Philology is the aggregate of those practices by which we exploit the linguistic record to engage culture perspectives that are distant from us in time, space, and/or perspective. Whether we are exploiting post-colonial theory, corpus linguistics, or some aspect of the cognitive and brain sciences, we are practicing philology. In the 21st century, we confront the challenge of managing interactions across boundaries of space, language, and culture that are unprecedented in speed and complexity, which each point on the globe now able to interact with any other point in real time. We must think in terms of a World Literature – as Goethe suggested almost two centuries ago – and to do so we must articulate a new philology, one that exploits every possibility of new digital media. Ultimately, we need to establish a sustainable set of evolving cultures – a dynamic Global Culture that provides a voice for many different cultures within it. The field of Altertumswissenschaft has an opportunity to play a fundamental role in this larger process but realizing that opportunity requires a reexamination of what we do, why we do it and for whom.
[DCSB] Gregory Crane (University of Leipzig): "Digital Philology, World Literature, and sustainable Global Culture"
1. Digital Philology, World Literature
and Sustainable Global Culture
Gregory Crane
Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Digital Humanities
Universität Leipzig
Professor of Classics
Winnick Family Chair of Technology and
Entrepreneurship
Tufts University
2. Von [AvH Professuren] erwartet wird, dass
ihre mit Hilfe des Preises ermöglichten
wissenschaftlichen Leistungen zur
internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des
Forschungsstandortes Deutschland
nachhaltig beitragen
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professorship.html
3. Alexander von Humboldt Professors
“are expected to contribute to
enhancing Germany's sustained
international competitiveness as a
research location in consequence of
the award”
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professorship.html
16. US Postsecondary Greek + Latin
Germany sits squarely in the central
European Latin belt, but it has also seen
substntial drops in absolute numbers of
Latin students from 807,839 in 2010, to
740,302 students in 2011, to 705,407
students in 2012 -- a decline of 12% over
two years.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HfAQZUyRfDV0BPS39wx9kwPEqqTOwUtlC23GfCfvF1Y/e
dit#
18. German Sec. School Latin enrollments
Germany sits squarely in the central
European Latin belt, but it has also seen
substantial drops in absolute numbers of
Latin students from 807,839 in 2010, to
740,302 students in 2011, to 705,407
students in 2012 -- a decline of 12% over
two years.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HfAQZUyRfDV0BPS39wx9kwPEqqTOwUtlC23GfCfvF1Y/e
dit#
22. US Classics since 1975 …
• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD
programs) seem roughly stable
23. US Classics since 1975 …
• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD
programs) seem roughly stable
• Absolute numbers of Greek and Latin students
roughly stable (at least till 2008)
24. US Classics since 1975 …
• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD
programs) seem roughly stable
• Absolute numbers of Greek and Latin students
roughly stable (at least till 2008)
• But the number of language based majors …
Yale has the last undergraduate Greek and
Latin reading list
28. A direct response to abandoning
the name American Philological
Society in favor of the Society for
Classical Studies
29. A direct response to abandoning
the name American Philological
Society in favor of the Society for
Classical Studies
Part also of a wave of anglophone scholarship
reasserting philology
30. What is philology?
Itaque ubi, quae et qualis philologia meo
iudicio sit, quaeritis, simplicissima ratione
respondeo, si non latiore, quae in ipso
vocabulo inest, potestate accipitur, sed ut
solet ad antiquas litteras refertur,
universae antiquitatis cognitionem
historicam et philosophicam.
Augustus Boeck, “Oratio nataliciis Friderici Guilelmi III.” (1822)
31. Digital Technology and Theory
• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not
enough on the “why” of technology
32. Digital Technology and Theory
• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not
enough on the “why” of technology
• BUT the big question is NOT rethinking the
theoretical foundation of how scholars
conduct their research.
33. Digital Technology and Theory
• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not
enough on the “why” of technology
• BUT the big question is NOT rethinking the
theoretical foundation of how scholars
conduct their research.
– That is a secondary question, a “how” question
assuming the answer to another “why” question.
34. What opportunities and challenges
does a digital age pose to the social
contract that justifies the
professional position of every
speaker in this conference?
35. What opportunities and challenges
does a digital age pose to the social
contract that justifies the
professional position of every
speaker in this conference?
Why do our fields exist and why
might they exist in this new space?
36. What opportunities and challenges
does a digital age pose to the social
contract that justifies the
professional position of every
speaker in this conference?
The foundational theory must build, but may
NOT depend, upon an understanding of
academic literary, linguistic, cultural,
hermeneutical etc. theory.
38. Two Interlinked Questions
• Each is necessary but not by itself sufficient
1. How does digital philology change what we
can contribute to society?
39. Two Interlinked Questions
• Each is necessary but not by itself sufficient
1. How does digital philology change what we
can contribute to society?
