°Â³ó±ð²ÔÌýhistorical texts are read,ÌýreadersÌýrely onÌý³Ù³ó±ð¾±°ùÌýintellectual conditioning to understand and judge whatÌýsuchÌýtexts areÌýconveying.ÌýIn this experimental talk,ÌýDr Shahzad BashirÌýutilisesÌý19th-century Indian Islamic texts to suggest that anamorphism highlighted in concept-driven photography provides a useful analogy for seeing how historians’ narratives become containers for irreducibly complex worlds. Historians’ claims about the past are always equally valid and distortive, mirroring the way a two-dimensional image in a photograph captures a three-dimensional world. The analogy helpsÌýscholarsÌýappreciate historical knowledgeÌýas a particular form of truth that cannotÌýbeÌýmappedÌýto basic notions of objectivity, subjectivity, normativity, and so on.Ìý
Conceptual Photography and the Craft of Reading Islamic Historical Texts
Speakers
Dean
Shahzad Bashir is Dean of theÌýAga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate.ÌýUniversity’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London.
Assistant Professor
Amanda Lanzillo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.
Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series
Designed to invite scholars of various international academic institutions, specialising in intellectual, social and political aspects of medieval and early modern Islamic societies, to present and discuss their research.
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Views expressed in this lecture are those of the presenting scholars, not necessarily of ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡, the Ismaili community or its leadership. Promotion of this lecture is not an explicit endorsement of the ideas presented.Ìý
