By Alena Sander. Coming towards the end of my doctoral journey, my initial optimism about an academic career quickly faded as I began to look into the world of post-docs and further academic career options and realized: it is going to be harder than I thought. One of the main reasons for this is that I identify and am read as a mother*.
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Gods and Outcasts: Ambivalent Attitudes towards Health Workers in India during the Coronavirus Pandemic
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Gautam Liu. The COVID-19 pandemic in India generated a strange phenomenon in how health workers were perceived. On the one hand officials were not tired in proclaiming doctors and nurses as gods, on the other hand health workers were ostracized by large parts of the general population.
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God in Times of Uncertainty
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Khadija Mohamed Embaby and Amira Mittermaier. In times of profound uncertainty, what does God offer to believers? And how does uncertainty affect believers’ ideas about, and relations to, God?
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Teaching between Spoon-Feeding and Dialogue: My Experience in Institutions of Higher Education and in Interactive Theater
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Marie Elias (French Literature / Theater Studies, University of Damascus / Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts, Damascus, Syria / Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon). Teaching is a difficult, exhausting profession, but an exciting one, and, if handled satisfactorily, it allows for enriching forms of knowledge and social interchange.
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التعليم بين التلقين والحوار: تجربتي في بعض المؤسّسات للتعليم العالي والمسرح التفاعلي
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
ماري إلياس (الأدب الفرنسي / الدراسات المسرحية، جامعة دمشق / المعهد العالي للفنون المسرحية بدمشق، سوريا / جامعة القديس يوسف ببيروت، لبنان). التعليم مهنة شاقّة ومتعبة ولكنّها شيّقة وتسمح بتواصل معرفي واجتماعي غني لو تمّ التعامل معه بشكل مُرض. أظنّ أنّ كلّ شخص درّس كان له رأيه ونظرته الخاصّين في هذه المهمّة. ما أريد طرحه هنا هو موقفي الشخصي من التعليم بناءً على تجربتي الخاصّة.
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Ottoman Roads to the Present: Infrastructure Development in Southeast Europe
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Florian Riedler and Nenad Stefanov. Public discourse and official historiography in Southeast Europe still understand the Ottoman period as ‘backward’. This backwardness is particularly associated with social and cultural immobility. According to this perspective, the Ottoman state dominated the Balkan Peninsula and prevented it from ‘moving forward’ and ‘progressing’ like the rest of Europe.
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De la philosophie arabe contemporaine comme champ d’étude
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab (Philosophie, Institut de Doha pour les Études Supérieures, Qatar). Si l’histoire intellectuelle moderne et contemporaine du monde arabe demeure un champ d’étude insuffisamment exploré, elle a néanmoins suscité un intérêt croissant au cours des deux dernières décennies.
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Heterodox Philology
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
Michael Allan and Gauri Viswanathan discuss connections among philology, literary history, and religion, drawing from writers such as Edward Said, B.R. Ambedkar, Zora Neale Hurston, Louis Massignon, and Kumud Pawde. The conversation was initially conducted via Zoom on September 2, 2020, and collaboratively edited for readability.
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Navigating Socialist Encounters: Moorings and (Dis)Entanglements between Africa and East Germany during the Cold War
by editorial board •
By Immanuel R. Harisch. Only recently, the decades-old debate regarding former Mozambican contract workers in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) experienced new momentum. Characterized by Marcia C. Schenck as “wandering journeymen of the Cold War” (“Wandergesellen des Kalten Krieges”), the trajectories of Mozambican contract workers were crucially shaped by socialist encounters and the close relations between the GDR and Mozambique.
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Egypt’s Football Revolution: Emotion, Masculinity, and Uneasy Politics
by editorial board •
By Carl Rommel. One does not have to spend a long time in Egypt to apprehend that football is a serious matter that stirs powerful emotions across the male population. Match shirts of Cairo’s two giant clubs, al-Ahly and al-Zamalek, are omnipresent in streets and squares throughout the country; club rivalries are a source of passionate controversies and banter in cafés, workplaces, and social media.
