Following on from a successful pilot workshop in 2013, we have secured funding from the European Science Foundation to run a workshop in September 2014. The aim is to bring together natural scientists and humanities scholars to explore the applicability of mathematical sciences to current and past cultures. In particular, we wish to explore quantitative modelling for the understanding of textual narratives. Although for us, mathematics and mythology are where we started (hence the title of the workshop), we also wish to explore how to broaden the scope of the project to other disciplines if that is possible.
An international team is being assembled, including physicists, applied mathematicians, complexity theorists, computer scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, authors, film makers, artists, historians, medievalists, and other humanities scholars. A focus of the workshop will be to generate momentum towards obtaining further funding from a suitable source. The aim of such funding will be to support a large scale project over the coming years.
Book on network approaches to mythology launched at Oxford[more]