Our symposium on Friday, March 31 will feature a series of panels and events at the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Our event is titled,"Traces and Echoes: Scribal Culture, Texts and Orality in Late Antiquity." We have invited Dr. Kim Haines-Eitzen of Cornell and Dr. Kristian Heal of BYU to speak about their work with manuscripts and the digital humanities. In addition, local scholars from Duke will present on initiatives and research happening on campus. This will be a valuable opportunity for graduate students drawn from a variety of departments to engage with scholars who are navigating new interdisciplinary avenues of research into our historical and manuscript records.

During this day-long gathering we hope to address the following questions:
What can texts and their paratextual features reveal about orality, composition practices, and the sociability of texts in the ancient world?
What can scribal practices and manuscript culture reveal about the nature and relationship of distinct religious communities and their literary traditions?
What are the applications of digital humanities for studying these themes? And what are future frontiers for research?

Confirmed speakers include:

Dr. Kim Haines-Eitzen (Cornell – Near Eastern Studies)
Dr. Kristian Heal (BYU – Center for the Preservation of Religious Texts)
Dr. Dina Boero (Post-Doc at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton)
Dr. Clare Woods (Duke – Classical Studies)
Dr. William Johnson (Duke – Classical Studies)
Dr. Joshua D. Sosin (Duke – Classical Studies)
Dr. Jennifer Grillo (Duke Divinity – Hebrew Bible)

Full schedule here.