Digital Philology, World Literature and Sustainable Global Culture

Gregory Crane

Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Digital HumanitiesUniversität Leipzig

Professor of Classics Winnick Family Chair of Technology and

EntrepreneurshipTufts University

Von [AvH Professuren] erwartet wird, dass ihre mit Hilfe des Preises ermöglichten

wissenschaftlichen Leistungen zur internationalen Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des

Forschungsstandortes Deutschland nachhaltig beitragen

https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professorship.html

Alexander von Humboldt Professors “are expected to contribute to

enhancing Germany's sustained international competitiveness as a

research location in consequence of the award”

https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professorship.html

Germany and the US

Where German Profs got their degrees

Where US Profs got their degrees

Where US Profs got their degrees

From 1957 to 1986

The 21st century

The 21st century

Only considering citations from works 30 years old or less (i.e., current scholars and their immediate teachers)

Language of Publication (Prof. Dr-s.)

Language of Publication (Prof. Dr-s.)

Infrastructure vs. supersructure (in an old-fashioned Marxian sense)

Populations: US 300m, Germany 80m, Japan 127m, Netherlands 17m

What’s the superstructure?

US Postsecondary Greek + Latin

Germany sits squarely in the central European Latin belt, but it has also seen substntial drops in absolute numbers of Latin students from 807,839 in 2010, to 740,302 students in 2011, to 705,407 students in 2012 -- a decline of 12% over two years.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HfAQZUyRfDV0BPS39wx9kwPEqqTOwUtlC23GfCfvF1Y/edit#

True decline in Greek is pbly 20%

German Sec. School Latin enrollments

Germany sits squarely in the central European Latin belt, but it has also seen substantial drops in absolute numbers of Latin students from 807,839 in 2010, to 740,302 students in 2011, to 705,407 students in 2012 -- a decline of 12% over two years.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HfAQZUyRfDV0BPS39wx9kwPEqqTOwUtlC23GfCfvF1Y/edit#

Germany 1997-2011: 43 of 200 chairs cut

More students but fewer professors

US Classics since 1975 …

US Classics since 1975 …

• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD programs) seem roughly stable

US Classics since 1975 …

• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD programs) seem roughly stable

• Absolute numbers of Greek and Latin students roughly stable (at least till 2008)

US Classics since 1975 …

• Number of faculty (at least at the PhD programs) seem roughly stable

• Absolute numbers of Greek and Latin students roughly stable (at least till 2008)

• But the number of language based majors … Yale has the last undergraduate Greek and Latin reading list

Does Climate Change have better data?

Classic “wise man” quotation -- not really by Einstein but still makes the point …

A direct response to abandoning the name American Philological

Society in favor of the Society for Classical Studies

A direct response to abandoning the name American Philological

Society in favor of the Society for Classical Studies

Part also of a wave of anglophone scholarship reasserting philology

What is philology?

Itaque ubi, quae et qualis philologia meo iudicio sit, quaeritis, simplicissima ratione respondeo, si non latiore, quae in ipso vocabulo inest, potestate accipitur, sed ut solet ad antiquas litteras refertur, universae antiquitatis cognitionem historicam et philosophicam.

Augustus Boeck, “Oratio nataliciis Friderici Guilelmi III.” (1822)

Digital Technology and Theory

• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not enough on the “why” of technology

Digital Technology and Theory

• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not enough on the “why” of technology

• BUT the big question is NOT rethinking the theoretical foundation of how scholars conduct their research.

Digital Technology and Theory

• Too much emphasis on the “how” and not enough on the “why” of technology

• BUT the big question is NOT rethinking the theoretical foundation of how scholars conduct their research.– That is a secondary question, a “how” question

assuming the answer to another “why” question.

What opportunities and challenges does a digital age pose to the social

contract that justifies the professional position of every

speaker in this conference?

What opportunities and challenges does a digital age pose to the social

contract that justifies the professional position of every

speaker in this conference?

Why do our fields exist and why might they exist in this new space?