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Retracing Professional Mobility: Historical Network Analysis through CERD
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Thorben Pelzer. If sinology was a religion (which, despite its dogmas, it probably is not), the 15-volume Cambridge History of China could well serve as its holy scripture. Published over the course of over forty years, each of its well over a hundred chapters provides an authoritative overview of a particular topic.
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Entanglements of the Maghreb: Cultural and Political Aspects of a Region in Motion
by editorial board •
By Imen Louati and Julius Dihstelhoff. This anthology aims to generate a new approach to address regional studies in the Maghreb. Indeed, capturing the Maghreb’s heterogeneity and its dynamic is central for reflecting on recent transformations, not only in the Maghreb but in the Arab world generally, particularly in relation to the Arab uprisings of 2010–11.
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Enchevêtrement du Maghreb: Aspects culturels et politiques d’une région en mouvement
by editorial board •
Par Imen Louati and Julius Dihstelhoff. Cette anthologie vise à produire une nouvelle approche pour aborder les études régionales au Maghreb. En effet, saisir l’hétérogénéité du Maghreb et sa dynamique est essentiel pour réfléchir aux transformations récentes, non seulement au Maghreb mais dans le monde arabe en général, en particulier en relation avec les soulèvements arabes de 2010-11.
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German Medieval Studies and the Arab World: Overcoming Disciplinary and Epistemic Boundaries within the Humanities
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Jenny Rahel Oesterle (History, University of Regensburg, Germany). I am a medievalist, specialized in the history of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. I have worked and received training at several universities throughout my career and am currently teaching at the University of Regensburg.
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الدراسات القروسطية الألمانية والعالم العربي: التغلّب على الحدود التخصّصية والمعرفية داخل الإنسانيات
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
جيني راحيل أوستيرله (التاريخ، جامعة ريغنسبورغ، ألمانيا). أنا من باحثي القرون الوسطى، متخصّصة في تاريخ أوروبّا ومنطقة البحر الأبيض المتوسّط والشرق الأوسط، تدرّبت خلال مسيرتي المهنية في عديد من الجامعات وعملت فيها، وأدرّس الآن في جامعة ريغنسبورغ.
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Affective Readings: Emotion and Society in/of Egyptian Literature, 1990 to 2020
by editorial board •
By Christian Junge. What are the social functions of reading literature? While many studies approach Arabic literature primarily through the lens of authors, the literary field, or sociopolitical discourses, my interdisciplinary postdoctoral research project, “Affective Readings”, shifts the focus to the readers. I ask: What do readers read, and how and why?
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“Gender, Sexuality, and Knowledge Production in Current Neoliberal and Authoritarian Regimes”: Call for Contributions to the Series
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
To highlight the ongoing struggles that shape the production and circulation of knowledge in times of neoliberalism and authoritarianism, the Interdisciplinary Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster of De Montfort University, the Margherita-von-Brentano Center of Freie Universität Berlin, and Academy in Exile are calling for blog contributions by scholars, students, and activists from across the globe.
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How the Values of Modernity Contribute to Cultural Mediation
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
Azelarabe Lahkim Bennani (Philosophy, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco). This paper aims to address how to invest the capacity of the university to shape dialogue between cultures in an era of multiculturalism and civilizational conflict.
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مساهمة قيَم الحداثة في الوساطة الثقافية
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
عزّ العرب لحكيم بنّاني (فلسفة، جامعة سيدي محمد بن عبد الله، المغرب). إنّ الهدف من هذه المقالة هو التطرّق إلى كيفية استثمار قدرة الجامعة على بلورة الحوار بين الثقافات في زمن التعدّدية الثقافية وصراع الحضارات. ونحن نعلم أنّ عددًا غير محدود من جمعيات المجتمع المدني والمؤسَّسات الدولية تتطرّق بكلّ جدّية إلى مثل هذا الحوار.
