Comments on: The Polyglot Manifesto I

By: The Eye of the Beholder » Blog Archive » A little inspiration may go a long way.

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:46:02 +0000

[...] Ahmed’ s “The Polyglot Manifesto” before and I am always struck by the following passage in Part 1, “It is our job to engage with them. To be the interpreter. It is also, keenly, our [...]

By: found in translation « Historia Computabilis

found in translation « Historia Computabilis — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:56:05 +0000

[...] knowledge, they prefer to isolate themselves in the “Footnote tower.” In this sense, The Polyglot Manifesto is a nice attempt to translate or to interpret the meaning of Jaroslav Pelikan’s article [...]

By: Blog Postings on a $hoestring « Brewing History

Blog Postings on a $hoestring « Brewing History — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:56:46 +0000

[...] Manan Ahmed on the role of a historian: in an era of mass digitization and publication, Ahmed seems to argue that historians are shooting themselves in the foot if they don’t move towards becoming an online presence and asserting themselves as web historians. Not to rehash any debates from Clio 1, but he’s right. Who else can make sure that sound historical work and research can have an online voice other than a historian. Although some professionals outside our field can explore historical questions successfully, more often than not journalists, bloggers, and web-trolls do not make for good historical work. I believe Ahmed is merely suggesting that historians make a concerted effort to know mark-ups and web design, but to work with professional programmers to create online work that meets our satisfaction. In this light, his shout-out to GMU’s CHNM reminds me that I made a great decision to attend here. [...]

By: Learning to Speak in Code « Novel History

Learning to Speak in Code « Novel History — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:25:53 +0000

[...] Harvey | 1 Comment “I hope somehow to be able to speak what Manan Ahmed calls “future-ese,” to be able to learn (some of) the language of the programmer over the course of this year [...]

By: Preamble « Novel History

Preamble « Novel History — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:13:10 +0000

[...] frankly, scares me.) Nevertheless, I hope somehow to be able to speak what Manan Ahmed calls “future-ese,” to be able to learn (some of) the language of the programmer over the course of this year [...]

By: Who do polyglot historians talk to? – Dissertation Sandbox

Who do polyglot historians talk to? – Dissertation Sandbox — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:38:28 +0000

[...] an aspect to toggling between past-ese and present-ese that the Polyglot Manifesto does not address. Sepoy emphasizes that the polyglot "has to speak within and without [...]

By: The Polyglot Manifesto…Part 3? « The Atomic Blog

The Polyglot Manifesto…Part 3? « The Atomic Blog — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:28:10 +0000

[...] The Polyglot Manifesto…Part 3? 13 02 2008 I must admit, The Polyglot Manifesto, Parts 1 and 2, presented quite an interesting argument. I think that the point that Manan Ahmed was trying to make in his two blogs speaks to the heart of the purpose of our class. The truth is, if we historians want our work to remain relevant in a technology-obsessed world, we too must become technology obsessed. We must make our archives accessible through digital collections; we must create on-line “exhibits” that present historical artifacts and materials in an interesting and engaging manner; and, we must have at least a basic knowledge of the process required to make the above two actions happen! We need to be involved in the process in order to ensure that the end result is what we envisioned. A curator cannot simply select the artifacts to be displayed in an exhibit and then walk away; they must be directly involved in the exhibit from the moment the idea is thought up, to the moment the exhibit is taken down. Therefore, a historian should be just as invovled in the creation of an on-line project, as a curator is in a exhibit. Like Manan Ahmed said, we must “not only speak past-ese and present-ese but also, future-ese.” [...]

By: Adventures of a Desi Knitter » Going back to the archives

Adventures of a Desi Knitter » Going back to the archives — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:07:27 +0000

[...] implicitly we still seem to trust in its fixity. It reminded me of my intrepid friend Sepoy’s Polyglot Manifesto again, a brilliant rumination on how historians and engage the digital world to their considerable [...]

