Studies on Modern Orient

This book draws on an extensive map collection and language data from censuses to examine the ethnocultural homogenization in Turkey's nation-building process. In an analysis of province-based data on twenty-one native languages in the censuses of 1927–1965, the book discusses a policy of Turkification directed at different ethnic groups throughout the historical process.

The Yolcılıḳ Kitābı (Travel Book), written by the Ottoman physician, statesman and historian Hayrullah Efendi (1818–1866) after a trip to Europe, makes it difficult for the reader to reconstruct the exact course of the author’s travels. As the work shows, this is due to the fact that it is an attempt to transfer the genre of the route-based modern travel guide – known primarily from the Murray, Baedeker and Joanne series – to Ottoman literature.

The text can therefore be described as the first Ottoman travel guide. Hayrullah orientates himself strongly on French models, but also incorporates Ottoman pre-texts and elements of the travelogue. Thus, he adapts the genre to his needs, which are to be seen against the background of the reform endeavours of the Tanzimat period. The detailed analysis of the work also provides an opportunity to shed light on the hitherto little-studied relationship between travel guide and travelogue and to develop a differentiation criterion.

An annotated transcription and translation of essential parts of the text make its complex structure clearly understandable for the first time and enable access to this work beyond Ottoman studies.

Persian Arabesques is an unpublished chapter in the history of Russian diplomacy as told by one of its most brilliant protagonists, Ivan J. Korostovetz (1862–1933). After his successes both at the Portsmouth Peace Treaty of 1905, where he served as secretary of the Russian-Japanese Conference, and at the Friendship Treaty with Mongolia, which he signed in 1912, Korostovetz describes in detail his memories of the last events of his diplomatic career. From 1913 to 1918, when he fled into exile to avoid imprisonment, he served mainly in Persia, for example as Russian Minister Plenipotentiary (1913–1915). As an important historical primary source, the memoirs describe not only current political events, but also various local customs and manners. Topics range from history and geography to regional religions and Byzantine-Persian literature.

Italy was perceived not just as the European South but also as the "Orient" in nineteenth-century travelogues. This volume lays the most important theoretical foundations for systematic studies into "Oriental" Italy by looking at the examples of Palermo and Apulia through European travelogues. It also addresses Italy’s historical, rhetorical, symbolic, and aesthetic ambiguities.

This volume revisits the “long 19^th century” in the Middle East from the perspective of emerging subjectivity as a fundamentally new attitude of the individual vis-à-vis the World. Stephan Guth’s holistic vision interprets emerging subjectivity as the key operator at the heart of the many aspects of the so-called Arab(ic) “Renaissance” (and corresponding movements in Turkish), like rationalism, critical analysis, political emancipation, reformism, moralism, and emotionalism, but also a new language, new genres, and new concepts.

Guth’s thoroughly philological approach demonstrates how a close reading of literary texts from the period, a cultural-psychological interpretation of linguistic phenomena and an etymology-informed look into conceptual terminology can contribute to a deeper understanding of what “modernisation” actually meant, deep inside the human beings’ mind and psyche, in their meeting with a rapidly changing world.

Twenty essays on language, literature, and key concepts reflect the author’s life-long engagement with the culture of the period in question. The articles are glued together by a guiding narrative that assigns each treated aspect its place in the author’s vision (which includes a global perspective).

The profusion of literature on Muḥammad ʿAlī's Egypt (1805–1849) makes the Bāshā’s epoch significantly well-documented; however, one facet is perceptibly brushed out or rather overlooked. Published in 1945, Gaston Wiet’s Mohammed Ali et Les Beaux-Arts has been the only book deliberating the visual and artistic aspects of Muḥammad ʿAlī’s reign, and while it offers an extended survey of the Ottoman governor’s iconography and visual relics, the book wants the rudiments of critical analysis. The trivial number of works covering this facet of the Bāshā’s sovereignty has made it barely examined, rendering the research field with a significant epistemological gap, namely regarding art and historiography　patronage for political triggers. Embarking from where Wiet's work has halted, this book attempts to critically analyze the artistic component of Muḥammad ʿAlī’s reign by dealing with the pictorial crops of the nineteenth century’s orientalist-travelers, assessing their role within the context of contemporaneous trends in Ottoman and European diplomacy and tracing Muḥammad ʿAlī’s early attempts for using pictorial propaganda and historiography in order to claim political legitimacy and to attain European recognition. The book conducts an in-depth analysis of the Bāshā’s historiographic making process with a focus on how text worked art and visual politics.

The book takes an innovative and interdisciplinary approach, which commingles tools of visual analysis and contextual investigation, in its consideration of the aspects of Muḥammad ʿAlī Bāshā’s foreign policy, this book closely examines topics associated with cultural systems, modernization, traditionalism, and changeability in Egypt of the nineteenth century, while assessing the impact of global connectedness not only on Muslim cultures and societies but also on European public opinion through highlighting how Muslim rulers had adapted appealing themes and employed cultural magnets in their visual propaganda to fit within the pervasive international diplomatic trends.

The issue of Muslim women’s rights never seems outdated and has become trendy in the post-9/11 environment. That is, the mainstream media and Western politicians often view Muslim women as victims of male-patriarchy and frequently justify Western involvement in the Middle East and in other Muslim majority counties at least in part to "rescue" women. Within this realm, Nawal El Saadawi is a famous Egyptian writer whose writings focus on the struggle of Muslim women and are widely read in the Middle East and many Western societies as well. Because of her bold feminist views on politics, religions, and gender, she is described as the "Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world."

