June 05, 2007
Presentations
Well, we are done with the presentations, supposedly the point of this whole thing. Two days of talking about the Medieval history, which was interesting. Most of the papers were about new and sexy topics like conception of space in the Medieval church and society (essentially talking about space, this: !) and identity. It is fun to see this, Medieval history having gotten beyond figuring out wars and kings and trying some sort of cognative history, figuring out what people thought, beyond what they did.
In sharp contrast, my presentation left everyone astounded. Not because it was interesting (it was about apples and sheep and local production as a way of filling the trade deficit and providing merchant capital), but because no one had an idea of what the hell I am talking about. When I started talking about Bactria, Prof. Geary had to go and get a map so people know where these places are! Despite this, many people made great comments and poked real holes into my argument. I guess it is the great contribution of Prof. Geary, teaching his students to see the fallacies and problems in every argument, even if they are not familiar with the sources and material. In any case, I really enjoyed the whole thing.
Hanging out with the Austrians was cool too. Very similar interests and works, but a different method and more relaxed approach, methinks. It was nice to see students from a different tradition and get to chat and have dinner and lunch with them and figure out their attitude. At least so far I think the trip has been a success. Now, we are off to Austrian archives and other research resources, and I am up at 5:30!!!
Posted by Khodadad at June 5, 2007 08:33 PM
Comments
What, there are holes in your arguments?! ;) Well, I think that people tend to learn more from their mistakes than their successes. You seem to very much enjoy learning, so it sounds like you had a great time with your presentation and all the feedback. :) I have always enjoyed wandering in libraries, so the Archives sound like fun too! Enjoy. :)
Posted by: David at June 7, 2007 09:03 PM
Well, well, you can't be serious that a professionel historian does not know where Bactria lies. I heart about this place during Greek history in school, viz. Alexander the Great.
Without looking it up in Wikipedia I suppose this kingdom was situated in or near present Afghanistan.
Nowadays, we hear about Afghanistan nearly every day.The people there seem to be nearly at the bottom of primitivity. It is so very difficult to imagine that this country was highly civilized two thousand years ago.
What happened to bring them to the bottom???
Georg
Posted by: Georg at June 17, 2007 08:48 AM