LI3028 Empires Of Language: Premodern Cosmopolitanism
In this course we examine how global languages constituted transnational communities in the premodern world. We will look at texts that illustrate premodern forms of cosmopolitanism wherein the use of a literary language like Sanskrit, Latin, and Arabic signals a local writer’s affiliation to global networks of cultural and political power. This course is cross-listed with linguistics. There are no prerequisites.