After the death of El Saadawi in 2021, a flurry of arguments and criticism in the Egyptian press and women's press around the world is created in which different social media platforms were filled with numerous comments and discussions of her writings and arguments. Whereas some mourned El Saadawi and her dedication to women’s issues, others celebrated her death, wishing her the worst punishment in the afterlife for what they described as her "destructive thoughts."

This monograph genuinely analyzes her views on five controversial issues – marriage, polygamy, divorce, inheritance rights, and veiling – in light of Qur’anic exegeses offered by two classical scholars (i.e., Muhammad ibn Jarir Al Tabari and Ismail ibn Umar Ibn Kathir) and two contemporary Muslim feminists (i.e., Amina Wadud and Azizah Al Hibri). By taking a critical look at her views, the book contributes not only to this ongoing debate but adds value to assessing El Saadawi's work and helps readers gain a greater understanding of her writings as well. It also enables readers to comprehend the current tension between feminism and Islam by understanding the perspectives of both sides. Since El Saadawi’s writings are available in the Western countries, the book would appeal to academics, researchers on Islam and gender and Middle Eastern women, as well as to lay audiences interested in women and gender in Muslim societies.

The burden of this book is twofold. The first half is charged with identifying and critiquing the many prejudices and misconceptions that inform popular – and even scholarly – perceptions of Islam and Iran, those rooted in neo-conservative hostility no less than those arising out of pro-regime apologetics or (what we will argue are) misleading "post-modern" methodologies. This is a key component of our overall investigation, both because the illusions occluding our view of the Islamic Republic are (we assert) piled so high and deep, and because setting the record straight on many a contentious issue is the most appropriate context for elucidating the positive positions of the revolutionary clerics. These last represent, perhaps more than anything else, the premier critics of Western civilization in our day, and their ideologies may therefore be best comprehended when placed in dialogue with, and in polemic against, the worldviews of that civilization (which in their own turn are often most profoundly understood when offset by their present-day Islamist nemeses). As noted above, it is not all contention: unexpected meeting points and congruities emerge, as well, when the activist Shi'ite clerics are placed in the same virtual room with their occidental counterweights.

The second half of the book deploys a large number of rarely tapped primary sources, both ancient and contemporary, in order to tease out the attitudes of the class of Muslim scholars recently and currently at the helm of the Iranian state in a variety of significant fields, including the role of religion in society, the relationship between democracy and theocracy, the modern Western Weltanschauung, the Sunni-Shi'i schism, and much more. Though the author parses, and provides background and context for, the myriad citations from these influential Muslim thinkers, the ultimate objective is to allow them to speak for themselves.

This monograph examines the connection between progressivism and feminist movements in the Indian subcontinent, scrutinizing shifting portrayals of women in Fahmīdah Riyāẓ’s poetry at the time of her writing from a historical perspective, and the historical, political, social and personal influences reflected in her work and life.

In recent years we have become interested in the diffusion of “small” Western technologies in the countries of the Middle East during the 19th and 20th centuries, the era of Imperialism and first globalization. We postulated a contrast between “small” and “big” technologies. Under the latter category we may understand railway systems, electricity grids, telegraph networks, and steam navigation, imposed by foreign powers or installed by connected local entrepreneurs. But many “small” Western technologies, such as sewing machines, typewriters, pianos, eyeglasses, and similar consumer goods, which had been developed and manufactured in Europe and America, were wanted, and willingly acquired by the agency of individual users elsewhere. In a few cases, however, the inventions had to be adapted, or were overstepped, and even delayed. Some were adopted as social markers or status symbols only by elites who could afford them. Processes of adoption and diffusion therefore differed according to cultural settings, preferences, and needs. Social and cultural historians, and social scientists, not only of the Middle East, will find in this collection of essays a new approach to the impact of Western technological inventions on the Middle East.

While the Arab revolutions have obviously triggered extensive social and political changes, the far-reaching consequences of the cultural and discursive changes have yet to be adequately considered. For activists, researchers, and journalists, the revolution was primarily a revolution in language; a break with the linguistic oppression and the rigidity of the old regimes. This break was accompanied by the emergence of new languages, which made it possible to inform, tell, and translate the ongoing events and transformations. This language of the revolution was carried out into the world by competing voices from Syria (by local and foreign researchers, activists, and journalists). The core of this project is to find the various translations of the language of the Syrian revolution (2011–2012) from Arabic to English to study and analyze. In addition, the discursive and non-discursive dimensions of the revolution are to be seen as another act of translation, including the language of the banners, slogans, graffiti, songs, and their representation in English.

Since 1970, Oman has taken up the challenge of shaping an "imagined community" and unifying an ancient territory that was torn apart in the past by secession or civil wars. Spatial planning has been at the heart of its policy, guided by a carefully defined national identity to broadly integrate the physical and human components of the country. With the integration into globalization and the emphasis on tourism to diversify the economy too dependent on hydrocarbons, the "national narrative" becomes a brand. What are the reciprocal effects of branding and spatial planning? Tourism particularly reveals these interactions but also the effects on the governance of the sultanate, while heritage plays a complex role, anchoring branding in a deep political project. The image of tolerance, a true "brand" of Oman in a regional environment of religious divisions, is clearly part of the country's territory, strongly associating branding and spatial planning.

