My research and work primarily focus on the history and development of libraries, book culture and the philosophy of classification of knowledge in the Islamicate world. I was awarded a Ph.D. in Near & Middle Eastern Studies by SOAS, University of London, with a thesis entitled: "Poetics of the Catalogue: library catalogues in the Arab provinces of the late Ottoman period" (May 2018). My work also focuses on Arabic manuscripts and early prints, as well as Islamic artefacts and resources in Renaissance and early modern Italy. Address: London, London, City of, United Kingdom
At the end of the 17th century, different editions of the terrestrial and celestial globes by the... more At the end of the 17th century, different editions of the terrestrial and celestial globes by the geographer and cosmographer Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) were circulating all around Europe. After the production of two large globes (384 cm in diameter) for Louis XIV (1681-1683), Coronelli's pair of terrestrial and celestial globes had acquired enough prestige to hit the market as geographical and astronomical instruments, but also as grand decorative and collectible objects. The construction of a globe was a complicated operation characterised by different phases of production: Coronelli was firstly producing the gores of the globes that had to be engraved and printed for "mass" distribution. However, the printed material was only the skeleton of each globe. Framed sections were left empty in order to add customised dedicatory inscriptions as well as further details on the donation or purchase of the object; also, geographical and astronomical notations were written by hand at a later stage, the colouring of the globes was optional and came at a higher price, and the globes were then installed in different types of pedestals.
The essay “Kitāb ṣalāt al‐sawā'ī: protagonists, vicissitudes and hypothesis around the first... more The essay “Kitāb ṣalāt al‐sawā'ī: protagonists, vicissitudes and hypothesis around the first Arabic book printed in movable types” provides a detailed analysis of contents, bibliological characteristics and historical background concerning the commission, market and details of Gregorio de Gregori’s edition in 1514. In particular, all previous studies of this book have been cited and criticized in parallel to the new research which has provided important results concerning the most ambiguous issues around the Kitāb, namely the identity of the commissioner of the book and the year and location of the edition.
This lecture re-evaluates the late Ottoman period (the 18th and 19th centuries) that has been oft... more This lecture re-evaluates the late Ottoman period (the 18th and 19th centuries) that has been often labelled as “decadent” in political, social and cultural terms in opposition to the Nahda (Renaissance) period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It looks at the classification schemes and the organisation of knowledge in four library catalogues produced in three cities (Jerusalem, Medina and Aleppo), which were all part of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the late Ottoman period. By examining the strategies for organising and classifying knowledge in these libraries, this seminar will highlight the sophisticated understanding of the fluid nature of knowledge by the compilers of such catalogues during this understudied and yet vibrant historical period. In fact, organising a library poses the same challenges as organising human knowledge within a set of fixed rules and schemes. The contradictions, exceptions, infinite variants, and mutable elements that characterise the nature of human knowledge are all the same elements that characterise the nature of the library. In the last century, postmodern philosophical and literary theories have greatly influenced the field of librarianship and the deconstruction of the positivist paradigm of a universal and scientific system for classifying knowledge. For example, Jorge Luis Borges describes the library as “the universe”, explaining that “It is clear that there is no classification of the Universe not being arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reason for this is very simple: we do not know what thing the universe is …”, while Foucault talks of the library as a “visionary experience”, explaining that “Fantasies are carefully deployed in the hushed library, with its columns of books, with its titles aligned on shelves to form a tight enclosure, but within confines that also liberate impossible worlds …”. During this lecture, the theories at the base of these statements will help the understanding of the library classification systems produced in the Ottoman Middle East.
The talk focused on the scientific nomenclature in Arabic language preserved in some documents an... more The talk focused on the scientific nomenclature in Arabic language preserved in some documents and objects housed in the Biblioteca Federiciana in Fano (Italy). The collection of this library was shaped during the 17th century and the documents and objects analysed during the event attested to the mutual exchange of scientific knowledge (in particular in the field of astronomy) between the Islamic world and Europe.
