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東文研セミナー「Scouts of the Soul: Theories of the Senses in Arabic Literature」開催のお知らせ
Dear Colleagues,
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo (Tobunken), is pleased to host a lecture in the Tobunken Seminar series by Professor Christian Lange (Utrecht University) entitled “Scouts of the Soul: Theories of the Senses in Arabic Literature.”
This hybrid event will be held both in person and online. Please note that advance registration is required for online participation.
The organizer looks forward to your participation.
Lecture Title: Scouts of the Soul: Theories of the Senses in Arabic Literature.
Speaker: Professor Christian Lange (Professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Utrecht University).
Chair: Professor Kazuo Morimoto (Professor in Islamic and Iranian History, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo).
Date and Time: 8 May (Fri) 2026, at 18:00-19:30 (JST).
Venue: Room 304, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo (東京大学東洋文化研究所3階、第一会議室304), and online via Zoom.
Abstract: Recent years have seen a proliferation of work on the senses in the Humanities disciplines. Historians, philosophers and anthropologists alike have come to devote increased attention to how cultural formations produce and control characteristic ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Also in Islamic studies, a ‘sensory turn’ is underway. Sensory questions intersect with key challenges that shape broader perceptions of Islam and of the Islamic world. For example, clashes over the presence of Islam in the public sphere often unfold along sensory lines, both real and imagined, as is demonstrated by contested phenomena such as touching in the form of handshaking, the call to prayer in modern urban soundscapes, or the rules and conventions regarding what may or may not be exposed to sight. This talk analyzes theories of the human sensorium in a number of encyclopedic works of Arabic literature, from Avicenna (11th c.) to Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (17th c.), with the aim of defining some basic modes of thinking about the senses in the cultural history of Islam.
Speaker’s Bio: Christian Lange (PhD Harvard, 2006) is Professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His publications include Justice, Punishment and the Medieval Muslim Imagination (2008), Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions (2016), and most recently (as general editor), Islamic Sensory History, 3 vols. (2024–). Since 2017, he’s been the Principal Investigator of the Utrecht-based research group “SENSIS: The senses of Islam” (https://sensis.wp.hum.uu.nl/), funded by research grants of the European Research Council (ERC) and the Dutch Science Organisation (NWO). From 2024 to 2028, he is serving as President of the European Union of Arabists and Islamicists (UEAI).
How to Participate: Pre-registration is required for online participation. Please fill in the format https://forms.gle/eh6UgzJJGs1bdcaY8 by 5 May, at 24:00 JST. You will receive the Zoom details before long.
In-person attendance does not require advance registration.
Contact Person: Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
登録種別：研究会関連
登録日時：WedApr814:34:442026
登録者 ：森本、神林
掲載期間：20260409 - 20260508
当日期間：20260508 - 20260508