Par l’étude approfondie d’Oman, proposant une géographie par l’image, l’ouvrage analyse l’aménagement du territoire comme outil majeur de la modernisation menée par le sultan Qabus, de 1970 à sa mort en 2020. Il met en évidence les ruptures mais aussi les continuités qui caractérisent l’urbanisme du pays, et les conséquences de l’insertion dans la mondialisation sur le type d’aménagements mis en œuvre sur le territoire.

This discourse analysis, which also utilizes the thought of Jacques Lacan, examines hermeneutically (and to a lesser extent quantitatively) narrative and emotional correlations between German and Israeli media. Three selected media art projects that take up stereotypes of Muslims open our eyes to the contradictions and complexes inherent to certain discourses through "narrative reflections" in the sense of "emotional argumentation."

Literature, images, and metaphor are often where most of a nation’s history are embedded. A study of modern Kurdish literature highlights a fealty to a rich literary past and a rich source of historiography. The articles in this volume address many facets of the literary in the Kurdish world: proverbs, feminist literature, and resistance in literary works, poetry, prose, etc. In the end, the volume offers a general paradigm of the complex literary framework of the Kurds, their continuous resistance for nationhood in their history, and their modern reinventing of the self. An overview of some of the works in modern Kurdish literature points to both asymmetry and commonality in comparative literary studies. These works highight the thematic reach in Kurdish literary studies.

This edited volume investigates place, product, and personal branding in the Middle East and North Africa, including some studies from adjacent regions and the wider Islamicate world. Going beyond simply presenting logos and slogans, it critically analyses processes of strategic communication and image building under general conditions of globalisation, neoliberalisation, and postmodernisation and, in a regional perspective, of lasting authoritarian rule and increased endeavours for “worlding.” In particular, it looks at the multiple actors involved in branding activities, their interests and motives, and investigates tools, channels, and forms of branding. A major interest exists in the entanglements of different spatial scales and in the (in)consistencies of communication measures. Attention is paid to reconfigurations of certain images over time and to the positioning of objects of branding in time and space. Historical case studies supplement the focus on contemporary branding efforts. While branding in the Western world and many emerging economies has been meticulously analysed, this edited volume fills an important gap in the research on MENA countries.

In Germany, a difference is still made between inconspicuous "courtyard mosques" and visible "new mosque builds." What is meant are the religious places of worship visited by the Muslims who have been living in Germany for over half a century. It is time to put this distinction on the shelf. Muslims enter into complex pacts with their architecture. This book aims to make a contribution to an interdisciplinary understanding of those pacts.

This volume brings together twenty-two authors from various countries who analyze travelogues on the Ottoman Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The travelogues reflect the colorful diversity of the genre, presenting the experiences of individuals and groups from China to Great Britain. The spotlight falls on interdependencies of travel writing and historiography, geographic spaces, and specific practices such as pilgrimages, the hajj, and the harem. Other points of emphasis include the importance of nationalism, the place and time of printing, representations of fashion, and concepts of masculinity and femininity. By displaying close, comparative, and distant readings, the volume offers new insights into perceptions of "otherness", the circulation of knowledge, intermedial relations, gender roles, and digital analysis.

Drawing on human rights discourse and a study of the difficulties faced by religious minority groups (using the Ahmadiyya minority group as a case study), this book presents three interconnected challenges to human rights culture in Indonesia. First, it presents a normative challenge, describing the gap between philosophical and normative principles of human rights on one side and the overall problems and critical issues of human rights at national and local levels on the other. Second, it considers the political problems in developing and strengthening human rights culture. The political challenge addresses the ability (or inability) of the state to guarantee the rights of certain individuals and minority groups. Third, it examines the sociological challenge of majority-minority group relationships in human rights discourse and practices.

This book describes the background of human rights in Indonesia and reviews the previous literature on the issue. It also presents a comprehensive review of the discourses about human rights and political changes in contemporary Indonesia. The analysis focuses on how human rights challenges affect the situation of religious minorities, looking in particular at the Ahmadiyya as a minority group that experiences human rights violations such as discrimination, persecution, and violence. The study fills out its treatment of these issues by examining the involvement of actors both from the state and society, addressing also the politics of human rights protection.

This book is the first extensive research on the role of poetry during the Iranian Revolution (1979) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). How can poetry, especially peaceful medieval Sufi poems, be applied to exalt violence, to present death as martyrdom, and to process war traumas? Examining poetry by both Islamic revolutionary and established dissident poets, it demonstrates how poetry spurs people to action, even leading them to sacrifice their lives. The book's originality lies in fresh analyses of how themes such as martyrdom and violence, and mystical themes such as love and wine, are integrated in a vehemently political context, while showing how Shiite ritual such as the pilgrimage to Mecca clash with Saudi Wahhabi appreciations. A distinguishing quality of the book is its examination of how martyrdom was instilled in the minds of Iranians through poetry, employing Sufi themes, motifs and doctrines to justify death. Such inculcation proved effective in mobilising people to the front, ready to sacrifice their lives. As such, the book is a must for readers interested in Iranian culture and history, in Sufi poetry, in martyrdom and war poetry. Those involved with Middle Eastern Studies, Iranian Studies, Literary Studies, Political Philosophy and Religious Studies will benefit from this book.

