第64回講論會

【2023-2024年度台灣世界史討論會活動】

 

『第64回講論會』

 

大家好：

 

新學期開始，我們將迎來本年度第三場講論會，此次我們將從首場所談的近代早期東南亞地區，第二場討論的西元三世紀拜占庭及薩珊帝國，轉移到近代早期西北非，繼續探討「帝國的邊界」。此次講者為中央研究院歷史語言所的梁元禎老師，他的專長是地中海歷史研究、關注西班牙帝國，基督徒、穆斯林與猶太教徒間的關係，以及前近代伊斯蘭社會。梁老師將以“Vision, Blankness, and the Conception of Epistemological Boundaries in Early Modern Northwest Africa”為題，為大家帶來精彩的演講。演講將由國立政治大學歷史系陳致宏老師主持，並邀請同是政大歷史系的雷恩老師與談，他的專長是東南亞史與海洋史，相信兩位老師的對談，精彩可期！

此次講論會移至政大歷史系舉辦，感謝政大歷史系提供場地與相關事務協助，在此深表謝忱。期待講論會當天大家踴躍出席，共聚一堂。本次演講活動資訊及演講內容簡介，請見下方。

 

祝福平安順心

 

台灣世界史討論會 召集人林美香（國立臺灣大學歷史學系）

2024年3月11日

 

講  題：Vision, Blankness, and the Conception of Epistemological Boundaries in Early Modern Northwest Africa

主講人：梁元禎/中央研究院歷史語言所副研究員

與談人：雷恩侯洛伊德（Ryan Holroyd）/國立政治大學歷史學系助理教授

主持人：陳致宏/ 國立政治大學歷史學系助理教授

時  間：2024年3月29日（星期五）15:30-17:30

地  點：國立政治大學文學院百年樓330111

 

演講摘要

Northwest Africa is a component part of the Western Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages, the movements of peoples, objects, and information constructed social, exchange, and transmission networks that connected southwest Europe and northwest Africa. These ties linked southwest Europe to a “nearest overseas.” In these terms, lands and peoples of northern Africa exercised a vital role in the formulation of epistemologies of the “world” among peoples in the medieval Western Mediterranean.

This contextual framework begs the question: how did European epistemology of the world change as the early Age of Exploration reached the coasts of the Sahara, Sahel, and Gulf of Guinea, before the Americas and the Indian Ocean?  How did they view these borderlands/peoples in relationship to the old “known” world?  At first glance, the question seems simple; the existence of the modern terms “North Africa” and “West Africa” suggests a landmass the size of the continental United States has been categorized and flattened to become a defined and “known” region. This talk moves beyond the familiarizing by examining the ways that cartography and travel narratives at the dawn of modernity envisioned, conceptualized, and exhibited the space of northwest Africa. The subject opens up inquiry into European knowledge about the nearest overseas in relationship to encounters with hitherto unknown worlds and peoples, emerging forms of visual representation, and processes of blankness: erasure, silence, and displacement. Through this discussion, I hope to connect to other interests that form the 2023-2024年度台灣世界史討論會’s 年度主題: 帝國的邊界 and its associated programming.