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Legba-figures and dzokawo: Unpacking a missionary collection from the Übersee-Museum Bremen
by editorial board •
In the debate about colonial collections in ethnological and other museums, little attention has been paid to things acquired by European missionaries during conversion practices. These things do not fit into the current discussions of looted art and are barely subject to demands for repatriation.
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On Contemporary Arab Philosophy as a Field of Study
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Elizabeth Suzanne Kassab (Philosophy, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar). Modern and contemporary Arab intellectual history remains an understudied field. The last two decades have witnessed a growing interest in it.
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في الفلسفة العربية المعاصرة بوصفها حقلًا للدراسة
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
إليزابيث سوزان كسّاب (الفلسفة، معهد الدوحة للدراسات العليا، قطر). لا يزال التاريخ الفكري العربي الحديث والمعاصر حقلًا يحتاج إلى درس. وقد شهد العقدان الماضيان اهتمامًا متزايدًا بهذا الأمر. ومن بين الأعمال التي ظهرت مؤخّرًا، ثمّة أعمال تراجع فترة النهضة (من منتصف القرن التاسع عشر إلى منتصف القرن العشرين) وأخرى توثّق على نحوٍ نقدي جدالاتها الأقرب عهدًا.
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The Allure of Airport Rhythms
by editorial board •
By Juan Miguel Leandro L. Quizon. Travel entails expectations, musings, and meanderings. The moment travelers make final confirmations of flight bookings, their minds begin to explore the countless possibilities of their new journey. However, this year reminded us how a pandemic can seize travel instantaneously.
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The Digital Humanities Interface – An Introduction
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Ninja Steinbach-Hüther and Thomas Efer. DH is the glue holding disjointed parts together or a bridge facilitating the exchange between separated regions of academia. We see DH as an interface, an enabler of communication and interdisciplinary collaboration.
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“Innovationitis” and Humanities
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Marko Demantowsky (History, University of Vienna, Austria). You read it everywhere. Everyone talks about it, always as a value in itself. We are all haunted by it, not least at universities, not least in the humanities, by the ubiquitous requirement to be innovative.
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هوس ’التجديد‘ والإنسانيات
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
ماركو ديمانتوفسكي (التاريخ، جامعة فيينا، النمسا) تقرؤونها في كلّ مكان. يتحدّث عنها الجميع، كقيمة في حدّ ذاتها على الدوام. تطاردنا جميعًا، لا سيّما في الجامعات، ولا سيّما في الإنسانيات، مُطالِبَةً بالمطلب كلّي الحضور أن نكون مجدِّدين. فالمشاريع التي لا تقتضي التجديد لن تحلّ عليها نعمة التمويل في نظام أكاديمي منتفخ ونحيل في آنٍ معًا.
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The Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary Turkey: Reproduction, Maternity and Sexuality
by editorial board •
By Ayşe Dayı and Hilal Alkan. The edited volume The Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary Turkey: Reproduction, Maternity and Sexuality illustrates and examines the various ways in which neoliberal modes of governing women’s bodies come together with religious, conservative, and authoritarian measures in contemporary Turkey.
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Islam and Heritage in Europe: Pasts, Presents and Future Possibilities
by editorial board •
By Katarzyna Puzon. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 – an event that triggered a significant and sustained rise in prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes against Muslims, which has increased steadily since then. The tragic developments that followed, especially the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and of Iraq in 2003, still reverberate across Europe, not least in the recent ‘refugee crises’.
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The African Refugee Equilibrium
by editorial board •
By George Njung. Africans‘ lack of knowledge about our own shared refugee experiences continues to fuel hate and discrimination on the continent. For far too long, the global refugee situation has been misconstrued as static, with certain parts of the globe generating disproportionate numbers of refugees and others perpetually faced with the burden of hosting displaced peoples.
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Palestine Potash Limited: Industrial Development in Mandatory Palestine and the Infrastructure of Zionism
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Mona Bieling. The British Mandate for Palestine was officially instated in 1923 by the League of Nations. From its beginning, the Mandate government received applications for the rights to exploit the mineral resources of the Dead Sea and its surrounding areas.