"From his own memories and expert research, the author gives us a ravishing account of 'a poetry stained with blood, violence and death'. His brilliantly layered analysis of modern Persian poetry shows how it integrates political and religious ideology and motivational propaganda with age-old mystical themes for the most traumatic of times for Iran." (Alan Williams, Research Professor of Iranian Studies, University of Manchester)

"When Asghar Seyed Gohrab, a highly prolific academician, publishes a new book, you can be certain he has paid attention to an exciting and largely unexplored subject. Martyrdom, Mysticism and Dissent: The Poetry of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) is no exception in the sense that he combines a few different cultural, religious, mystic, and political aspects of Iranian life to present a vivid picture and thorough analysis of the development and effect of what became known as the revolutionary poetry of the late 1970s and early 1980s. This time, he has even enriched his narrative by inserting his voice into his analysis. It is a thoughtful book and a fantastic read." (Professor Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona)

Wie iranisch ist die Schia wirk­lich? Die Autorin unter­sucht die histo­ri­sche, poli­ti­sche, sozio­kul­tu­relle und reli­giöse Ausgangs­si­tua­tion, die Genese und Entwick­lung der Schia im Iran und Libanon sowie Ereig­nisse, Tradi­tionen und Persön­lich­keiten, die, insbe­son­dere unter dem Aspekt des Gelehr­ten­aus­tau­sches, als Binde­g­lieder zwischen beiden Ländern gelten können. Bereits in voris­la­mi­scher Zeit beste­hende Kontakte zwischen dem vormals zoroas­trisch geprägten Iran und der byzan­ti­ni­schen Levante werden beleuchtet, ebenso der beson­ders im 16. Jahr­hun­dert und bis in unsere Tage anhal­tende Austausch von kultu­rellem und poli­ti­schem Gedan­kengut sowie die gegen­sei­tige poli­ti­sche, reli­giöse und intel­lek­tu­elle »Entwick­lungs­hilfe«. Der Streit um die ethni­sche Zuord­nung der Schia wird seiner Grund­lage beraubt: Ohne isla­mi­sche Geschichte mit ihrem Ursprung auf der Arabi­schen Halb­insel kein Schisma, das sich aus den Nach­fol­ge­st­rei­tig­keiten nach dem Tod des Propheten formierte und sich von dort als oppo­si­tio­nelle Bewe­gung in den Irak, ans Mittel­meer und in den Iran fortpflanzte, wo sie sich in einer langen und turbu­lenten Entwick­lung zu der Schia entwi­ckelte, die sie heute ist. Vor diesem Hinter­grund können aktu­elle Ereig­nisse und Entwick­lungen objek­tiver einge­ordnet werden; und so wird schließ­lich nach­voll­ziehbar, wer und was die Hizbollah ist.

What intersections lie between late nineteenth century elephant hunting in some parts of West Africa and the expansion of Islam in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria in the twenty-first century? Egodi Uchendu explores this symbiosis, among other themes, in her latest monograph. Through participant observation and focus group discussion in addition to employing a wide spectrum of secondary and oral sources from numerous, well-informed interviewees in the study area, Uchendu investigates the emergence and spread of Islam in the Niger Delta. Her documentation of Islam's dissemination in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers States is unique as historical studies on predominantly Christian areas in Eastern Nigeria have primarily been focused on Igboland. Uchendu's work not only explores subaltern and gendered perspectives of Islam in the four states mentioned, but also her reproduction of large portions and sometimes, entire narratives from face-to-face interviews provide a rich tapestry of events and a more lucid treatise of the subject matter. In addition, the clear explanation of Islamic concepts and terms makes an otherwise technical discussion a relatively uncomplicated read. Scholars working in the areas of history, religion, politics, sociology, gender and related fields will find this book invaluable for researching multidisciplinary themes such as migrant-host exchanges, Islamic utility, religious conversions and reconversions, urban studies, patron-client networks and settlement expansion. This is definitely a book to possess for both students and researchers alike.

The Medi­ter­ra­nean is a sea that has expe­ri­enced extra­or­di­nary contacts, conf­licts, enco­un­ters and exchanges through the centu­ries. This comple­xity is analysed in the present volume through the eyes of twelve scho­lars specia­lised in Middle Eastern and North African studies. Arabic and Semitic lingu­istics and dialec­to­logy, Arab lite­ra­ture and popular music and culture are some of the broad range of subjects included in this volume which engages diffe­rent geogra­phical areas of the so-called Mare Nostrum and various histo­rical periods, from the medieval to the contem­porary era.

This book inves­ti­gates how the German-Ottoman Alli­ance affected the Turkish Natio­na­lism during the Second Consti­tu­tional Period (1908–1918), focu­sing on two lesser known but crucial players of the Alli­ance: Ahmed Emin (Yalman, 1888–1972) and Ernst Jäckh (1875–1959). After the First World War, both men had repu­ta­tions as being liberal, pro-American jour­na­lists. This book explores their papers and inves­ti­gates their wartime acti­vi­ties and connec­tions, and shows how they helped the German-Ottoman Alli­ance to take root. Ahmed Emin, a graduate of the German School in Istanbul, was sent by the Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha, to the German Front during World War I and through his German and Turkish writings, advo­cated strongly for the promo­tion of the German-Ottoman Alli­ance. Ernst Jäckh was a consul­tant to Emperor Wilhelm II in his Eastern affairs and made several trips to the Ottoman Empire. In the process he built up a repu­ta­tion as being »Turkish-Jäckh« among German impe­ria­list circles due to his Young Turkish connec­tions. Through their writings and the various insti­tu­tions they enrolled, they both became key figures of the German-Ottoman Alli­ance. Also by evalua­ting the writings of the Ottoman political elite of the Era on Germany this book shows how the so-called »German spirit« was constructed by the Ottoman political elite, inclu­ding Ahmed Emin. It also clari­fies how certain elements of German natio­na­lism were appro­priated into Turkish natio­na­list thin­king by the channel of German impe­ria­lists, inclu­ding Ernst Jäckh. Oppo­sing the comview that the support for the German-Ottoman Alli­ance was limited only to a certain clique of the Committee of Union and Progress, this book seeks to answer how the »main­st­ream intel­lec­tuals« of the Second Consti­tu­tional period who supported the Alli­ance protected their repu­ta­tions after World War I, and how this German-Ottoman Alli­ance gave Turkish natio­na­lism a German

