Utrecht University, 17-18 October 2024

This conference brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scholars to advance the history of the senses in the early modern Islamic world (c. 1500-1900). Inspired by the “sensory turn” that has enriched numerous areas of the humanities and social sciences in recent years, we will explore how Muslims across different historical, geographical, social, and intellectual contexts experienced sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. How can we conceive of the Muslim sensorium over the course of history? Is there really such a thing as a “Muslim sensorium”? What are the ways in which we could write the history of the senses in the Islamic world? What does Islamic sensory history teach us about the “gunpowder empires” of the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals that conventional history does not? How is sensory history connected to or distinct from the history of emotions? And what are the methods, interpretive stakes, and archival challenges in doing Islamic sensory history? These are some of the questions this conference seeks to address.

To see the full program of the conference, click here.

Date

Thursday 17 October 2024 – Friday 18 October 2024 

From 9:00 – 17:00

Location

Day 1: Utrecht University, Academiegebouw (Kanunnikenzaal), Domplein 29, Utrecht

Day 2: Museum Speelklok (Transeptzaal), Steenweg 6, Utrecht

Registration

Entrance is free, but registration compulsory since seats are limited: sensis@uu.nl

We look forward to seeing you!