Building on the landmark 2017 event, Face/Interface, Before & Beyond Typography is an international conference at Stanford University that will explore the global history of reproductive text technologies and graphic communication from before and beyond the dominance of typography. The conference will take place April 24-25, 2020.

REGISTRATION

The conference is free, open to the public, and does not require registration. However, due to space limitations, we highly recommend pre-registration so that your spot is guaranteed should we reach maximum capacity (a situation which did happen in 2017 at Face/Interface). Further benefits of pre-registration are:

- early access to full conference schedule
- early access to potential hands-on workshops
- additional information about the speakers and event

OVERVIEW

What becomes of our understanding of “-graphics” when we dislodge the prefix “typo-” from its long-dominant position and place it alongside those of “chiro-,” “xylo-,” “litho-,” “mimeo-,” “xero-,” "seri-," and other methods and technologies that have shaped the early modern and modern eras in profound ways? This conference will track the dynamic interplay between technological change and non-typographic printing in those parts of the world where typographic printing was considered ill-suited to local writing systems and script cultures, including South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Conference speakers will examine the vitality of non-typographic publishing networks from the early modern era to the present.

ORGANIZERS

Thomas S. Mullaney, Stanford University
Andrew Amstutz, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

FUNDING & SUPPORT

B&BT gratefully acknowledges the following supporters who are making this conference possible (arranged in order of funding support, greatest to least). With the exception of AIPS, all supporters are offices at Stanford University:

H&S Dean's Office
Stanford University Libraries
History
History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Stanford Humanities Center (in-kind funding)
Text Technologies
Global Studies
American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS)
South Asian Studies
East Asian Studies
Communication
Art & Art History
Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies
African Studies
East Asian Languages and Cultures

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (subject to change)

Andrew Amstutz
Anindita Ghosh
Anubha Anushree
C. Ryan Perkins
Crystal Lee
Cynthia Brokaw
Darryl Lim
Deborah Solomon
Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer
Graeme Reynolds
Hwisang Cho
Ido Ramati
Jennifer Dubrow
Jonathan Zong
Kajri Jain
Kathryn Schwartz
Kelly W.S. Ritter
Ksenia Chizhova
Lisa Gitelman
Mats Fridlund
Megan E. Robb
Mehak Sawhney
Muhammed Ashraf T
Rakesh Sengupta
Satoko Shimazaki
Thomas S. Mullaney
Tyler Shoemaker
Ulrike Stark
Wang Jiayao
Xin Yu
Yi Lu

SCHEDULE

Full conference schedule will be available on December 1, 2019 for all attendees who have registered here on EventBrite. For others, the schedule will be available January 15, 2019. As a preview, attendees can expect two full days of panels and discussion on April 24 and 25, 2020.

TRANSPORTATION & PARKING

For parking and transportation information, do NOT email organizers. Instead, please visit this link.

HOTEL INFORMATION

For hotels nearby Stanford, please visit this link.

FOOD

Coffee and tea will be provided to all conference attendees and speakers. Meals will ONLY be provided for speakers and designated guests. For attendees, there are many nearby eateries. For a guide to dining on Stanford campus, please visit this link.