Welche Rolle spielen Frauen in der Ḥamās? Ihre Beteiligung in der islamistischen Bewegung wird anhand von fünf Leitfragen untersucht: Wie sind die Frauen in die Strukturen eingebunden? Welchen Beitrag leisten sie für den Fortbestand und Erfolg der Ḥamās? Inwiefern fühlen sich die Frauen selbst repräsentiert und für wie einflussreich halten sie sich innerhalb und außerhalb der Ḥamās-Strukturen? Welche Bedeutung hat das Engagement für die Frauen selbst? Und wie wird sich die Rolle der Frauen zukünftig entwickeln? Die Autorin führte eine monatelange Feldforschung in den Palästinensergebieten durch. Die Islamwissenschaftlerin sprach mit Ḥamās-Aktivistinnen, beobachtete deren Lebenswelt und untersuchte Originalquellen wie Internetseiten und Print-Publikationen der Ḥamās. Das Buch ist zugleich an ForscherInnen aus den Islam-, Politik- und Genderwissenschaften adressiert und bietet einen neuen Zugang für all diejenigen, die sich mit dem Spannungsfeld zwischen politischer Partizipation, Religion und Geschlechterordnungen beschäftigen.

This book examines the rela­ti­onship between space, bilin­gua­lism, and writing, and female charac­ters’ iden­tity forma­tion in the late literary produc­tions of Iranian women in the Dias­pora, such as ›To See and See Again‹ by Tara Bahram­pour, ›Funny in Farsi‹ by Firoozeh Dumas, ›Lipstick Jihad‹ by Azadeh Moaveni, and ›Saffron Sky‹ by Gelareh Asayesh, hereby using post-colo­nial and post­mo­dern theo­ries of bilin­gua­lism, space, auto­bio­graphy and gender. Some years before and after the Islamic revo­lu­tion in Iran in 1979, a huge number of Iranians migrated to western coun­tries due to social and political prob­lems. There is a signi­fi­cant body of literary and auto­bio­gra­phical works by Iranian writers in the Dias­pora during the last 50 years. In the last two decades, more literary and auto­bio­gra­phical works have been concerned with the private aspect of the lives of the charac­ters in the Dias­pora and the (trans)forma­tion of their iden­tity and the lingu­istic and cultural hybri­dity. This hybri­dity and the iden­tity issues become more signi­fi­cant in the works of women writers, as they are doubly margi­na­lised as immi­grants in the host land and second sex within patri­archy. There have been only a few critical works on the recent literary and auto­bio­gra­phical works of Iranian female writers in the Dias­pora.

This book sets out to review the state reforms that have been carried out in Syria during the first presidential period of Bashar Al-Assad and the „elusive hopes“ that came with them. Caught in an authoritarian system, Syrians linked the prospect of a broad state reform to hopes for economic and social progress, greater political participation and better public administration, and above all, an improved service delivery and less corruption. However, the promised reforms failed to deliver the expected results and led to more than just disappointment. In his study, Amer Ghrawi analyzes the interplay between factors at both national and regional levels and how they shaped the course of reform and caused its gradual derailing. He provides a detailed account of a very specific reform, describes how this reform was implemented, how it got trapped and abandoned, and why. In retrospect, the period from 2000 to 2007 is indeed crucial for understanding the catastrophic events that followed. In fact, the reforms might well have been Bashar Al-Assad´s only chance to prevent the country from sliding into its current chaos.

“Achieving a Career, Becoming a Master” gives an insight into the everyday lives of young men in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. As the Soviet Union made access to Central Asia an outright impossibility for foreign researchers, and due to the present autocratic system and its control of information, there exists very little expertise on Uzbek society and culture. The book explores what young Uzbeks strive for in the professional and private spheres and how they try to realize their aims. As most of them are inclined either to become successful businessmen or make a career within the state apparatus, special attention is given to Uzbek entrepreneurship and the civil service. Considering the challenge within the difficult labor market of earning enough money to marry, establishing the funds to afford the incredibly expensive wedding ceremony is regarded a real achievement. The cultural context and its influence on the way young Uzbeks think and act are also taken account of. Strategic planning informs the workplace agency of young employees struggling to build a career. Determined to carve out their personal trajectories and to assert themselves in the face of strong social and economic forces, the individuals portrayed here defy the stereotype of the collective-minded subject of post-Soviet Asia.