What opportunities and challenges does a digital age pose to the social

contract that justifies the professional position of every

speaker in this conference?

The foundational theory must build, but may NOT depend, upon an understanding of academic literary, linguistic, cultural, hermeneutical etc. theory.

Two Interlinked Questions

• Each is necessary but not by itself sufficient

Two Interlinked Questions

• Each is necessary but not by itself sufficient1. How does digital philology change what we

can contribute to society?

Two Interlinked Questions

• Each is necessary but not by itself sufficient1. How does digital philology change what we

can contribute to society?2. How does the nature of our research change?

Lettre ouverte à Madame le Ministre de l’Éducation nationale, de l’Énseignement et de la Recherche, Mme. N. Vallaud-Belkacem, May 19, 2015,

by Franco Montanari, président de la Fédération internationale des associations d’études classiques

The 2012-13 Survey of Humanities Departments at Four-Year Institutions (American Academy of

Sciences)

http://www.yale.edu/classics/downloads/YaleUndergraduateReadingList.pdf

Where does Big Data start?

• ~ 150,000 words -- Yale UG Reading List (Greek, Latin, or a 75K of each)

• ~ 1,000,000 words -- typical US PhD Greek and Latin Reading list

• ~ 20,000,000 words – aggregate Greek and Latin in the Loeb Classical Library

• ~ 100,000,000 words – Greek and Latin thru c. 600 CE

• > 1,000,000,000 words – postclassical Greek and Latin

Friedrich Wolf, Die Darstellung von Althertumswissenschaft (July 1807)

1807: Napoleon, Friedrich Wolf

Treaty of Tilsit, July 2007

Prussia barely survives as a political entity – loses half its territory

Berlin, July 1807

Dedicated (at length) to Goethe

Eine National-Building …

p. 883 (1869)

Arminius in Valhalla (Regensburg)

Präsident der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften , 1927 – 1930

Eduard Schwartz, 1858-1940

Präsident der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften , 1927 – 1930

1928 – supporter for Alfred Rosenberg’s Kampfverbund für deutsche Kultur

Eduard Schwartz, 1858-1940

The Big Humanities

The Big Humanities in Germany and the US

The Big Humanities focus on articulating national identity – and they have strong inward focusing

tendencies.

The Big Humanities focus on articulating national identity – and they have strong inward focusing

tendencies.

What happens when the Big Humanities become too powerful?

What happens when we balance the role of the Big Humanities with

a broader view of humanity?

To study Greek and Latin was to assert membership in a Republic of Letters bigger than any Dukedom,

Electorate, or Kingdom

To study Greek and Latin was to assert membership in a Republic of Letters bigger than any Dukedom,

Electorate, or Kingdom

The Republic of Letters laid the foundations for the best elements of the European idea today, fragile

as it may be.

Gottfried Hermann

If one were to go into the lecture-room of the professor of Poetry and Eloquence at Leipsic, a few moments before the hour, he would see a crowd of the maturest scholars of the university, and of philologists who had been educated elsewhere, finding their seats, and preparing their papers, for taking notes. The hum of numerous whispering voices fills the room. An aged, but spirited man, of moderate stature, with fire in his eyes, and fury in every movements, darts in at the door. The well-known signal, given by those nearest him, instantly silences a hundred tongues. By the time you hear his clinking spurs, and, as he mounts the stairs to the desk, your eye falls upon his blue coat, with metal buttons and badge of knighthood, his deer-skin breeches, and long riding boots. His whip and gloves, and hat and chair are all flying to their places, and a stream of extemporaneous Latin is already pouring forth. Before you are even aware of it, the ship is under full sail. the whole energy of the lecturer is directed to his object; the point of difficulty in the Greek text … is placed directly before you….

Leipzig in 1835, described by Barnas Sears, Classical Studies (Boston1843) pp. 28-29.

