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- Convenor:
-
Agnieszka Brylak
(University of Warsaw)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Agnieszka Brylak
(University of Warsaw)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Alfa room
- Sessions:
- Friday 8 September, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Vilnius
Short Abstract:
This panel aims to open a discussion concerning the applicability of various DH tools in the historical studies of past Western and non-Western religions and religious practices. The goal is to consider posibilities and limitations of the use of DH tools in the historical studies of religions.
Long Abstract:
For a long time, historians focusing their research on religious systems and practices of past cultures and societies have conducted arduous and time-consuming work. They have been going through heaps of documents hidden in archives and libraries and through thousands of archaeological artifacts, painstakingly putting together scattered pieces of evidence to better understand the systems of belief and rituals no longer existent. Today, their work can be alleviated with the all-pervasive presence of Digital Humanities tools. While these cannot solve all the problems and provide conclusive answers to all research questions, they still hold the potential to fast-forward the advancements in historical studies of religions.
This panel aims to open a discussion concerning the applicability of various DH tools (e.g., OCR, relational databases, Historical Network Analysis, machine learning, geographic annotation and visualization, and International Image Interoperability Framework) in the historical studies of past Western and non-Western religions and religious practices. The two main points to be considered are: 1) new paths of inquiry and new research questions possible thanks to the use of the DH tools in the historical studies of religions; 2) limitations, reductionist framework, and research traps posed by the overreliance on the DH tools. The panel invites the researchers presenting particular case studies and those whose work centers on broader methodological considerations. It welcomes scholars who have successfully accomplished their projects and are willing to share their final results, but also those whose work is still in progress and who look for a platform to share their current struggles and doubts.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 8 September, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Three case studies will be presented to demonstrate the uses of digital technologies in providing researchers with a visual experience of ancient religions. The three cases consider the following topics: mapping and visualization of database data, astronomical exploration, and 3D reconstruction.
Paper long abstract:
One of the main problems in studying ancient history and religions is the lack of visual experience. The prevalent focus on texts and their contents sometimes shadows the lived reality. By presenting three short case studies concerning different topics from the ancient city of Ugarit, I hope to show that technology can bring the past closer and help us with our interpretations. But also that such an approach is often easily and freely accessible. At the same time, the limits and problems of each case study will be discussed.
In the first example, we will explore the helpfulness of using databases and visualizing the data on the map to show us how the textual data were distributed across the city. This may help us to consider the dispersion of different religious activities across the city and show possible relations among individual "religious hubs".
Next, we shall have a look at the topic of celestial divination. One text from Ugarit is by some interpreted as the oldest textual evidence of solar eclipse observation. Modern astronomical knowledge and its application may help us bring the visual experience of such an event as well as consider the frequency and possible experience of such an event.
Last but not least, the case of 3D modelling of architecture reconstructions, hand in hand with the use of VR technologies, can help us bring back the experience of sacred architecture. The temple of Baal will be used as an example.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I present a methodology based on social network analysis, and its challenges, for the study of 19th-century incantations in North Karelia. The methodology aims to propose a model of relations between non-human agents and the human body as it is presented in the incantatory texts.
Paper long abstract:
Incantations were still a common practice in 19th-century North Karelia. They were used especially in healing rituals in the context of folk medicine. The ritual specialist called tietäjä would use their mythical knowledge to communicate with non-human agents occupying the surrounding environment, either to call for their help or to conjure them far from the patient’s body.
Incantatory texts have attracted the interest of folklore collectors of the 19th century. The collected texts have later been published and digitised in the SKVR database. In this paper, I propose a methodology for a quantitative analysis of incantations based on social network analysis, examining more in detail challenges of the computational analysis. I use a limited, and yet thick, corpus of 500 incantations collected from the parish of Ilomantsi between 1816 and 1939.
