Medieval Media Revolutions
Saturday, 18 April 2015
Center for Advanced Study * 912 W. Illinois Street * Urbana, Illinois
As in the early years of the internet, the development of writing in a given culture initially tends to facilitate certain kinds of transactions among certain specific users. But media revolutions – now and in the past – occur because new recording technologies and communication networks encourage and facilitate innovative, unforeseen forms of activity. This symposium invites three distinguished visiting scholars to focus on movements that might be regarded as “medieval media revolutions.” Responses to each paper will be offered by Illinois medievalists working in analogous fields, with ample time for questions and discussion.
The symposium is free, but space is limited. Please contact Carol Symes if you plan to attend: symes@illinois.edu.
Invited speakers:
Warren Brown (CalTech), author of several books on conflict resolution and co-editor of Documentary Culture and the Laity in the Early Middle Ages (2013);
Christian de Pee (University of Michigan), author of The Writing of Weddings in Middle-Period China: Text and Ritual Practice in the Eighth through Fourteenth Centuries (2007);
Jessica Goldberg (UCLA), author of Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean: The Geniza Merchants and their Business World (2013).
