International Symposium
KĀTIP CHALABI: BIBLIOGRAPHY and THE CLASSIFICATION of KNOWLEDGE in ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION
(PAST andFUTURE)
March 6 – 8 2015, İstanbul
Organized by the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo, the Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM)
and the Istanbul Foundation for Research and Education (ISAR)
The production of knowledge in today’s world has reached tremendous dimensions as a result of the opportunities provided by technology. Hence, the discipline called bibliography which is concerned with classifying and reordering knowledge, and determining the relationship among its various types as well as accessing and finding it quickly and easily has become more significant. The contributions resulting from the heritage provided by Islamic scholarship to the discipline of bibliography by the production of books, starting from the 2/8th century, associated with the genres of the classification of knowledge and bibliography primarily under the title of “al- fahāris” are immense. Specifically, that a seventieth century Ottoman scholar, Kātip Chalabi, reclassified and evaluated the scholarly accumulation produced in Islamic history until his time, in hismagnum opus, Kashf al- Zunūn, calls for focus on both him and other scholars who produced works concerning the classification of knowledge and bibliography.
The goals of this symposium are as follows: to raise basic issues related to the Islamic classification of knowledge and bibliography; to reveal how this tradition can be reconsidered with respect to the discipline of bibliography, which has gained a new phase as a result of theoretical and practical developments in today’s world; to provide a ground for discussing the scholarly achievements of Kātip Chalabi, one of the most distinctive figures in Islamic bibliography; and to provide a ground for future research to update his book, Kashf al- Zunūn, through the addition of new works that have been produced after his life.
Along with the fact that the Symposium will be open to any paper related to the Islamic classification of knowledge and bibliography, priority will also be given to those associated with the topics below:
- The formation and development of bibliography in Islamic civilization
- The classification of knowledge and its significance in Islamic scholarship
- Important figures in the Islamic classification of knowledge and bibliography, and their works
- Basic issues in modern bibliography
- Possibilities of using works of Islamic bibliography, including Kātip Chalabi’s, in today’s world
- The scholarly career of Kātip Chalabi
- Contributions of Kātip Chalabi to bibliography and the classification of knowledge
- Kashf al- Zunūn and its place in Islamic bibliography
- Updating Kashf al- Zunūn by the addition of the works produced after Kātip Chalabi.
The symposium will be held in Istanbul. Presentations can be either in English, Arabic or Turkish. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words.
Abstracts can be sent at iletisim@katipcelebi.info by November 30, 2014