The rhetoric surrounding participatory development approaches is very positive, based upon the expectation that it provides better development outcomes than classical development approaches. This is both supported and contradicted by the participatory development literature, indicating the complexity of the interplay of participatory approaches and development programs in real world situations. This study adds to the academic literature focused on participatory development approaches using empirical data. The research utilizes an intensive qualitatively-based case study methodology to look at the impacts of the National Solidarity Programme (NSP) on a community in Northern Afghanistan, thus presenting a new perspective on participatory development: a community level perspective.

Die Drusen, eine Religionsgemeinschaft, die sich im 11. Jahrhundert n. Chr. vom schiitisch-ismailitischen Islam abgespalten hatte, siedelten bevorzugt in den gebirgigen, unwegsamen Regionen der historischen Region Großsyrien. Heute leben sie überwiegend in Syrien, Libanon und Israel. Die drusischen Gemeinschaften in Israel und im Libanon haben eine höchst unterschiedliche Entwicklung erfahren: In Israel leisten Drusen – im Gegensatz zu Christen und Muslimen – obligatorisch Militärdienst. Im Libanon war die stärkste drusische Partei während des Libanesischen Bürgerkrieges zeitweise eng mit den Palästinensern verbündet. Womit ist die gegensätzliche Entwicklung beider Gemeinschaften zu erklären? Müssen die Gründe dieser Entwicklung außerhalb der drusischen gesellschaftlichen Verfasstheit gesucht werden? Warum werden Drusen in einem Staat als ethnische Araber, in einem anderen Staat hingegen als ethnische Drusen bezeichnet? Kann man anhand historischer und gegenwärtiger Aspekte ein gemeinsames Muster im politischen Verhalten der Drusen konstatieren?

Ya?qub Sannu? / James Sanua (1839–1912) was a pioneer in theater, satirical journalism and caricature. With the aim to foster nationalism in Egypt in the last third of the 19th century, he experimented with various literary genres. Deprived by the Khedive Isma?il of his career as a playwright, he started a satirical newspaper called 'Abu Nazzara Zarqa' (the man with the blue glasses) in 1878 which was forbidden after its 15th issue and its editor forced into exile. Based in Paris, Sanua continued to publish his magazine which was – according to his personal accounts – smuggled massively under adventurous circumstances into his home country where on 9 September 1881 Ahmad ?Urabi and his fellow officers ?Abd al-?Al Hilmi and ?Ali Fahmi made their march of protest to the ?Abidin palace. This popularly supported revolt was later recognized as the starting point of the first Egyptian nationalist revolution. This volume aims to disentangle the dichotomous construct which Sanua used in his satirical texts for the imagining of anEgyptian national identity. Until 9 September 1881 Sanua had published eight newspaper series and a total of 87 issues. His language and call for union, for resistance against oppression and for the fight against foreign invasion became increasingly more violent and religiously tinted. At the same time, his genres slowly transformed from his originally dramatic style proper for a playwright into a special kind of journalistic way of expression suitable for satirical magazines.

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts begannen türkisch-osmanische Intellektuelle erstmals Zeitungen und andere Periodika als Forum für ihren politischen Diskurs zu nutzen. Die Tanzimat-Regierung reagierte darauf 1867 mit Publikationsverboten und dem Erlass eines neuen, rigideren Pressegesetzes. Für die Publizisten bot das europäische Exil im Frühjahr 1867 einen Ausweg. Schon bald nahmen sie ihre Aktivitäten zunächst in der französischen Presse und später in London als Herausgeber eigener Zeitungen wieder auf. In ihren Publikationen traten sie als Repräsentanten der Jungosmanen in Erscheinung. Ihr wichtigstes Organ war die Zeitung 'Hürriyet' (Freiheit), die von 1868 bis 1870 in London erschien. 'Hürriyet' wurde von London ins Osmanische Reich geschmuggelt, wo sie zwar verboten, aber dennoch einem aktiven Interessentenkreis zugänglich war. In 'Hürriyet' wird scharfe – teilweise auch polemische Kritik – an der Tanzimat-Regierung geübt. Das eigentliche Leitmotiv stellt jedoch die Frage nach der Ordnung des Staates dar. Die kritische Bewertung des osmanischen Status quo bildet somit nur die Folie, vor der unterschiedliche Vorstellungen und Strategien zur staatlichen Ordnung formuliert werden. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass eine weitaus komplexere Autorenschaft involviert war, als bislang angenommen. Intertextuelle, stilistische und inhaltliche Veränderungen verdeutlichen den situativen Charakter, aber auch den Prozess der gegenseitigen Aneignung. Hiermit wird erstmals eine umfassende Studie der Autoren, Sprache und Intentionen der 'Hürriyet' vorgelegt.

This book is a case study of Islamist women activists in Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (the Islamic Liberation Party), a transnational Islamist organization aiming at re-establishing the historic Islamic Caliphate which is seen as the only legitimate form of state. The case study was conducted in Beirut, Lebanon. Given the scarcity of analytical studies on Hizb al-Tahrir, this study contributes by asking what mobilizes collective action in Hizb al-Tahrir and how far the established social movement theories can lead to an understanding of social mobilization in Hizb al-Tahrir. Using participant observation as the primary research method, the study finds that elements of social movement theory can account for mobilization and recruitment in Hizb al-Tahrir. However, given the group’s emphasis on 'wa‘y' (awareness), the role of ideology for social mobilization in Hizb al-Tahrir is also proven to be central.

