Genealogies of Qur’anic Hermeneutics: Tracing Trajectories through Online Data

DAVID R. VISHANOFF

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

VISHANOFF@OU.EDU

العلم بحر• The problem: an

expanding ocean of Qur’anic scholarship

• The need: techniques for distant reading

• One solution: Exaptive• Mapping records

العلم بحر• The problem: an

expanding ocean of Qur’anic scholarship

• The need: techniques for distant reading

• One solution: Exaptive• Mapping records

• Clustering themes

العلم بحر• The problem: an

expanding ocean of Qur’anic scholarship

• The need: techniques for distant reading

• One solution: Exaptive• Mapping records

• Clustering themes

• Defining discourses

العلم بحر• The problem: an

expanding ocean of Qur’anic scholarship

• The need: techniques for distant reading

• One solution: Exaptive• Mapping records

• Clustering themes

• Defining discourses

• Accessing books

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts (words that occur with “Qur’an” and “hermeneutics”

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse (on commands and prohibitions)

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse

• Full citation network

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse

• Full citation network

• Influence over time

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse

• Full citation network

• Influence over time

• One person’s influence (al Shāfiʿī)‑

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse

• Full citation network

• Influence over time

• One person’s influence

• Inside one book (al Shāfiʿī’s ‑Risāla)

منهج البحث

• Starting concepts

• Clusters of authors and topics

• Clusters of main topics

• Selected discourses

• Chronology of discourses

• Citations in a discourse

• Full citation network

• Influence over time

• One person’s influence

• Inside one book

آفاق• Multiple visualizations

• Multiple datasets• WorldCat

• HathiTrust

• Alexandrian Library

• الشاملة المكتبة

• User-defined universes, discourses, annotations

• User communities• To join: vishanoff@ou.edu

الوعد والوعيد

• Online data is flawed, incomplete, and variable• Suggestive, not definitive

• Selectivity is not innocent• Challenge existing canons

• Distant reading is not close reading• For discovery, context,

strategies, hypotheses

• Research transparency• Humility, collaboration

• E.g.: waraqat.vishanoff.com