This talk focused on some challenges of researching and analysing library catalogues produced bet... more This talk focused on some challenges of researching and analysing library catalogues produced between the eighteen and twentieth centuries in Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem. The discussed challenges were: finding and retrieving the sources (manuscripts and early prints of library catalogues); issues in approaching late Ottoman history of the Arab provinces; the problematic concept of "modernity" in relation to the context of the XVIII-XIX century Middle East.
Thought lecture (2 hours) by Celeste Gianni
Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17... more Thought lecture (2 hours) by Celeste Gianni Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17 Weeks 4 & 5: “Sciences of Language and Logic in Classification of the Sciences”, 31 October 2016 SOAS – University of London Assigned text: Ibn Khaldun from the Muqaddima (excerpts) Required readings: Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabiri, ‘Reason and Culture’ (3-34), ‘The Reigious “Rational” and the Irrational of “Reason”’ (159-194), and ‘Knowledge, Science and Politics in Arab Culture’ (413-438), The Formation of Arab Reason. Mohamed Arkoun, ‘Logocentrism and Religious Truth in Islamic Thought: the example of al-I‘lam bi–manaqib al-Islam’ (170-203), The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought. Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge. Michel Foucault, ‘Classifying’, The Order of Things: an Archaeology of the Human Sciences, 125-165.
Lecture part of the one-day HEFCE-funded training course "Research in Arabic-based Area Studies",... more Lecture part of the one-day HEFCE-funded training course "Research in Arabic-based Area Studies", 6 July 2015, SOAS - University of London.
At the end of the 17th century, different editions of the terrestrial and celestial globes by the... more At the end of the 17th century, different editions of the terrestrial and celestial globes by the geographer and cosmographer Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) were circulating all around Europe. After the production of two large globes (384 cm in diameter) for Louis XIV (1681-1683), Coronelli's pair of terrestrial and celestial globes had acquired enough prestige to hit the market as geographical and astronomical instruments, but also as grand decorative and collectible objects. The construction of a globe was a complicated operation characterised by different phases of production: Coronelli was firstly producing the gores of the globes that had to be engraved and printed for "mass" distribution. However, the printed material was only the skeleton of each globe. Framed sections were left empty in order to add customised dedicatory inscriptions as well as further details on the donation or purchase of the object; also, geographical and astronomical notations were written by hand at a later stage, the colouring of the globes was optional and came at a higher price, and the globes were then installed in different types of pedestals.
The essay “Kitāb ṣalāt al‐sawā'ī: protagonists, vicissitudes and hypothesis around the first... more The essay “Kitāb ṣalāt al‐sawā'ī: protagonists, vicissitudes and hypothesis around the first Arabic book printed in movable types” provides a detailed analysis of contents, bibliological characteristics and historical background concerning the commission, market and details of Gregorio de Gregori’s edition in 1514. In particular, all previous studies of this book have been cited and criticized in parallel to the new research which has provided important results concerning the most ambiguous issues around the Kitāb, namely the identity of the commissioner of the book and the year and location of the edition.
This lecture re-evaluates the late Ottoman period (the 18th and 19th centuries) that has been oft... more This lecture re-evaluates the late Ottoman period (the 18th and 19th centuries) that has been often labelled as “decadent” in political, social and cultural terms in opposition to the Nahda (Renaissance) period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It looks at the classification schemes and the organisation of knowledge in four library catalogues produced in three cities (Jerusalem, Medina and Aleppo), which were all part of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the late Ottoman period. By examining the strategies for organising and classifying knowledge in these libraries, this seminar will highlight the sophisticated understanding of the fluid nature of knowledge by the compilers of such catalogues during this understudied and yet vibrant historical period. In fact, organising a library poses the same challenges as organising human knowledge within a set of fixed rules and schemes. The contradictions, exceptions, infinite variants, and mutable elements that characterise the nature of human knowledge are all the same elements that characterise the nature of the library. In the last century, postmodern philosophical and literary theories have greatly influenced the field of librarianship and the deconstruction of the positivist paradigm of a universal and scientific system for classifying knowledge. For example, Jorge Luis Borges describes the library as “the universe”, explaining that “It is clear that there is no classification of the Universe not being arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reason for this is very simple: we do not know what thing the universe is …”, while Foucault talks of the library as a “visionary experience”, explaining that “Fantasies are carefully deployed in the hushed library, with its columns of books, with its titles aligned on shelves to form a tight enclosure, but within confines that also liberate impossible worlds …”. During this lecture, the theories at the base of these statements will help the understanding of the library classification systems produced in the Ottoman Middle East.
