Nora Barakat and David Wrisley: "Beyond the National Archive: Digital Futures for Gulf Studies"

Welcome to the Digital Humanities Public Lecture at the Stanford Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis.

Nora Barakat, Assistant Professor of History, Stanford University
David Wrisley, Professor of Digital Humanities, NYU Abu Dhabi

What are the historical connections between the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian Ocean Rim? How can scholars approach this historical space from a fragmented postcolonial vantage point of nation states and their archives? This lecture presents the process and results of research collaboration that aims to reframe and expand Gulf Studies beyond dominant narratives of nation-building and fossil fuels. Barakat and Wrisley argue that digital practices provide ways to bring disparate archives in different languages into an explicit dialogue that marks the future of historical inquiry in Gulf Studies and offers insight for similar sites of postcolonial research globally. The talk will feature examples of handwritten text recognition, mapping and textual analysis, and a discussion on how research projects can be managed and developed transnationally and between institutions.

The presentation will include lunch and take place at the Stanford Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis in Wallenberg 433A.