2006: Communities of Learning Conference
- Introduction
- Conference Program
- Accomodation
- Registration Form (pdf 38 kb)
- Conference Program & Abstracts (pdf 301 kb)
The Institute for Public History with the support of Australians Studying Abroad, the State Library of Victoria, and the Network for Early European Research, announces a conference 2-4 August 2006:
Communities of Learning, Religious Diversity, and the Written Record 1085-1453
- Free public lecture Wed. 2 Aug. 6.00-7.30pm, Village Roadshow Theatrette State Library Victoria (entry 3, La Trobe St)
- Conference sessions 3-4 Aug: Burchill Room, Performing Arts Building (Bldg 68) Monash University, Clayton Campus
This conference explores the notion that manuscript books between the late eleventh and mid fifteenth centuries were the product not just of individual scholars, but of a range of different communities of learning, each with their own particular intellectual, political and religious character. Some manuscripts were the products of monastic communities, some were from urban schools or the University of Paris, others might emanate from a courtly environment. The conference takes as its chronological time frame the period from the capture of Toledo by Latin Christians in 1085, when so much Islamic and Jewish scholarship first became accessible to the Latin West, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. The emphasis will be on the continuity of cultural creativity during these centuries, when the Latin West was able to benefit from the intellectual riches of both Moorish Spain and the Byzantine world. There will be a particular focus on the role of the University of Paris during this period, as well as on the transmission of music and the other natural sciences, alongside the study of the arts of language and of ethics. The emphasis will be on the range of communities involved in the transmission of learning, both within and outside the academy.
On Wednesday 2 August 6.00-7.30pm, there will be a public lecture at the State Library of Victoria, given jointly by Assoc. Prof. Constant J. Mews and Prof. Earl Jeffrey Richards (Universität Wupperthal, Germany) "Communities of Learning 1085-1453: Cultural Exchange and Religious Diversity from the capture of Toledo to the fall of Constantinople". There will be an opportunity for visiting scholars involved in the conference to inspect a permanent exhibition at the State Library of Victoria, "Mirror of the World: books and ideas" as well as some of the manuscript treasures held by the Library.
Admission to the public lecture is free. Registration for both days of the Monash conference will be $100 or $50 for unwaged. For further information, download the registration form.
This event follows on from a separate conference, "The Classics in the Classroom: Manuscript, Incunable, Cinquecentine Relicts and Pedagogical Practice in the European Classroom (1000 - 1600)" being organized by John O. Ward and Juanita Ruys, of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney, being held in Sydney on 27-29 July 2006 (for further information see:http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/medieval/ )