90051 - Knowledge Exchange and Storage before the Printed Book (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will have a critical understanding of the different systems of attainment, transfer and conservation of knowledge in ancient societies all over the world. Students will be able to analyze the methods and procedures of exchanging and archiving wisdom in different cultures and will be able to compare them in regard of their specific aims and their effectiveness in storing knowledge and information, with special attention to material aspects. Students will be able to undertake an informed review of recently established databases which aim at collecting data and texts of ancient authors and literary works, and to carve out new tendencies in the conception of modern storage systems on the basis of a widened perspective of classification of cultural memories. Students will acquire awareness of recent developments in Digital Papyrology and be able to manage and communicate interdisciplinary and intercultural connections, also considering different scientific approaches.

Course contents

Course Contents

The course aims to discuss how different ancient cultures across the world, from the Graeco-Romans to the Indians, Chinese, Mesoamericans and others, have faced and solved the problem of organizing and transmitting written data, using documentary evidence (the texts of everyday life and of administration: letters, accounts, contracts, lists) and literary works (books).

The focus of the course will be archiving as a social practice, allowing students to form cross-cultural comparisons of phenomena beyond the European and modern idea of what an archive can be. Lectures will explore the differences between and purposes behind disposable and preserved documentation, methods of organizing writing materials, and physical spaces for text storage. Finally, we will refocus attention on the activities of non-elite agents and analyze the diffusion of archival practices throughout societies.

A special focus will be devoted to the implications of this methodological approach using the digitalization of ancient archives.

 

Class Work

1. Introducing Papyrology (2 hours): explaining Papyrology (origins, research questions and output, methodologies), and the digital tools now available to do papyrological research, i.e. finding papyri and metadata online, comparing texts, and navigating the websites of modern libraries and collections (e.g. Trismegistos, papyri.info, PapPal, Clauss-Slaby, HGV).
2. Book and Document Archival Practices in the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean (ca. 10 hours): discussing ancient writing and reading culture with a focus on the material aspects of preservation and the spread of the written artifacts. Individual lectures will look at the papyrus scroll and the codex, writing on potsherds (ostraka), the reuse of scrap material, production of books and publishing practices in Greek and Roman times, great libraries within ancient Mediterranean cultures, commercial and military archives, lists of books and private libraries, and the layout and symbology for the organization of the written page.
3. Presentations on the Storage and Transmission of Knowledge in the Ancient and Pre-Modern World (ca. 12 hours): comparing archival phenomena across space (and time) coordinated by the professor and entrusted to external experts. The milieus investigated will depend on the number and expertise of the invited speakers, and may include:
   • Early Christian archives and Coptic culture
   • manuscripts from Ethiopia and Eritrea
   • Epigraphic archives and stone records from Graeco-Roman antiquity
   • Cultures of Mesoamerica
   • Iranian (Achaemenid and Sasanian) Imperial chanceries and archives
   • Arab practices
   • Ancient Near Eastern (Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians) practices
   • Ancient Egypt before the Greeks
   • Indian documents in Sanskrit
   • Imperial China
   • Feudal Japan
4. Student Presentations (ca. 6 hours): working in groups to present on previsouly-agreed topics related to the course. This presentation will be part of the final assessment (see 'Assessment Methods').

Depending on the availability of external experts and the number of students willing to make a presentation for a chosen topic, the final distribution of hours in sections 3 and 4 may vary.

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory Readings:

1. INDIVIDUAL LECTURE NOTES from the class work (cfr. 'Course contents', 1.);
2. M. FRIEDRICH, 'Epilogue: Archives and Archiving across Cultures. Towards a Matrix of Analysis', in A. BAUSI-C. BROCKMANN-M. FRIEDRICH-S. KIENITZ (eds.), Manuscripts and Archives. Comparative Views on Record-Keeping, Berlin 2018, pp. 421–45;
3. W. MIGNOLO, 'The Materiality of Reading and Writing Cultures: The Chain of Sounds, Graphic Signs, and Sign Carriers', chapter 2 of Id., The Darker Side of the Renaissance. Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization, Ann Arbor 2003, pp. 69-122;
4. J.-L. FOURNET, 'Archives and Libraries in Graeco-Roman Egypt', in A. BAUSI-C. BROCKMANN-M. FRIEDRICH-S. KIENITZ (eds.), Manuscripts and Archives. Comparative Views on Record-Keeping, Berlin 2018, pp. 171–99.