Einleitung [Politik und Diplomatie] [Politics and Foreign Relations] Malte Fuhrmann: Deutschlands Abenteuer im Orient. Eine Geschichte semi-kolonialer Verstrickungen Süleyman Kiziltoprak: The Egyptian Question and the Multilateral Policy of Germany (1876–1904) Zafer Atar: From Unofficial Contacts to Official Diplomacy Alp Yenen: The Exile Activities of the Unionists in Berlin (1918–1922) Abdullah Ilgazi/Mustafa Biyikli: Germany's Regions of Influence and its Cultural Policy towards Turkey according to a Report from 1934 Ramazan Çalik/Hatice Bayraktar: Die politischen Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und der Türkei während der Weimarer Republik Fahri Yetim: German Propaganda in Turkish Press during World War II [Handel und Wirtschaft] [Trade and Economy] Hilmar Kaiser: German Railway Investment in the Ottoman Empire: The Colonial Dimension Fahri Türk: Deutsche Waffenlieferungen in die Türkei von 1871 bis 1914 Naci Yorulmaz: Krupps weitreichende Kanonen. Bewertung der Quellen im Osmanischen Archiv zu den Aktivitäten der Fa. Krupp im Osmanischen Reich [Wissenschaft und Bildung] [Research and Education] Arzu Terzi: Deutsche Ausgrabungen in Babylon: Spurensuche im Osmanischen Archiv Hassan Bahar: Studies of German Archaeologists in Turkey Robin Wimmel/Tolga Bozkurt: Zwei bahnbrechende Forschungsreisende in Anatolien: Edmund Naumann und Kurt Erdmann Tolga Bozkurt: German Architects in the Early Republican Period of Turkish Architecture Hans Walter Schmuhl: Istanbul–Berlin–Ankara. Seniha Tunakan und der Wissenstransfer auf dem Gebiet der Physischen Anthropologie und Humangenetik [Rezeption des Fremden] [Perception of the Other] Hartmut Heller: 'Beutetürken' als Teil der deutschen Bevölkerung seit dem 15. Jahrhundert Necmettin Alkan: Die Wahrnehmung der türkischen Geschichte und der Türken in deutschen Quellen (1745-1845) Haldun Soydal/Serkan Güzel: Inevitable (Re)-Conceptualization: From Turks in Europe to 'European Turks' [Die Türkei und die EU] [Turkey and the Europ

The book focuses on the relations between Siberian Cossacks and Kazakhs in northern Kazakhstan from the time that it was included into the Russian Empire in 1734 to the end of the nineteenth century. The research aims to demonstrate that extensive contacts between aboriginals of the steppe and newcomers from the north led to the formation of a frontier society, which was distinct from traditional Russian and Kazakh societies. The reciprocal adoptions of diverse cultural elements and cross-cultural exchanges created preconditions for the formation of a 'frontier society of interests', which cross-cut racial and religious barriers, and resisted the attempts of the Russian central government to impose its rule over the peoples of this outlying region. The aforementioned developments challenge the depiction of the contact as 'a battle of cultures' or a meeting of 'two different worlds', as it is typically portrayed in contemporary historiography.

Politische Karikaturen dienen gemeinhin als künstlerisches Mittel zur überspitzten Meinungsäußerung und lösen bisweilen extreme Reaktionen wie Zensur und Repression oder persönliche Anfeindung bis hin zur Morddrohung aus – so auch die Werke des palästinensischen Karikaturisten Naji al-'Ali. Die Schaffensperiode al-'Alis währte von den 60ern bis in die 1980er Jahre. Adressaten sind die ›einfachen Menschen‹, für sie wichtige politische Zustände werden auf eine leicht verständliche Art und Weise thematisiert. Al-'Ali war wegen seiner äußerst kritischen Karikaturen sehr beliebt. Mehr als 20 Jahre nach seinem gewaltsamen Tod genießen die Karikaturen noch immer enorme Popularität; vor allem die Hauptfigur all seiner Zeichnungen, der kleine Flüchtlingsjunge Hanzala, ist in den Palästinensischen Gebieten und in den palästinensischen Gemeinden in der Diaspora allgegenwärtig. Das Werk al-'Alis unterliegt somit nicht der prinzipiellen Kurzlebigkeit politischer Kunst. Warum ist dies so? Warum sind diese Karikaturen bis heute so aktuell? Der Kondensationspunkt in al-'Alis Werk ist die Figur des Hanzala. Er trägt eine besondere Eigenschaft: Er ist parteiisch. Er relativiert nicht. Er verkörpert den ›normalen‹ Menschen, der angesichts der realen Verhältnisse und Ereignisse sprach- und einflusslos ist, mit seiner abwartend kommentierenden Haltung, die eine brisante politische Präsenz erzeugt. Hier wird erstmalig eine Arbeit über das Werk Naji al-'Alis ausserhalb des arabischen Sprachraums vorgelegt. Sie stützt sich dabei hauptsächlich auf arabische Originalquellen.