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Urban Parks in Late Ottoman Istanbul
by Max Weber Stiftung •
By Mustafa Emir Küçük. People have used green spaces for recreational purposes throughout history, yet the concept of the park as a designed green space for people’s recreation in the middle of the city developed on an international scale in the nineteenth century. In Istanbul, the construction of urban parks was one of the many urban infrastructural projects in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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Spaces of Participation: Dynamics of Social and Political Change in the Arab World
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Randa Abou Bakr, Ulrike Freitag, and Sarah Jurkiewicz. The uprisings in the Arab region in late 2010 and early 2011 took many observers of the political scene by surprise, given the authoritarian nature of most regimes in the area. However, the roots and reflections of these uprisings can be found in the social, cultural, and artistic spheres of these locations, as we argue in our book, Spaces of Participation: Dynamics of Social and Political Change in the Arab World (Cairo, AUC Press 2021).
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Imagining the Telegraph in the Ottoman Empire
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Pauline Lewis. By the 1880s, approximately 20,000 miles of telegraph wires and cables stretched across the Ottoman Empire, circulating more than three million electrical messages each year. As scholars have convincingly shown, the technology offered a powerful new tool for the Ottoman central government to exert direct control over distant populations and provinces.
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Of Death and Dominion – Interview with Mohammed Bamyeh
by editorial board •
Mohammed Bamyeh’s 2007 book, Of Death and Dominion, was translated into German in 2020 and released by Turia + Kant. We spoke with the author about his research process, how death played out within historical power structures, and the role of mortality in contemporary society.
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Keeping the Wheels Turning at all Costs: Factories as COVID-19 Clusters – Interview with Aslı Odman
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
Recently, business have been trying hard to refute the role of the manufacturing sector as a main contributor of COVID-19 cases. In this conversation, Aslı Odman, an instructor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and a founding member and volunteer at Istanbul Health and Safety Labor Watch, discusses the socio-spatial inequalities triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in industrial workspaces on both local and global scales.
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Urban Agriculture in Pre-Modern Istanbul
by Max Weber Stiftung •
By Ayşe Nur Akdal. Today, one can find it bizarre to come across a rural element in cities. However, historically, there was not a clear distinction between urban and rural. Agricultural and urban space existed together. Due to a lack of sufficient preservation and transportation technologies, easily perishable foods, such as dairy products and vegetables, were produced in urban areas. Istanbul was a good example with widespread and plentiful market gardens (2017; 11-18).
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Primordial History, Print Capitalism, and Egyptology in Nineteenth-Century Cairo
by editorial board •
By Adam Mestyan. Some years ago I came across a fragmented, nineteenth-century Arabic manuscript in Cairo. The work, The Garden of Ismail’s Praise, caught my eye as one of a number of compositions written in praise of Ismail Pasha (r. 1863–1879), the “khedive”, or Ottoman governor, of Egypt.
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Missionary Anxiety Along Ottoman Istanbul’s Railways
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Gabriel Doyle. When new railway lines started to crisscross Ottoman territory at the end of the 19th century, the infrastructural change fuelled a missionary awakening. Catholic congregations, especially, were interested in the urban and rural areas around the Anatolian railway line, which started to be built in 1889 and intended to link Istanbul to Ankara.
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Ethnicity and the Use of Natural Resources in the Early Ottoman Peloponnese
by Max Weber Stiftung •
By Georgios C. Liakopoulos. The first extant Ottoman taxation cadastre of the Morea TT10-1/14662, dated 1460-63, divides the recorded settlements into Greek and Albanian on the basis of different rates of taxation, which favoured the latter ethnic group.
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Of ‘nimble fingers’ and ‘jacquard’s soldiers’: Up-scaling, Up-skilling, and the Re-masculinization of Labor in Bangladesh’s Garment Industry
by Forum Transregionale Studien •
By Christian Strümpell and Hasan Ashraf. Bangladesh is widely known as having rapidly grown into one of the world’s major producers of ready-made garments. In 1978, it counted 9 factories; in 1985, their number stood at 598; and in 1996 at 2,353.