Leibniz Award Research Group

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Arabische Literatur und Rhetorik Elfhundert bis Achtzehnhundert

(Arabic Literature and Rhetoric Eleven Hundred to Eighteen Hundred)

2014-2018

In 2013, Prof. Thomas Bauer received the most important German research award, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award, on the grounds that he “combines the philological interpretation and edition of texts with a broad and innovative approach to the history of culture and mentality in a way that is unique worldwide” and “beyond his scientific research, he makes an important contribution to intercultural understanding”.

Prof. Thomas Bauer used the awarded funds to found the Leibniz-Award Research Group ALEA, aiming at mapping and researching Arabic literature and rhetoric between the “Sunni Revival” (11th century) and the “nahḍa” (19th century). For seven years, a team of eight scholars worked on editions and studies, monographs and articles, that were published in the newly established ALEA book series.

Two international conferences were organized during that time, focusing on individual authors: Ibn Abī Ḥaǧalah (1325-1375), in April 2015, and Šamsaddīn an-Nawāǧī (1386-1455) and Ibn Ḥiǧǧah al-Ḥamawī (1366-1434), in May 2018, respectively.

The project created a junior professorship (tenure track) in order to strengthen this field and incorporate it into academic teaching. Prof. Syrinx von Hees was appointed to that position.

The ALEA/Leibniz-Award Research Group attracted several scholars, who brought their independently funded projects with them, as well as doctoral students funded from other sources. All of them were attending weekly meetings to exchange ideas and experiences and assist each other. In this way, Münster was established as a unique place for research on Arabic literature of the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. For more information, click here.

In addition to Prof. Thomas Bauer and Prof. Syrinx von Hees, the team included four postdoctoral researchers: Dr. Andreas Herd, Dr. Alev Masarwa, Dr. Anke Osigus and Dr. Hakan Özkan. Samir Mubayd M.A. participated as a PhD student and various research assistants (Noureddine Boulouh M.A., Rana Siblini M.A. und Belkis Tuncer B.A.) supported the work of the project as well.

Founding members were Dr. Nefeli Papoutsakis (at first as holder of a scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation and subquently as researcher employed by the University of Münster), Stephan Tölke M.A. (PhD student in the EXC project (B2-3) “Am Schnittpunkt der Diskurse. Ibn Nubāta al-Miṣrī (1287-1366) und die Kultur der Ambiguität”), Luca Rizzo M.A. (PhD student tutored jointly with the University of Venice and holder of a scholarship from the Bonebakker Foundation for a project on the stylistic device tawriyah: “Tawriya – Theory and Practice of Ambiguity”). Affiliates were Prof. Kristina Richardson (at that time holder of a scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation) and Dr. Ines Weinrich (with her project “mawlid-Texte aus dem 13. bis 18. Jahrhundert: Prophetenfrömmigkeit als rituelles Ereignis“ funded by the DFG).

Please find here an overview of alumni and present members.

and here an overview of the weekly meetings 2014-2016.

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