dr. Josh Mugler, Curator of Eastern Christian & Islamic Manuscripts: Oversees HMML’s Eastern Christian and Islamic manuscript collections, directing cataloging and preservation that reconnect dispersed cultural heritage and make it accessible to scholars worldwide.

Registration

Free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://secure.hmml.org/a/winter-lecture-series-february-2026

Contact Information

Dr. Audrey Thorstad

Director of Programming

Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Contact Email

athorstad001@hmml.org

4. UCLA: Pourdavoud Lecture Series

Elephantine Goes Global, Island of the Millennia

https://pourdavoud.ucla.edu/events/verena-lepper-elephantine-goes-global/

Verena Lepper (J. Paul Getty Museum)

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time

Royce Hall 306 and Via Zoom

Register at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3Gng2bJvY7hfDB24_aLv9L_w2kn_99PscpYLCUn9truatww/viewform