The working group “Agriculture and the Making of Sciences” holds a primary source reading group where we invite scholars to read, translate, and discuss selected primary sources. For this Summer Semester we will continue to translate and compare two fourteenth-century agricultural treatises: (1) Nongsang yishi cuoyao in Classical Chinese from the Mongol-Yuan dynasty and (2) Al-Filāḥa al-Muntakhaba [Selected Agriculture] in Arabic from the Mamluk period. 

The group will meet once every two weeks: one meeting for the Chinese text and the next for the Arabic manuscript. Prior to each meeting, an English translation of the selected excerpts will be made available. No language background is required.