TiTaRa: Between Science and Magic

The project TiTaRa: Between Science and Magic, based at the Department of English, University of Turku and funded by the Kone Foundation (2023-25), explores questions of identity through historical linguistics and book history: How did people in medieval and early modern England (c. 8th to 17^th centuries) write about those who operated between the boundaries of science and magic (alchemists, astrologers, and witches)? What does this tell us about their societal roles as early scientists, dangerous sorcerers, or helpful healers? We approach varied materials such as manuscripts, early printed books, scholarly editions, corpora, historical linguistic dictionaries, and catalogues from a philological perspective, combining historical discourse studies, manuscript studies / book history, genre studies, and lexicology. Public outreach is important to TiTaRa, and one of our project outputs will be a tabletop roleplaying game enabling players to familiarise themselves with the project’s themes in an easily accessible manner requiring no advance knowledge. Our project team consists of Ida Meerto, Sara Norja, Kristel Nyberg, and Mari-Liisa Varila (PI).