A-C Rendu Loisel “Human Senses in Akkadian Texts”, Paris, 28 septembre 2017

A Lecture and Video-Conference

Thursday, September 28th, 2017

4 p.m.-6 p.m. (Paris time)

at the Ivry sur Seine CNRS building, 27 rue Paul Bert, Porte de Choisy/Porte d’Ivry subway station,

room C in the basement

or by distance through video-conference

affiche Anne Caroline Rendu seminaire corps 28_09_2017 (1)

Résumé: Bodily perception constitutes a prism with which a society gives sense to, translates, and interprets its surrounding environments. For more than twenty years, anthropology of the senses has invited to consider a society through the human body and its sensory dynamic: perception and related concepts may vary from one culture to another, deeply rooted in a system of customs, values and representations. Our western and contemporary societies have been deeply marked by the model theorized by Aristotle, which is based on five major senses: to see, to hear, to touch, to smell, and to taste. However this pentasensory model does not constitute a relevant system for the societies of the Ancient Near East, especially according to Akkadian texts. How many senses can be identified? Are there aesthetic values associated to specific sensory experiences? And what consequences may have a sensory loss for the individual and his relationships to his social and natural environment? Trying to answer these questions, I will investigate Akkadian texts of various nature, focusing on ritual, divination and literary contexts.

This presentation constitutes the eleventh monthly session of the interdisciplinary seminar “The Individual and his Body in the Ancient Mediterranean Basin” organized by Alice Mouton.

All the persons who are interested in attending the session (either in Ivry sur Seine or through video-conference) are welcome for free but should register by e-mail beforehand.
contact: alice.mouton@cnrs.fr