I recently had the opportunity to participate in the 5th Perso-Indica conference, hosted by Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn, Germany. The Perso-Indica project (http://perso-indica.net/) is a long term undertaking aimed at improving our understanding of knowledge production and circulation within the Persianate cosmopolis during the pre- and early-modern era. The project will result in a massive online database, as well as a series of published volumes. This particular conference focused on the translation of scientific texts.
I presented a paper entitled "The Philosophical Implications of Classifying `ilm-i dam as 'Science'." The paper examined three different texts on "the science of the breath" (Persian: `ilm-i dam) from the 14th-17th CE. If you are interested in more information, the full program and paper abstracts are available on the Perso-Indica website (http://perso-indica.net/events-news/31).
This was my first time attending such a highly specialized academic conference. In the past I have attended large conferences organized by the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA), as well as smaller regional conferences sponsored by AAR. The contrast between those experiences and attending the Perso-Indica conference were quite striking. At AAR, I find myself constantly having to explain not only what I work on, but also having to justify why it is a meaningful scholarly pursuit. At the larger conferences, there is a great deal of networking and the opportunity to learn from people working outside of one's own niche field, and of course, who doesn't want to spend a few days with 10,000 people who also love to talk about the study of religion?
In Bonn, I spent two days talking to a small group of people who (1) understood and appreciated the importance of my work, and (2) were in a position to give me incredibly helpful feedback as well as offer detailed suggestions for my research. By detailed suggestions, I mean that during coffee breaks, scholars would pass me notes with manuscript references taken from their own archival work, as well as the now ubiquitous passing around of USB drives so that we could exchange scanned images of manuscripts. When many of the texts in question have never been published (and thus exist only in physical form), and traveling in person to research institutes across the world is a bit of a stretch on a graduate student budget, then these exchanges are a wonderful way to be able to advance one's research. Also, whereas at AAR and MESA, there is a constant shuffle as people come in and out of the conference rooms, during the sessions in Bonn, no one ever left the room. Everyone attending was focused on listening to the paper being presented, and as a result there was extremely fruitful discussion.
There are benefits to all types of scholarly gatherings, but I have to admit that I found the Perso-Indica conference to be the most satisfying of such experiences to date. I look forward to staying in touch with a whole group of colleagues, and to the future projects that will doubtlessly result from productive exchange.