Comparative Intellectual Histories of Early Modern Asia

30 May - 2 June 2006
How to understand the logic of an intellectual order founded upon ideologies of continuity and preservation, rather than ideologies of improvement and obsolescence? The masterclass will bring together experts in the field of Sinology, Indology and Middle Eastern studies.

 

» Go to the masterclass subsite for more information

 

Leiden, the Netherlands

How to understand the logic of an intellectual order founded upon ideologies of continuity and preservation, rather than ideologies of improvement and obsolescence? A comparative intellectual history of the early modern world (1500-1800) can address this question more effectively and develop a more heuristically powerful theory than can any one scholarly tradition investigated in isolation. The masterclass will bring together experts in the field of Sinology, Indology and Middle Eastern studies to consider shared issues not only in the historiography of early modern knowledge, but also in the theoretical challenges we must confront in writing the intellectual history of the non-West, where even the terms of the theme ‘intellectual' and ‘history' do not go without saying.

Lecturer
Prof. Sheldon Pollock (William B. Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies Columbia University, Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Culture, New York, USA)

Convenor
Prof. Wim Stokhof (IIAS)

Featured speakers
Prof. Michael Cook (Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, USA)
Prof. Benjamin Elman (Dept. of East Asian History, Princeton University, USA)
Prof. Peter Burke (Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK)

PROGRAMME

30 May - 2 June 2006
Tuesday 30 May 2006

The Problem of ‘Early Modernity' in Indian Intellectual History
Prof. Sheldon Pollock

Wednesday 31 May 2006

Can we speak of an "Early Modern" world?
Prof. Peter Burke

Thursday 1 June 2006

Transformations in ‘Early Modern' Classical Discourse: ‘Late Imperial' China before and after the Western Encounter
Prof. Benjamin Elman

Friday 2 June 2006

The problem of early modernity in the Sanskrit intellectual tradition
Prof. Sheldon Pollock

Information and registration:

International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)
Manon Osseweijer
P.O.Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
the Netherlands
t +31 (0)71 527 2227
f +31 (0)71 527 4162
m.osseweijer@let.leidenuniv.nl