“Wahre Freude hatte er an dem Ritterkreuz des sächsischen Civilverdienstordens (1816)”

Otto Jahn, Gedächtnissrede (1849) p. 26

“Wahre Freude hatte er an dem Ritterkreuz des sächsischen Civilverdienstordens (1816)”

Otto Jahn, Gedächtnissrede (1849) p. 26

But …. He lectured in Latin …

August BoeckhModern Philology German Nationalism

Gottfried HermannLinguistic Philology Latin Cosmopolitanism

My fundamental question: How can we help Greco-Roman culture contribute to the intellectual life of humanity?

My fundamental question: How can we help Greco-Roman culture contribute to the intellectual life of humanity?

This question, rigorously applied, challenges us to look beyond our

own language and culture to humanity as a whole.

Greek and Latin are not by themselves sufficient to represent Classics, much less global philology

What does it mean to equate Classics or Klassische Philologie with the study of Greek and Latin?

In case you think I am picking on Germany

Edward Everett (1852)

In the comparatively brief period of about two hundred years, substantially the same transformation has been brought about in a considerable part of our Western continent, which has been the work of fifteen or twenty centuries in Europe. Within two hundred years the barbarous native races have disappeared, and the children of civilized Europe and their descendants have succeeded to them ; and have introduced, as far as circumstances admitted, the culture of the old world, with all the improvements which have sprung from the novel and peculiar state of things here existing. This, indeed, has been accomplished in much less than two centuries

How do Greco-Roman studies contribute to 21st century Nationalbildung?

p. 883 (1869)

Greek and Latin may not be sufficient but they are necessary –

intellectually, practically, and politically

Big Language (English, French, German, Italian) Domination

Big Language (English, French, German, Italian) Domination

What happened to speakers of Croatian, Dutch, Lithuanian and other smaller European languages when the big Nationalist Dialects displaced Latin and asserted cultural-political hegemony?

We caved into nationalist thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries

We caved into nationalist thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries

In the 21st century we still, in practice, serve and reinforce national

thinking for the vast majority of those who study Greek and Latin

Scholars of Greco-Roman culture are a trans-national community in

Europe (also Egyptology, Assyriology). We are never the Big Humanities (these are now always national) but we have a strategic

role that we CAN play.

But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they are essential

But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they are essential

1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum

But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they are essential

1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum

2. Numbers of students (and therefore of faculty) in the first world

But if Greek and Latin are not sufficient, they are essential

1. The potential of reclaiming and transforming the cosmopolitan Respublica Litterarum

2. Numbers of students (and therefore of faculty) in the first world

3. Development of resources – esp. open resources

99.3% of Latin students in Germany are in primary and secondary school

https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/AllgemeinbildendeSchulen2110100117004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile and https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesellschaftStaat/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/Tabellen/AllgemeinBildendeBeruflicheSchulenFremdsprachUnterricht.html.

Latin schüler in Germany

2010 807,8392011 740,3022012 705,407

Greek and Latin Studierenden (2013)

Greek 592Latin 4,268Greek and Latin (combined) 4,860

99.3% of Latin students in Germany are in primary and secondary school

https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/AllgemeinbildendeSchulen2110100117004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile and https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesellschaftStaat/BildungForschungKultur/Schulen/Tabellen/AllgemeinBildendeBeruflicheSchulenFremdsprachUnterricht.html.

Latin schüler in Germany

2010 807,8392011 740,3022012 705,407

Greek and Latin Studierenden (2013)

Greek 592Latin 4,268Greek and Latin (combined) 4,860

99.97% are NOT the c. 200 Lehrstuhlinhaber of Greco-Roman Philology, History, and Archaeology

99%+ German students live in a German bubble

99%+ US students live in an English bubble

99%+ Italian students live in an Italian bubble

99%+ French students live in a French bubble

99%+ Spanish students live in a Spanish bubble

The US National Greek Exam -- English

The Graecum and Latinum -- German

Maximize participation and ownership within and across individual nations and societies

How big is the market? In terms of actual expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association – yes, there is a trade association – estimates that 32 million Americans spend $467 per person or about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11 billion flows toward football. These figures don’t count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion currently. So the “derivative” market has grown larger than the foundational market.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/