2. How does the nature of our research change?
40. Lettre ouverte à Madame le Ministre de l’Éducation
nationale, de l’Énseignement et de la Recherche,
Mme. N. Vallaud-Belkacem, May 19, 2015,
by Franco Montanari, président de la Fédération
internationale des associations d’études classiques
41. The 2012-13 Survey of Humanities Departments
at Four-Year Institutions (American Academy of
Sciences)
43. Where does Big Data start?
• ~ 150,000 words -- Yale UG Reading List
(Greek, Latin, or a 75K of each)
• ~ 1,000,000 words -- typical US PhD Greek and
Latin Reading list
• ~ 20,000,000 words – aggregate Greek and
Latin in the Loeb Classical Library
• ~ 100,000,000 words – Greek and Latin thru c.
600 CE
• > 1,000,000,000 words – postclassical Greek
and Latin
52. Präsident der
Bayerischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften ,
1927 – 1930
1928 – supporter for
Alfred Rosenberg’s
Kampfverbund für
deutsche Kultur
Eduard Schwartz, 1858-1940
55. The Big Humanities focus on
articulating national identity – and
they have strong inward focusing
tendencies.
56. The Big Humanities focus on
articulating national identity – and
they have strong inward focusing
tendencies.
What happens when the Big
Humanities become too powerful?
57.
58. What happens when we balance
the role of the Big Humanities with
a broader view of humanity?
59.
60. To study Greek and Latin was to
assert membership in a Republic of
Letters bigger than any Dukedom,
Electorate, or Kingdom
61. To study Greek and Latin was to
assert membership in a Republic of
Letters bigger than any Dukedom,
Electorate, or Kingdom
The Republic of Letters laid the
foundations for the best elements
of the European idea today, fragile
as it may be.
62.
63. Gottfried Hermann
If one were to go into the lecture-room of the professor of Poetry and Eloquence
at Leipsic, a few moments before the hour, he would see a crowd of the maturest
scholars of the university, and of philologists who had been educated elsewhere,
finding their seats, and preparing their papers, for taking notes. The hum of
numerous whispering voices fills the room. An aged, but spirited man, of
moderate stature, with fire in his eyes, and fury in every movements, darts in at
the door. The well-known signal, given by those nearest him, instantly silences a
hundred tongues. By the time you hear his clinking spurs, and, as he mounts the
stairs to the desk, your eye falls upon his blue coat, with metal buttons and
badge of knighthood, his deer-skin breeches, and long riding boots. His whip
and gloves, and hat and chair are all flying to their places, and a stream of
extemporaneous Latin is already pouring forth. Before you are even aware of
it, the ship is under full sail. the whole energy of the lecturer is directed to his
object; the point of difficulty in the Greek text … is placed directly before you….
Leipzig in 1835, described by Barnas Sears, Classical Studies (Boston1843) pp. 28-29.
64. “Wahre Freude hatte er an
dem Ritterkreuz des
sächsischen
Civilverdienstordens (1816)”
Otto Jahn, Gedächtnissrede
(1849) p. 26
65. “Wahre Freude hatte er an
dem Ritterkreuz des
sächsischen
Civilverdienstordens (1816)”
Otto Jahn, Gedächtnissrede
(1849) p. 26
But …. He lectured in Latin …
67. My fundamental question: How can we help Greco-Roman
culture contribute to the intellectual life of humanity?
68. My fundamental question: How can we help Greco-Roman
culture contribute to the intellectual life of humanity?
This question, rigorously applied,
challenges us to look beyond our
own language and culture to
humanity as a whole.
69. Greek and Latin are not by
themselves sufficient to represent
Classics, much less global philology
70. What does it mean to equate Classics or Klassische
Philologie with the study of Greek and Latin?
72. Edward Everett (1852)
In the comparatively brief period of about two
hundred years, substantially the same transformation
has been brought about in a considerable part of our
Western continent, which has been the work of fifteen
or twenty centuries in Europe. Within two hundred
years the barbarous native races have disappeared,
and the children of civilized Europe and their
descendants have succeeded to them ; and have
introduced, as far as circumstances admitted, the
culture of the old world, with all the improvements
which have sprung from the novel and peculiar state
of things here existing. This, indeed, has been
accomplished in much less than two centuries
73. How do Greco-Roman studies contribute to
21st century Nationalbildung?
p. 883 (1869)
74. Greek and Latin may not be sufficient
but they are necessary –
intellectually, practically, and
politically
76. Big Language (English, French, German,
Italian) Domination
What happened to speakers of Croatian,
Dutch, Lithuanian and other smaller
European languages when the big
Nationalist Dialects displaced Latin and
asserted cultural-political hegemony?
77. We caved into nationalist thinking in the 19th
and 20th centuries
78. We caved into nationalist thinking in the 19th
and 20th centuries
In the 21st century we still, in
practice, serve and reinforce national
thinking for the vast majority of
those who study Greek and Latin
79. Scholars of Greco-Roman culture
are a trans-national community in
Europe (also Egyptology,
Assyriology). We are never the Big
Humanities (these are now always
national) but we have a strategic
role that we CAN play.
80. But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they
are essential
81. But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they
are essential
1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming
the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum
82. But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they
are essential
1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming
the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum
2. Numbers of students (and therefore of
faculty) in the first world
83. But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they
are essential
1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming
the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum
2. Numbers of students (and therefore of
faculty) in the first world
3. Development of resources – esp. open
resources
84.
85.
86.
87.
