AHA Session 303
Sunday, January 10, 2027: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Napoleon Ballroom C3 (Sheraton New Orleans, 3rd Floor)
Panel:
Devin Fitzgerald, University of California, Los Angeles
Mekhola Gomes, Amherst College
Daniel Hobbins, University of Notre Dame
Katarzyna Lecky, Loyola University Chicago
Nicholas Popper, College of William and Mary
Nir Shafir, University of Naples Federico II
Giora Sternberg, University of Oxford
Mekhola Gomes, Amherst College
Daniel Hobbins, University of Notre Dame
Katarzyna Lecky, Loyola University Chicago
Nicholas Popper, College of William and Mary
Nir Shafir, University of Naples Federico II
Giora Sternberg, University of Oxford
Chair:
Ann M. Blair, Harvard University
Session Abstract
“Publication” designates the release of a text to be circulated and used (e.g. read, possibly copied) by others. The means of publication are as diverse as the media for text-making: oral, inscribed by hand on a surface (paper, parchment, stone, copper, pottery etc) or reproduced by mechanical or digital technologies (e.g. printing or posting on the internet). In this roundtable we’ll explore some media and motives for publishing texts without printing. In some cases (medieval South Asia and medieval Europe) printing was not an option; in other cases the authors preferred to avoid printing. e.g. for the sake of greater control of circulation or production or expense. The authors typically also hoped for various impacts: e.g. reaching and persuading readers of various kinds, making money, gaining reputation, among others. We plan to explore the tensions in these decisions, e.g. between control and loss of control in production (to what extent were others involved in inscribing the text?), and in distribution (how widely distributed was each text designed to be and between expenditures of time, labor and money) and impact (who read and used these texts?). We will be looking for continuities and differences between the six case studies presented by participants and in interaction with contributions from the audience. We have two medievalists, four early modernists; three Europeanists, three specialists of non-European contexts (Ottoman empire, South Asia, China); and multiple genres including: legal inscriptions, land holding documents, newsletters, personal letters, polemical tracts and philosophical texts.
The chair will introduce the theme of the session then each of the six speakers will present a 5-minute illustrated presentation of a primary source and its historical context. After each presentation we will have 5 mins of Q&A directly related to that source then articulate some general observations about that source and its context. The session chair will use one of the resulting themes to move onto the next presentation rather than following an order stated in advance. We hope the audience will contribute questions and observations, examples and counterexamples by opening to discussion after every presentation and in a general discussion at the end.
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