How big is the market? In terms of actual expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association – yes, there is a trade association – estimates that 32 million Americans spend $467 per person or about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11 billion flows toward football. These figures don’t count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion currently. So the “derivative” market has grown larger than the foundational market.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/

How big is the market? In terms of actual expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association – yes, there is a trade association – estimates that 32 million Americans spend $467 per person or about $15 billion in total playing. Roughly, 11 billion flows toward football. These figures don’t count ad revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The NFL’s annual revenue falls just under $10 billion currently. So the “derivative” market has grown larger than the foundational market.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/

The FSTA [Fantasy Sports Trade Association] estimates that the average fantasy gamer spends 3 hours per week managing a team(s), translating to 1.2 billion hours for 23 million players over a 17 week season.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2013/08/20/the-70-billion-fantasy-football-market/

Topics of Research

Topics of Research

• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows what? (Cognitive Sciences)

Topics of Research

• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows what? (Cognitive Sciences)

• Theorizing the social contract for the study of the past

Topics of Research

• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows what? (Cognitive Sciences)

• Theorizing the social contract for the study of the past

• Citizen Science and Global Citizens

Topics of Research

• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows what? (Cognitive Sciences)

• Theorizing the social contract for the study of the past

• Citizen Science and Global Citizens• Reception of Greco-Roman studies of every

kind

Topics of Research

• Personalized Hermeneutics – who knows what? (Cognitive Sciences)

• Theorizing the social contract for the study of the past

• Citizen Science and Global Citizens• Reception of Greco-Roman studies of every

kind• New technologies (e.g., Greek OCR, textreuse

detection etc.)

A Postsecondary Approach

Automated/Collaborative Linguistic Annotation

~ Leipzig Glossing rules (ancient Egyptian above)

To study Greek and/or Latin should immediately and pervasively

connect each student to a larger transnational and even trans-

European culture

Language-independent tasks: e.g. morpho-syntactic analysis

Greek/Croatian -- Aligned translations (Plato Rep. 330)

Greek/Croatian -- Aligned translations (Plato Rep. 330)

Greek/Croatian -- Aligned translations (Plato Rep. 330)

Do you do Greco-Roman Studies or do you do Classical Studies?

Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg

Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg

What is the most important contemporary language in this Greco-Roman world?

Greco-Roman World c. 200 CE

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg

Are English, French, German, Italian enough? What about Arabic? Turkish?

July 2015 letter form an Egyptian colleague asking to add Arabic

“I wouldn't exaggerate If I told you that I would feel myself guilty If some day one of these students grow up and imitate what ISIS had done to the archaeological sites in Iraq, because he didn't appreciate it. Why he doesn't appreciate it? Simply because he doesn't understand what was there. And why again? because most of the sources are not accessible; either they are in reality (there in Egypt) secured in magazines that in the near future, due to many reasons that beyond this email, won't open even to scholars like you and me !, or it is presented online ( virtually ) with languages that he doesn't understand. This was the past and to somewhat the present, but do you want that this would be our shared future ?”

What is the role for Greco-Roman Studies in Europe?

Is it a self-standing field or closely integrated with a true Classical

Studies?

Remember Goethe and Weltliteratur

The Political World c. 200 CE

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/n3LCXYT.jpg

Open Data

• Open Philology• Open Greek and Latin• Open Persian• …• Open data as a precondition for scalable

research• Your library system shifts from importing to

curating

• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975

• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975– English, French, German, Italian

• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975– English, French, German, Italian

• What should a US/European student starting in 2015 imagine?

• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975– English, French, German, Italian

• What should a US/European student starting in 2015 imagine?– What about Mandarin? Arabic? Hindi? Persian?

What is the world that you wish to build?

• Languages of Classical Scholarship in 1975– English, French, German, Italian

• What should a US/European student starting in 2015 imagine?– What about Mandarin? Arabic? Hindi? Persian?

Thank you!