If you are reading this post today, Wednesday, I may very well be in the air on my way to Toronto, where I will be giving two lectures. Anyone who is interested is invited to attend.

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Science presents:

Daniel Martin Varisco (Hofstra University)

Star Gazing through Religious Phrasing: The Origins of a Lunar Zodiac in Early Islamic Astronomy

At Ryerson University in ENG LG14, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, 245 Church St. from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

One of the most important astronomical time-keeping calendars from the Arabian Peninsula is the so-called anwâ’, which early Muslim astronomers equated with the tradition of 28 lunar stations (manâzil al-qamar). Through a study of this calendar in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and Arabic lexical texts and by comparison to ethnographic accounts of existing Arabian star calendars, I argue that the system described in the evolving Islamic science of astronomy is one that did not arise in the Arabian Peninsula but was the result of cleansing the magical elements out of the earlier star lore and modeling this on the lunar zodiac of Sassanid Iran and India.


Refreshments will be served after the discussion.

The second talk will take place at the University of Toronto on Friday, January 15:

Anthropology Colloquium Series

Daniel Martin Varisco (Hofstra University)

The Culture Concept without a Textual Attitude: Reading against Orientalism and between the lines of Culture and Imperialism

Friday, January 15th, 2010. 2-4pm. Room 246.

Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, AP 246, 19 Russell St.

My paper for the University of Toronto is available online as a pdf.