The Russia by the Numbers symposium will address the role of quantification and numbers in Russian culture. Is there a Russian culture of numbers? Literary studies, for example, tend to focus on unique works of art, but counting and statistics have often played a role in helping us to understand works of literature. Conversely, might traditional methods of literary analysis help us understand what we are doing when we count? We will consider the relationship between mathematics and the workings of language (especially the more complex workings we find in literary works), and the ways in which such questions been investigated and theorized in the past, both in the Russian context and more widely (e.g., in semiotics, philosophy and sociology of science and mathematics, etc.)? Finally, we will consider whether our discussion can shed light on the questions raised within the budding discipline of "digital humanities."
March 7, 2013
10:00 AM to 12:30 PM EST
Michael Holquist, Yale University
Ilya Kliger, NYU, Respondent
Nasser Zakariya, Respondent
Lunch Break (independent)
2:00 PM to 4:30 PM EST
Peter Steiner, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Gordin, Princeton University, Respondent
Anne Lounsbery, NYU, Respondent