88. 99.3% of Latin students in Germany are in
primary and secondary school
https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/
AllgemeinbildendeSchulen2110100117004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile and
https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesellschaftStaat/BildungForschungKultur/Sch
ulen/Tabellen/AllgemeinBildendeBeruflicheSchulenFremdsprachUnterricht.html.
Latin schüler in Germany
2010 807,839
2011 740,302
2012 705,407
Greek and Latin Studierenden
(2013)
Greek 592
Latin 4,268
Greek and Latin (combined) 4,860
89. 99.3% of Latin students in Germany are in
primary and secondary school
https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/
AllgemeinbildendeSchulen2110100117004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile and
https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesellschaftStaat/BildungForschungKultur/Sch
ulen/Tabellen/AllgemeinBildendeBeruflicheSchulenFremdsprachUnterricht.html.
Latin schüler in Germany
2010 807,839
2011 740,302
2012 705,407
Greek and Latin Studierenden
(2013)
Greek 592
Latin 4,268
Greek and Latin (combined) 4,860
99.97% are NOT the c. 200 Lehrstuhlinhaber of Greco-Roman
Philology, History, and Archaeology
99. How big is the market? In terms of actual
expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association
– yes, there is a trade association – estimates that
32 million Americans spend $467 per person or
about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11
billion flows toward football. These figures don’t
count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The
NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion
currently. So the “derivative” market has grown
larger than the foundational market.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/
100. How big is the market? In terms of actual
expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association
– yes, there is a trade association – estimates that
32 million Americans spend $467 per person or
about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11
billion flows toward football. These figures don’t
count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The
NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion
currently. So the “derivative” market has grown
larger than the foundational market.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/
101. How big is the market? In terms of actual
expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association
– yes, there is a trade association – estimates that
32 million Americans spend $467 per person or
about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11
billion flows toward football. These figures don’t
count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The
NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion
currently. So the “derivative” market has grown
larger than the foundational market.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/
102. The FSTA [Fantasy Sports Trade
Association] estimates that the average
fantasy gamer spends 3 hours per week
managing a team(s), translating to 1.2
billion hours for 23 million players over a
17 week season.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/
104. Topics of Research
• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows
what? (Cognitive Sciences)
105. Topics of Research
• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows
what? (Cognitive Sciences)
• Theorizing the social contract for the study of
the past
106. Topics of Research
• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows
what? (Cognitive Sciences)
• Theorizing the social contract for the study of
the past
• Citizen Science and Global Citizens
107. Topics of Research
• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows
what? (Cognitive Sciences)
• Theorizing the social contract for the study of
the past
• Citizen Science and Global Citizens
• Reception of Greco-Roman studies of every
kind
108. Topics of Research
• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows
what? (Cognitive Sciences)
• Theorizing the social contract for the study of
the past
• Citizen Science and Global Citizens
• Reception of Greco-Roman studies of every
kind
• New technologies (e.g., Greek OCR, textreuse
detection etc.)
111. To study Greek and/or Latin should
immediately and pervasively
connect each student to a larger
transnational and even trans-
European culture
anguage-independent tasks: e.g. morpho-syntactic analysis
115. Do you do Greco-Roman Studies or do you
do Classical Studies?
116. Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg
117. Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg
What is the most important contemporary
language in this Greco-Roman world?
118. Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg
Are English, French, German, Italian
enough? What about Arabic? Turkish?
119. July 2015 letter form an Egyptian colleague
asking to add Arabic
“I wouldn't exaggerate If I told you that I would feel myself
guilty If some day one of these students grow up and imitate
what ISIS had done to the archaeological sites in Iraq, because
he didn't appreciate it. Why he doesn't appreciate it? Simply
because he doesn't understand what was there. And why
again? because most of the sources are not accessible; either
they are in reality (there in Egypt) secured in magazines that in
the near future, due to many reasons that beyond this email,
won't open even to scholars like you and me !, or it is
presented online ( virtually ) with languages that he doesn't
understand. This was the past and to somewhat the present,
but do you want that this would be our shared future ?”
120. What is the role for Greco-Roman
Studies in Europe?
Is it a self-standing field or closely
integrated with a true Classical
Studies?
Remember Goethe and Weltliteratur
121. The Political World c. 200 CE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg
122. Open Data
• Open Philology
• Open Greek and Latin
• Open Persian
• …
• Open data as a precondition for scalable
research
• Your library system shifts from importing to
curating
124. • Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975
– English, French, German, Italian
125. • Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975
– English, French, German, Italian
• What should a US/European student starting
in 2015 imagine?
126. • Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975
– English, French, German, Italian
• What should a US/European student starting
in 2015 imagine?
– What about Mandarin? Arabic? Hindi? Persian?
127. What is the world that you wish to build?
• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975
– English, French, German, Italian
• What should a US/European student starting
in 2015 imagine?
– What about Mandarin? Arabic? Hindi? Persian?
![Von [AvH Professuren] erwartet wird, dass
ihre mit Hilfe des Preises ermöglichten
wissenschaftlichen Leistungen zur
internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des
Forschungsstandortes Deutschland
nachhaltig beitragen
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professorship.html](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)