Please join the Affect and Emotions Workshop
on Monday, April 20 when
Jane Gordon
PhD Student
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
University of Chicago
presents the paper:
“Emotional Language in Old Assyrian Letters”
Monday, April 20 | 4:30-6pm
Zoom: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/797221387
Respondent: Ben Arenstein, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Description: This essay analyses the use of emotional language—defined as both expression of emotion and discussion of emotion—in letters from the archive of one 19th century B.C. Assyrian merchant family. It examines letters between family members and business associates with the aim to better understand and articulate the ways in which ancient letter-writers used emotional language as a tool in a discourse impacted both by social conventions and by the challenges of communicating at a spatial and temporal remove. I argue that emotion was an integral aspect of epistolary discourse during the height of Old Assyrian trade in Anatolia and was employed for purposes of persuasion, self-expression, and compensation for distance.
The paper, to be read in advance, will be distributed to the Affect and the Emotions Workshop mailing list and is available in the post below with a password.
We are committed to making our sessions accessible to all persons. Questions, requests, or concerns may be directed to the coordinator by email. To join our mailing list, please click here.
Image: Old Assyrian letter, reproduced by M. T. Larsen in Kültepe Tabletleri VI-c: The Archive of the Šalim-Aššur Family, vol. 3: Ali-ahum. 2014.
