Come by Wallenberg Hall Fourth Floor this Thursday for CESTA's DH Graduate Symposium. Hear about the research conducted this quarter by CESTA's graduate student Research Scholars across fields like Classics, Religious Studies, English, and DLCL. Lunch will be provided before the event for those attending in-person. See abstracts from our presenters below.

Presentations:

Nicole Constantine
Curating Iznik Pottery on the Levantine Ceramics Project Database

Abstract: My project addresses lacunae in the study of Iznik pottery—a popular product of the Ottoman period—by collecting, uploading and curating pottery data on the Levantine Ceramics Project database (LCP). Because of Iznik pottery’s international distribution and the celebrated beauty of its style, many of the best examples are housed in museum collections, but this material is also found regularly in archaeological digs. Using the LCP as a bridge, I uploaded museum and archaeological data so that it can be seen and studied in a single place, online and accessible to an international audience. 

Jamie Flynn
Mapping Political Fragmentation in the Ancient World

Abstract: This project aims to create a series of digital maps of different regions of the ancient world. These will comprise five different regions at various time periods: the Western Mediterranean; the Aegean and Anatolia; Egypt and the Near East; South Asia; and East Asia. The main unit to be mapped is the independent polity, and the goal will be to develop a fragmentation score for each of the regions at a given time period: the more independent polities in a region, the more fragmented the region is. These scores will then be compared with other variables relevant to my larger dissertation project. The project will use QGIS as for mapping software.

Unjoo Oh
Carden.AI: Cardenio in the (Secondary) Archive

Abstract: How might LLMs allow us to generate new modes of knowledge for understanding lost texts in early modern literary archives? To begin answering this question, this project focuses on the particular case of Cardenio, a lost play allegedly written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. Its sets out to collect an extensive corpus of secondary literature on this lost text, with the aim of using them as training data for an LLM. In doing so, we can test to what extent Cardenio can or cannot be extricated from scholarship about it and the proximity between criticism and forgery.

Valeria Vergani
Dreams of Harmony, Dreams of the Nation: Determining  Religious Diversity in Interreligious Organizations, 1990–2000

Abstract: My dissertation traces the development of interreligious dialogue organizations in North America during the 1990s, a pivotal period when many new initiatives started. I ask: how truly diverse were these initiatives? Who was, and was not, at the table? What religious traditions and groups were most, and least, represented? Answering these questions through the case study of one such organization, the San Francisco-based United Religions Initiative founded in 1996, will provide a more complete history of interfaith organizing, adding much-needed analytical and quantitative depth to my dissertation.

Alyssa Virker
Title: TBD

Abstract: This project maps the vastly popular form of Ukrainian poetry on TikTok to study the ways in which Ukrainians use poetry, art, and the act of documentation to resist Russia’s War Against Ukraine. The map reveals regional and national responses to war and trauma, tracking content and themes across regions. Once complete, this mapping project will guide and inform our understanding of Ukrainian perspectives on grief, loss, and resilience as well as on sovereignty, democracy, and the preservation of the Ukrainian nation.

Allyn Waller
Sallust in the 19th-Century Classroom

Abstract: In the 1800s, at least 40 English-annotated editions of Sallust, a Roman historian, were produced for Latin teachers. In contrast, fewer than five English-language teaching editions of Sallust have been produced since 1900. This project aims to create a digital compendium of 19th-century editions of Sallust that is searchable and hyperlinked, providing a resource for both research and pedagogy for students, instructors, and scholars. 
 

Lunch at 11:45 a.m. for in-person attendees

Register to join online