Inscriptions: The Material Contours of Knowledge

Adriana Craciun
English
UC Riverside

This conference explored the material dimensions of inscribed knowledge, looking beyond printed books and manuscripts to also consider inscribed bodies, stones, maps, visual art and objects, as well as the physical circuits and practices (i.e., manual, technological, social, institutional) through which such inscriptions traveled. As scholars of the history of science, geography, history of the book, anthropology, digital humanities and literature, we collectively addressed the role of material inscription in the formation, or deformation, of knowledge from 1660-1850, while considering how these earlier divisions of knowledge can contribute to twenty-first century institutional debates on disciplinary “innovation” and collaboration.