[INDOLOGY] [CALL FOR PAPERS] Young Researchers’ 2nd Indo-Persian Workshop: Writing in the Indo-Persian World

[Raffaello De Leon-Jones Diani]

*Young Researchers’ 2nd Indo-Persian Workshop: Writing in the Indo-Persian
World*




*May 23-24th, 2024 *in

*Marseille and Online*

Campus La Vieille Charité, 2 Rue de la Charité, 13002 Marseille, France



*Organised by:*

Victor Baptiste (EPHE) and Raffaello De Leon-Jones Diani (EHESS)

With collaboration by Inayatullah Din (EHESS) and Lingli Li
(Göttingen-EHESS)



*General Presentation*

Indo-Persian studies have recently received renewed attention in the field
of History, Religious studies, Sociology, Gender studies, Art History and
or Philology. Many pioneering books have been published in South Asia
India, North America and Europe by scholars such as Muzaffar Alam, Sunil
Sharma, Corinne Lefèvre, Dalpat Rajpurohit, Pankaj Jha, Francesca Orsini
and many others, inspiring new works by PhD and postdoctoral students. In
Europe itself, the efforts of scholars such as Françoise “Nalini” Delvoye
at the EPHE in Paris, Fabrizio Speziale at the EHESS in Paris and
Marseille, Eva Orthmann at the Georg-August-Universität of Göttingen or
Stefano Pellò at the University Ca’ Foscari in Venice, have accompanied a
new generation of young scholars exploring different themes in Indo-Persian
culture and history.

The first edition of this workshop, held at the EHESS Marseille in May
2023, was meant to be a first step taken to gather some of these young
scholars who, unfortunately, are still very scattered across the continent
and struggle with the classical partition of areal disciplines separating
“South Asian studies” (*études indiennes*) and “Iranian studies” (*études
iraniennes*). The workshop was held at the Vieille Charité campus of the
EHESS in Marseille, in a port city open on the Mediterranean Sea, rich in
multicultural history, that is currently turning into a new centre for
Indo-Persian studies in France thanks to the efforts of Fabrizio Speziale,
an endeavour to which we wish to humbly contribute. The goal of this first
informal edition of the workshop was to assess the situation, allow the
students and young scholars gathered to exchange on their subjects,
difficulties and future perspectives and set up a program for the coming
years.

The scope of this workshop is international: it will be held in hybrid
format, both on site and online in order for students and young scholars,
located in South Asia or elsewhere, to be able to attend and participate.

*Writing in the Indo-Persian world*

The practice of writing is an essential one in South Asian history, one
that perhaps goes back to the very first civilization found therein, the
Indus Valley Civilization. Over the centuries, the technical, economic,
social and the cultural shifts brought about by the inclusion of South Asia
in the Persianate and Islamicate cosmopolises has had profound impact on
South Asian writing. From scriptural change to material cultural evolution,
from palmleaf manuscripts in *brahmi*-derived scripts to Persian texts on
bound paper, the story of writing in South Asia is a pregnant one, with a
lasting impact to this day. A reflection on the practice of writing in
South Asia goes beyond the linguistic aspect of it all but rather brings
into the light important questions such as the readership and the economy
behind book exchange and production. Furthermore, when considering the
Persian language, such a reflection puts to the fore an important yet often
neglected fact: that South Asian readership and textual production in
Persian largely outweighed the Iranian.

Writing does not exist in a vacuum: manuscripts, and especially manuscripts
produced for the elite, are often decorated and illustrated. A reflection
on writing will therefore necessarily also cover topics such as
calligraphy, illumination, bookbinding, paper-production as well as the
data contained in manuscripts in and around the text, mobilizing
disciplines such as palaeography, codicology, and diplomatics.

We welcome contributions from Master, Doctoral and Postdoctoral researchers
that deal with any topic relating to writing, reading and text production
in South Asia from the perspective of History, Philology, Codicology or Art
History in the period defined by Richard M. Eaton as Persianate India
(1000-1750).

*Paper Submission: *

Abstracts are to be submitted to the following email address:
raffaello.deleon-jonesdiani at ehess.fr. They should not exceed *500* words
and are to be submitted by *March, 17th*.

A detailed program will be coming soon.



Raffaello De Léon-Jones Diani
Doctorant à l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Centre
d'Études Sud Asiatiques et Himalayennes (CESAH)
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