Due to an extreme dialectical and morphological variation, an automated reading of the texts is challenging. Moreover, defining the agents in the texts is not only a linguistic issue, but also an ontological and epistemological one. What categories should we use in interpreting the texts and defining the various non-human agents and their relations? Due to the fragmentary nature of the collected corpus, the description of the network of non-human agents is necessarily partial and cannot give a full understanding of the incantatory practice. Nevertheless, this method has an important heuristic value and offers new paths for the comparative study of genres of Finno-Karelian oral poetry.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents the applicability of the Network Analysis (NA) to the study of pre-Hispanic Nahua gods to eliminate an artificial “Aztec pantheon,” imitating Ancient Greek and Roman models. It focuses on using GEPHI to “map” the complex webs of relationships between different gods.
Paper long abstract:
Since the sixteenth century, the polymorphous identities of the Nahua deities have puzzled, first, the friars who carried out their evangelization project and, later, researchers eager to understand the pre-Hispanic system of beliefs. Hundreds of terms designating proper and calendrical names, nicknames, or titles of gods have been identified in the sources. Some are exclusive to a single numen; others are shared within specific groups. As has recently been demonstrated, the fluid and dynamic nature of the Nahua gods precludes their forced molding into Western categories. Their identity was constantly reconfigured and coalesced at the moment of their evocation or projection onto a solid support. Consequently, any attempt to create a fixed “Aztec pantheon” has been doomed to failure. However, a complex configuration of Nahua divinae personae can be seen as network(s) of relations, and resorting to the tools of digital humanities is one possible way to better understand their dynamics. This paper will present a case study of the applicability of the Network Analysis (NA) method in Historical Sciences to the study of pre-Hispanic gods. It will allow for connecting the names and other identifying elements of the individual deities (nodes) and analyzing the network of ties to understand how a “god” was constituted and reconfigured. The results will be visualized through GEPHI to facilitate the “mapping” of the multidimensional web of relationships between the different gods.
Paper short abstract:
This paper employs tools from the Digital Humanities to uncover the presence of the Passion among the colonial Yucatec Maya.
Paper long abstract:
The Passion of Christ—his punishment, death, and burial for humanity—became a central point of doctrine for Christianity. Sermons, plays, and procession commemorating the event sprung up all over Europe and subsequently accompanied Christianity across the Atlantic to the Americas. The impact of the Passion among the Nahuas (Aztecs) of central Mexico has received some scholarly attention examining plays, sermons, and a variety of visual evidence. Yet the Passion among the Yucatec Maya remains in general obscurity. Did the Maya also employ plays, sermons, and processions to commemorate the Passion? Do their churches contain the visual markers of the Passion’s impact like those in central Mexico and Yucatan? This paper employs tools of the Digital Humanities to begin answering these questions. Indeed, OCR scans of early accounts, enhanced digital images of manuscripts, and even Google Maps all contribute to this study’s hunt for the Passion among the colonial Yucatec Maya. In the end, these tools uncover the various ways the Passion appeared in Yucatan including murals, narratives, and even a theatrical sermon.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation will give an overview of RelBib and the various services provided to support scholars of religion in research and publishing. We look forward to the exchange with you and your ideas on how we can expand our existing offers for the field of Digital Humanities.
Paper long abstract:
Not only do religions interact with technologies in complex ways, but the study of religion itself relies on and benefits from the use of technologies in research and teaching. The Specialised Information Service for the study of religion is offering various services via the platform RelBib to meet these needs.
In the steadily growing online bibliography of RelBib (https://www.relbib.de) not only subject-specific publications such as monographs, journal articles or chapters from collected works are indexed. More and more other material from diverse - both national and international - origin is added, such as archival records, research data, websites, weblogs, and podcasts. Furthermore, RelBib offers functionalities like filtering for Open Access content or full text search. These features may already prove useful for Digital Humanities projects in the study of religion. In this lecture, special focus is paid to recent activities of the Specialised Information Service for the study of religion, which involve incorporating material from subject-specific archives in RelBib and providing full texts via Open Access. Together with you as part of the international research community in the study of religion, we would like to discuss your needs for support in the field of Digital Humanities and invite your ideas on how to expand and improve our services in this direction.