By: Readings in Design for Digital Humanities | ClioWeb

Readings in Design for Digital Humanities | ClioWeb — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:42:06 +0000

[...] Mystery, especially Manan’s excellent Polyglot Manifesto I and [...]

By: Digital History Hacks » Blog Archive » Digital History Year in Review

Digital History Hacks » Blog Archive » Digital History Year in Review — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:41:39 +0000

[...] Manan Ahmed penned a Polyglot Manifesto in two parts. I switched from Perl to Python. [...]

By: behind AotW » Blog Archive » Carnival! Carnival!

behind AotW » Blog Archive » Carnival! Carnival! — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:11:43 +0000

[...] Dr Turkel says we don’t have enough for a carnival – but how about if we stretch to include manifestoes and forth-holding; journals, umbrellas, and fora; how-to’s and workshops; hints to coming attractions; not to mention articles, ‘papers‘ or news items on the techno-classroom, academic initiatives, public history, personal archives, wikiHistory, learning with primary sources, etc. [...]

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Sat, 20 May 2006 04:54:54 +0000

just adding my voice to the bravos & wah-wahs. if you give people tools, they will build: it’s no accident that many of the seriously politically/socially-engaged young scholars i know are suddenly blogging and wiki-ing and otherwise trying to unbuild the walls of the ivory tower (and more to the point, its libraries).

By: Land of Lime » For Historians and Humanists

Land of Lime » For Historians and Humanists — Fri, 19 May 2006 04:44:46 +0000

[...] Read Sepoy’s The Polyglot Manifesto – 1 and The Polyglot Manifesto – 2 for his insightful reflections on the challenges we face today in the academy. Any young (or even old) historian or humanities scholar should take Sepoy’s proposals seriously. [...]

By: Saud

Saud — Wed, 17 May 2006 14:36:31 +0000

You forgot to include email discussion groups; I think a lot of people are interacting within the old fashioned isolated intellectual community, except now they can do it immediately. Of course, a lot of these lists are open to the public, and it is impressive how non-professional scholars on the internets are showing that they have become more than dilettantes. Have you seen the wikipedia entries on the muslim battles? Some are amazing (see battle of badr), and many of them were done by an college grad who took an elective with Donner. You know Jorn Barger, the possible inventor of the web-blog, was a computer programmer professionally but was also a huge presence in the scholarly James Joyce scene on the internet. Democratization of knowledge man, first the middle classes go to college, now the lower classes get on the internet. Soon we’ll have a little bacha in bumble**** Rajasthan who will challenge Foucault’s conception of power!

By: ClioWeb » Future-ese

ClioWeb » Future-ese — Wed, 17 May 2006 12:30:41 +0000

[...] For historians to engage with the public, we need “to not only speak past-ese and present-ese but also, future-ese.” From Chapati Mystery’s “The Polyglot Manifesto I.” Read it. Right. Now. [...]

By: Masale.Wallah

Masale.Wallah — Wed, 17 May 2006 03:18:04 +0000

This article appeared in the NYT over the weekend.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Wed, 17 May 2006 00:54:13 +0000

Bravo. No … bravissimo.

By: desiknitter

desiknitter — Tue, 16 May 2006 20:35:19 +0000

I like that: the historian as polyglot, and translator across time and technology. Good post, and I agree that digitization has to be harnessed to make history and the archive more accessible: one of the biggest problems in history courses in india is the lack of access to primary sources and creative discussions of the past due to hidebound and fossilized syllabi (am not talking du-jnu here). building the sourcebook will hopefully be a small step towards this democratized access?

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Tue, 16 May 2006 17:12:27 +0000

Great post.

One line in particular caught my eye: “The history I study, a friend said to me after Shelly‚Äôs talk, is so far removed from the present that no way I could ever make it relevant.”

Even apart from your rejoinder (which I agree with), your friend is evidently unfamiliar with the political stakes in the fight “over” history (specifically school textbooks) in India. In a globalized world (to use that cliche), scholarship, whether in Chicago, Delhi, or Berlin, may bear on the more localized politics of places rather distant from te above-named…