Interdisciplinary and International Colloquium under the academic direction of Dr. Falk Quenstedt
Interdisciplinary and International Colloquium under the academic direction of Dr. Falk Quenstedt (Greifswald), Professor Dr. Tina Terrahe (Greifswald), and Privatdozent Dr. Katja Triplett (Leipzig)
This international colloquium explores how people in premodern cultures attributed special power to language. The focus is on words, sayings, characters, and formulas that were believed in religious, magical, and medical contexts to possess the power to heal, protect, ward off evil, or change the world.
As the concluding conference of the “Word – Effect – Miracle” network, the colloquium combines the analysis of specific sources—texts, manuscripts, inscriptions, and objects from Europe, Asia, and Africa—with a critical examination of key research concepts: What do categories such as “magic,” “sorcery,” or “linguistic magic” mean? Which historical phenomena do they help describe, and where do they themselves presuppose problematic assumptions?
