Call for Papers
EABS Annual Conference 2026 (KU Leuven, Belgium, 20–23 July 2026); submissions due 31 January 2026
Chairs: Mark Geller (London) & Lennart Lehmhaus (Tübingen)
For our annual focus area “Popularization of Knowledge”, we invite scholars to comparatively explore the diffusion of medicine, sciences and other (scientific) knowledge (including magic, divination, dream interpretation etc.) beyond the confines of technical texts or groups of experts, with a specific focus on its applicability and socio-cultural utility in Jewish (also in Judeo-Arabic, Ladino or Yiddish), (early) Christian (in Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Latin etc.) and Islamic(ate) (con)texts as well as in ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and other cultures (Syriac, Persian, Mandean, South-Asian, East-Asian etc.)
Scholars may address – with a focus on a single text/tradition or a comparative approach, synchronic and/or diachronic – the diffusion of (expert) knowledge into the non-technical discourse (e.g. literature, epistles, political, religious or legal writings) of other learned circles (political, or other elites), religious traditions (e.g. rabbinic texts; the Persian Denkard/Bundahisn; early Christian authors, Islamic texts, Vedic traditions etc.) as well as into wider areas of society. Such a ‘popularization’ of expert knowledge might include the appropriation of concepts about the body, the world/nature and the cosmos/creation or practices (e.g. healing; ritual action, examinations, incantations, divination).
How was this spill-over related to a greater availability of and interest in (magical, medical, astrological) handbooks and compendia (mechanics, warfare, agriculture, architecture etc.) or general encyclopaedias (Pliny, Isidore of Sevilla, Chinese leishu; or collections in Arabic, Persian, Syriac etc.)? What was the (practical, didactic and sociopolitical) role(s) of the experts/practitioners and their clients/patients or of the recipients and users of ‘popular’ texts like handbooks, recipes, calendars etc.? How did ‘lay expertise’, peer-to-peer transfers, non-textual transmission and material aspects took place (as competing with or complementing?) and affected the knowledge or practice(s) conveyed?
Alongside the thematic focus, we have an open call for contributions (from different traditions) engaging more generally with health/medicine, sciences and other knowledge/practices that fall into the general scope of our unit as outlined in our group description (also a longer CFP on the focus theme, info regarding travel grants etc.).
https://eabs.my.site.com/s/research-units?language=en_US&tabset-635f1=2
While the formal application should be done through the online system of EABS, please feel free to reach out to the unit chairs with your ideas and your proposals or contact us in case you have any questions related to this call or to the research unit in general.
Contact Information
lennart.lehmhaus@uni-tuebingen.de
m.geller@ucl.ac.uk
Contact Email
lennart.lehmhaus@uni-tuebingen.de
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