Roundtable: Rethinking the Global Renaissance II: Encounters between East and West‬‬‬‬

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

This roundtable re-examines the notion of “encounters” that informs much recent work on the global Renaissance. Focusing on the east-west axis that connects Renaissance Europe and the Indo-Islamic East, it examines the possibility, potential, and desirability of cross-cultural scholarship on Europe and the Islamic world. How might studies of exchange, circulation, commensurability and connected histories enable scholars to recover the complex interconnections between Europe and Asia? How can we move beyond imperial and colonial paradigms to rethink cultural and political relations in the early modern world? Which theoretical and methodological frameworks will facilitate new approaches to comparative studies of “east” and “west?" Scholars of European, Persian, Ottoman, and Arabic literature, art history, social and political history, and the history of ideas will briefly present their current work, discuss the current state of the field, and explore emerging areas of study and promising avenues for future research.

Sub Unit

• Discipline Representative / Islamic World

Organizers

• Ayesha Ramachandran, Yale University

• Sarah van der Laan, Indiana University

Chair

• Kaya Şahin, Indiana University

Discussants

• Alexander Bevilacqua, Harvard University

• Paul Losensky, Indiana University

• Rajeev Kinra, Northwestern University

• Daniel J. Vitkus, University of California, San Diego