Non-attending students will not be responsible for item 1, and will instead read 5 additional, professor-approved, articles or 1 monograph (see 'Assessment Methods').

 

All the texts read and discussed during the course will be available as teaching materials in the Virtuale website; students will find PDF version of the bibliography where available or specific indications about availability of books and articles in the same Virtuale repository.

Teaching methods

1) Lectures by the professor, where students are invited to participate in analysis and discussions.

2) Expert Presentations, which students will prepare for with suggested readings recommended by the repsective expert and the professor of the course. Students are expected to critically participate in any discussions during and following the presentations.

3) Student Presentation, where students will be divided in groups (ideally, two to four people) and prepare to discuss specific case studies approved by the professor.

It is the professor's prerogative:

• to invite further scholars and colleagues to enrich the content of the course, or if not enough students are able or willing to present.
• to propose further themes and case studies on the abovementioned topics.

The students will given the prospective time-table of the seminar in the very first lesson; they will immediately be informed, should this time-table vary.

Assessment methods

A) Students who attend at least 25 hours of lessons will be considered attending. For attending students, the final assessment is divided into two parts:

1. 50% will be based on a group presentation (ideally, two to four people). Depending on the critical insight and depth of the presentation, members of the group will receive a preliminary grade. The grade will be based on the accuracy and complexity of retrieval (including informed review of existing databases), the quality of the analysis of the state of the art, the use of appropriate vocabulary, critical appraisal of the main methodological issues, the use of appropriate analytical tools, the existence of a clear structure and presentation, and the organized division of labor within the group to produce an organic work.
2. 50% will be based on a written test. Each student will answer three questions on the compulsory readings (items 1. to 4.). The test will assess precise knowledge of the studied essays and the ability to discuss them critically. The grade will also refelct the student's ability to analyze and communicate interdisciplinary and intercultural connections with awareness of different scientific approaches.

Students are strongly advised to declare whether they will attend the course or not as soon as possible in order to facilitate the partition in groups and the final presentations of the attending students.

 

B) Non-attending students, or attending students who cannot or will not present, will only undergo the written exam. They must prepare all the mandatory readings in the 'Readings/Bibliography' section (except item 1) in addition to 5 more articles or a full monograph which align with the students’ interests and must be selected from those uploaded in Virtuale. Their exam papers, differently from those of the attending students, will contain six questions instead of three, in order to cover all the prepared material; each non-attending student will be given a specific exam paper with questions targeting their reading choices.

Other choices may be suggested by the students and will be considered for approval by the professor. Non-attending students are required to discuss their final exam choices with the professor before signing in for the written exam. Otherwise, the exam will not take place. No exceptions will be made.

The questions in the examination will assess the student's ability to present topics with critical awareness of the methodological implications and interdisciplinary/intercultural connections. The grade will also reflect their oral clarity and the use of appropriate vocabulary.

• Proficient Grade: the student employs critical analysis of topics using proper terminology and applies the appropriate methods and analytical tools to a given context.

• Passable Grade: the student describes the main issues learned or analysed using appropriate language, possibly with some uncertainties. Responding to the professor's guiding questions, they are able to apply some critical methods based on class examples or examples found in readings.

• Fail: the student has serious or extensive shortcomings, uses inappropriate language, is inable to correctly frame the topics dealt with, and/or lacks a sense of direction in their use and analysis of the bibliographical materials evaluated.

Teaching tools

The lectures will be held using Powerpoint presentations. All texts presented and discussed in class, together with the PDF documents in the 'Readings/Bibliography' section, will be available on IOL and Virtuale.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD) must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Office hours

See the website of Giulio Iovine