The talk focused on the scientific nomenclature in Arabic language preserved in some documents an... more The talk focused on the scientific nomenclature in Arabic language preserved in some documents and objects housed in the Biblioteca Federiciana in Fano (Italy). The collection of this library was shaped during the 17th century and the documents and objects analysed during the event attested to the mutual exchange of scientific knowledge (in particular in the field of astronomy) between the Islamic world and Europe.
This talk focused on some challenges of researching and analysing library catalogues produced bet... more This talk focused on some challenges of researching and analysing library catalogues produced between the eighteen and twentieth centuries in Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem. The discussed challenges were: finding and retrieving the sources (manuscripts and early prints of library catalogues); issues in approaching late Ottoman history of the Arab provinces; the problematic concept of "modernity" in relation to the context of the XVIII-XIX century Middle East.
Thought lecture (2 hours) by Celeste Gianni
Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17... more Thought lecture (2 hours) by Celeste Gianni Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17 Weeks 4 & 5: “Sciences of Language and Logic in Classification of the Sciences”, 31 October 2016 SOAS – University of London Assigned text: Ibn Khaldun from the Muqaddima (excerpts) Required readings: Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabiri, ‘Reason and Culture’ (3-34), ‘The Reigious “Rational” and the Irrational of “Reason”’ (159-194), and ‘Knowledge, Science and Politics in Arab Culture’ (413-438), The Formation of Arab Reason. Mohamed Arkoun, ‘Logocentrism and Religious Truth in Islamic Thought: the example of al-I‘lam bi–manaqib al-Islam’ (170-203), The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought. Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge. Michel Foucault, ‘Classifying’, The Order of Things: an Archaeology of the Human Sciences, 125-165.
Lecture part of the one-day HEFCE-funded training course "Research in Arabic-based Area Studies",... more Lecture part of the one-day HEFCE-funded training course "Research in Arabic-based Area Studies", 6 July 2015, SOAS - University of London.
Uploads
Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17
Weeks 4 & 5:
“Sciences of Language and Logic in Classification of the Sciences”, 31 October 2016 SOAS – University of London
Assigned text:
Ibn Khaldun from the Muqaddima (excerpts)
Required readings:
Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabiri, ‘Reason and Culture’ (3-34), ‘The Reigious “Rational” and the Irrational of “Reason”’ (159-194), and ‘Knowledge, Science and Politics in Arab Culture’ (413-438), The Formation of Arab Reason.
Mohamed Arkoun, ‘Logocentrism and Religious Truth in Islamic Thought: the example of al-I‘lam bi–manaqib al-Islam’ (170-203), The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought.
Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge.
Michel Foucault, ‘Classifying’, The Order of Things: an Archaeology of the Human Sciences, 125-165.
Course: Arabic Critical Theory and Thought 2016/17
Weeks 4 & 5:
“Sciences of Language and Logic in Classification of the Sciences”, 31 October 2016 SOAS – University of London
Assigned text:
Ibn Khaldun from the Muqaddima (excerpts)
Required readings:
Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabiri, ‘Reason and Culture’ (3-34), ‘The Reigious “Rational” and the Irrational of “Reason”’ (159-194), and ‘Knowledge, Science and Politics in Arab Culture’ (413-438), The Formation of Arab Reason.
Mohamed Arkoun, ‘Logocentrism and Religious Truth in Islamic Thought: the example of al-I‘lam bi–manaqib al-Islam’ (170-203), The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought.
Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge.
Michel Foucault, ‘Classifying’, The Order of Things: an Archaeology of the Human Sciences, 125-165.