Internationales Symposium: Inscribing Identity – Epigraphic Habits in Medieval China

This symposium is co-organized by Michael Hoeckelmann, Jessey Choo, and Alexei Ditter. It is generously supported by the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Tang Research Foundation.

All those interested are invited to join on Friday, August 1 and Saturday, August 2 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in room 00.3, Philosophisches Seminargebäude (PSG III), Kochstraße 6a, 91054 Erlangen.

The seventh meeting—a symposium—examines the “epigraphic habits” involved in the commissioning, drafting, execution (calligraphy and engraving), and circulation of funerary inscriptions, which reflect the identity of particular groups or communities. Papers by 16 scholars from East Asia, North America, and Europe will explore the following questions:

• What communities of writing and reading were involved in the production and reception of funerary inscriptions?
• How many voices or hands are discernible in the inscription, both as a text and as a material object?
• How did cultural, social, and political institutions define a framework for the epigraphic mode of commemoration?
• How and in what settings were (contemporary and later) readers most likely to engage with the inscription? What strategies of reading or listening would they employ?
• How do communities express various forms of identity and memory through epigraphy?
• In what ways do modern researchers and modes of access (in situ, as rubbing and/or transcription, in print, or through a database) frame medieval inscriptions?

In addressing these questions, the symposium spotlights a range of approaches to the study of epigraphy and illustrates how evolving methods have shaped—and continue to reshape—disciplinary frameworks. In doing so, it offers fresh perspectives on inscriptions as dynamic agents in the negotiation of social, political, and cultural meaning.

All presentations are free and open to faculty and students.

Kategorie: Allgemein, Sonstige Veranstaltungen