Conference: Oriental Studies and Research (not only) in Central Europe
The conference is organized to commemorate the centenary of the Oriental Institute in Prague. Since its inception, this institution has reflected the interconnection of cultural and economic circles, both in practice and research, which has contributed to the establishment of Orientalist disciplines (not only) at the Charles University in Prague. The beginnings of research in Oriental Studies in Europe came to the forefront of scientific circles rather slowly. The great syntheses that arose in the Western European environment drew attention to the specific development of individual disciplines and their gradual establishment, from the interest in biblical languages to comprehensive studies of Oriental countries in its broadest sense.
Oriental Studies has been established in European universities since the end of the 19th century, and in connection with the growing economic interest in the Middle East and Asia, Oriental societies and institutes were founded. Middle East and Asia-focused scholarship have had a long tradition in the Czech lands since the 19th century. After the division of the university into its Czech and German factions in 1882, lectures were held at both universities, and in the interwar period, there was a wide range of disciplines from Hebrew and Arabic Studies to Turkology, Iranian Studies, Indology, Hittite Studies, and Egyptology. The Oriental Institute in Czechoslovakia was founded in 1922 and, despite numerous regime changes, the hardships of World War II, and the reconstruction of academic infrastructure after the war, it has been carrying out its mission for a hundred years.
Convenors:
Dr. Adéla Jůnová Macková (Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
Dr. Tomáš Petrů (Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences)
Programme
DAY 1 – Monday, 5 September
The main building of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Hall 206, Národní 3, Praha 1
13:00 Opening ceremony and welcome remarks
13:30-15:00 Session 1: Orientalist Events – Exhibitions, Collections, and Conferences
Chair: Jakub Hrubý
- Markéta Hánová – A Path to the East: The Oriental Institute as a Promoter of Asian Art and Cultural Politics
- Olga Lomová – The Oriental Institute after World War II as a Laboratory of New Ways of Doing Research
- Gabriel Pirický – Celebrating Twenty Years of the International Vámbéry Conference in Slovakia
15:00–17:00 Guided tour of the exhibition Czechoslovakia in the Orient, the Orient in Czechoslovakia, refreshments and informal discussion
DAY 2 – Tuesday, 6 September
Villa Lanna, V Sadech 1/1, Praha 6
9:00-10:30 Session 2: The Development of Near and Middle Eastern Studies
Chair: Hana Navrátilová
- Šárka Velhartická – The Establishment of Czechoslovak Ancient Near Eastern Studies
- Luděk Vacín – Josef Klíma and Czech Assyriology
- Barış Yılmaz – Hungarian Turkology Tradition and Altaic Studies Department at the University of Szeged
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30 Session 3: Arts and the Orient
Chair: Markéta Hánová
- Grzegorz First – Searching for New Light and Histories. Artistic Voyages to the Orient as a Source of Knowledge and Inspiration in Art.
- Mary Kelly – Socio-Political Signifiers and Orientalist Aesthetics: European Women Artists’ Rendering of Objects and Figures in Space
- Vesna Kamin Kajfež – Josef Schwegel, the Organizer and Curator of the Oriental Pavilion at the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:30 Session 4: Orientalists´ Correspondence – Databases
Chair: Adéla Jůnová Macková
- Ronald Ruzicka and Petra Aigner – All about Eduard Glaser – Glaser Virtual World (GlaViWo)
- Adéla Jůnová Macková – Science Policy and Oriental Studies in Interwar Czechoslovakia – the Database of Alois Musil's Correspondence
- Hana Navrátilová – Challenges of Correspondence: Jaroslav Černý in the Griffith Institute Archive
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-17:30 Session 5: Southeast Asia within Oriental Studies in Europe: Concepts, Scholars, Collections
Chair: Miroslav Nožina
- Martin Slama – Heine-Geldern and Southeast Asian Concepts of Power: The Birth and Life of a Research Tradition
- Tomáš Petrů – Key Researchers of Indonesian Studies at the Oriental Institute: Miroslav Oplt and Rudolf Mrázek
- Awang Azman Awang Pawi – The Malay Manuscripts’ Acquisition in the Era of Empire in Great Britain and the Netherlands
18:00 Dinner/reception – Villa Lanna
DAY 3 – Wednesday, 7 September
Villa Lanna
9:00-10:30 Session 6: Tibetan Studies
Chair: Jarmila Ptáčková
- Luboš Bělka – An Update of the Visual Reconstruction of the Most Sacred Space in Tibet: Jokhang through the Eyes of the First Czechoslovak Visitors
- Rachael M. Griffiths and Daniel Wojahn – The Development of a Discipline: Tibetan Studies in Europe
- Jana Valtrová – Perspectives on Tibetan Buddhism in the works of Vincenc Lesný (1882–1953)
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30 Session 7: Various Orientalist Discourses
Chair: Tomáš Petrů
- Martin Hříbek – Indo-Czech Entanglements in 1918–1938: the Indian Perspective
- Majid Bahrevar – Mapping Jan Rypka's Stay and Activities in Iran, 1934–1935
- Lukáš Větrovec – Othering Bosniaks. Shades of Orientalism towards Balkan Muslims
12:30-12:45 Closing remarks
12:45-14:00 Farewell lunch
A note for the public attending the conference:
The public and non-presenting academics alike are cordially invited to attend the conference, there is no conference fee. For logistical reasons, we kindly ask you to register with Tomáš Petrů, petru@orient.cas.cz by 1 September.