Sunday 4 March 2018

Occult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World

This year at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2018 – Kalamazoo, Michigan), there will be two panels on Islamicate occult sciences:

Occult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World I: The Picatrix (A Magical Bestseller)
Saturday, 13:30
Sponsor: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence; Societas Magica
Organizer: David Porreca, Univ. of Waterloo
Presider: Claire Fanger, Rice Univ.

  • "The Goal of the Sage: What’s It Take?" Daniel Attrell, Univ. of Waterloo 
  • "The Latin Picatrix: A New English Translation, A New Assessment," David Porreca 
  • "Me and Pingree: Comprehending the World-View of Maslama al-Qurṭubī’s Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm," Liana Saif, Univ. of Oxford 

Occult Blockbusters of the Islamicate World II: Arabic and Persian
Saturday, 15:30
Sponsor: Research Group on Manuscript Evidence; Societas Magica
Organizer: Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Univ. of South Carolina
Presider: Liana Saif, Univ. of Oxford

  • "Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s Hidden Secret and Islamic Occult Soteriology," Michael Noble, Warburg Institute 
  • "A Sorcerer’s Handbook: Al-Sakkaki’s Thirteenth-Century Complete Book," Emily Selove, Univ. of Exeter 
  • "'If you don’t learn alchemy, you’ll learn eloquence': The Golden Slivers by Ibn Arfa’ Ra’s," Nicholas G. Harris, Univ. of Pennsylvania 
  • "Kāshifī’s Qasimian Secrets: The Safavid Imperialization of a Timurid Manual of Magic Matthew," Melvin-Koushki