Field of Focus III - Funded projects Latin & Arabic – Entangled Histories

Project Leader:

Prof. Dr. Daniel König (EC "Asia and Europe")

Funding line:

Cultural Heritage and History

 

The means proffered by the FoF3 will be used to finance a conference under the title “Latin and Arabic – Entangled Histories”. The conference is part of a larger project of research that aims at understanding the entangled history of two major linguistic systems from a sociolinguistic as well as from a macrohistorical perspective.

So far, a synthetic overview dealing with the various facets as well with the most important primary sources does not exist and – considering the scope of the field of research – can only be produced in communication with numerous specialists. Up to this point, researchers pertaining from different fields of specialisation (history of philosophy and the sciences, Islamic studies, Arabic studies, Romance philology and literature, ancient, medieval and early modern history) have dedicated attention to various Latin-Arabic phenomena of entanglement without engaging in intensive exchange between each other. For this reason, the conference, to take place in September 2016, will bring together experts who will treat various facets of Latin-Arabic entanglement as they occurred in different times and regions from different disciplinary perspectives.

In this way the conference will contribute to elucidating an entangled history of almost two millenia which – given the administrative, religious and cultural importance of Latin and Arabic in the period of investigation – is not only closely linked to, but also questions widely diffused definitions of ‘European’ and ‘Arabic-Islamic’ culture.