Diese Studie thematisiert die Wechseleffekte zwischen Globalisierung und Regionalisierung im arabischen Raum. Diese Region ist nicht nur aufgrund ihrer kulturellen Vielfalt und geopolitisch bedeutsamen Lage von großer Relevanz. Sie besitzt die reichsten Erdöl- und Gasquellen weltweit, in ihr leben heute mehr als 330 Mio. Menschen und sie verfügt mit einem kollektiven BIP in Höhe von 1,9 Bil. US-$ über ein ansehnliches Wirtschaftspotenzial. Die arabischen Staaten gehören jedoch – mit Ausnahme der reichen Golfstaaten – zu den Ländern mit niedrigem und mittlerem Einkommen, die sich bezüglich Entwicklung und Handel den verschiedensten Hindernissen von „Bad Governance“ und Korruption bis hin zu politischer Instabilität und kriegerischen Konfrontationen gegenübersehen. • Diese kritische Ausgangslage gemeinsam mit dem durch Globalisierung steigenden Wettbewerbsdruck führte Mitte der 1990er Jahre zur Wiederbelebung der Bemühungen um die Gründung einer arabischen Wirtschaftsintegration mit dem Ziel, die regionale Wirtschaftsdynamik einerseits voranzutreiben und der Herausforderung durch die Globalisierung als gemeinsamer „Handelsblock“ effektiver zu begegnen. Die Große Arabische Freihandelszone (GAFTA) wurde im Jahre 2005 ins Leben gerufen. • Vor diesem Hintergrund wird die Frage analysiert, ob sich die arabische Süd-Süd-Integration GAFTA positiv auf die Wirtschaft ihrer Mitgliedsstaaten und den intraregionalen Handel auswirkt und ob sie ein effektives Mittel zur Reduzierung der Risiken und zur Maximierung des Nutzens der Globalisierung für die beteiligten Staaten darstellt. Dabei wird die GAFTA als eine Integrationsform anderen Regionalismusformen, wie z.B. dem Agadir-Abkommen und der Euro-mediterranen Partnerschaft gegenübergestellt. • Grundlage dieser Studie waren umfangreiche Analysen zahlreicher Wirtschafts- und Handelstatistiken sowie Evaluierungen vor Ort in der Arabischen Republik Syrien und in Ägypten, die erst eine vertrauenswürdige Datenbasis ermöglicht haben. Mit

In dieser Arbeit wird widerlegt, dass informelle Penetration einer imperialen Macht zwingend die durchdrungenen Länder in der Peripherie auf Dauer aushöhlt und Strukturen zusammenbrechen lässt. Damit wird auch gegen die Notwendigkeit der imperialen Macht argumentiert, aufgrund vermeintlicher Instabilität einzugreifen und jene Gebiete zu besetzen. Dies wird am Beispiel Ägyptens gezeigt, das nur auf den ersten Blick 1882 von den Briten okkupiert wurde, um eine drohende Anarchie, ausgelöst durch die Bewegung um den Offizier 'Urabi, abzuwenden. Dagegen wird innerhalb dieser Bewegung die Rolle der Delegiertenkammer und der in ihr vertretenen Provinznotabeln untersucht und gezeigt, dass einflussreich gewordene Akteure eine Reform des politischen Systems in Richtung Parlamentarismus und Konstitutionalismus verfolgten.

Seit Zerfall der Sowjetunion durchlaufen die unabhängigen Staaten Zentralasiens vielfältige politische, wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Transformationsprozesse, die sich auf alle Lebensbereiche der Bevölkerung auswirken. Internationale Organisationen der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit nehmen Einfluss auf diese Prozesse, indem sie einerseits lokale Ressourcen zu stärken versuchen, andererseits die Implementierung internationaler Normen und die Öffnung auf den globalen Markt fördern wollen. Am Beispiel von Kunsthandwerkern und ihren Produkten lässt sich zeigen, wie solche Projekte der Entwicklungshilfe im Spannungsfeld zwischen Schutz des kulturellen Erbes und Anpassung an globale Strukturen aussehen können. Vor dem Hintergrund einer chronologisch angelegten Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte seit der russischen Eroberung im 19. Jh. analysiert die Autorin die Entwicklung einzelner Kunsthandwerkssparten bis heute. Es wird dabei untersucht, inwieweit zeitgenössische Projekte der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit im Bereich Kunsthandwerk ihren Zielen gerecht werden und welche Folgen sich daraus für die Kunsthandwerker und ihre Produkte ergeben. Anhand von Fallstudien aus Usbekistan und Kirgistan zeigt sich, dass gleiche Ansätze von Entwicklungsprojekten sehr unterschiedliche Ergebnisse hervorbringen können. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche verschiedenen, aktuellen und historisch bedingten, wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Voraussetzungen der Kunsthandwerker für diesen Befund verantwortlich sein können.

'Fifty years of struggle and determination along with steadfastness in his beliefs. Through this book one relives the experience of Fawzi Habashi – tear by tear, and whip by whip. One feels and relives the pain, anguish, smiles, laughter, and the sorrow…' Ahmad Ismail in El-Ahaly (opposition) Newspaper, Egypt • 'The book […] is an account of the trials and tribulations of Engineer Fawzi Habashi who spent a good part of his life within a number of different prisons across Egypt.' Magda El-Guindy in Al-Ahram (state owned) Newspaper, Egypt • 'They summoned Fawzi and ordered him to confess as to the names of the greater party leadership within the prison camp. He was barbarically tortured, and towards the end of this intensive torture session he took off his watch along with his wedding ring and handed it to the prison administration officers so that they could send it to his wife in prison. This was Fawzi’s way of indicating that he was willing to die before confessing. This was a clear and simple sign to the officers who were torturing him that they would not be able to extract any information from him.' Fakhri Labib, activist and co-inmate, writer and translater

Der ungelöste Konflikt um Berg-Karabach prägt die Historiographie in der jungen Republik Aserbaidschan. Schulbücher und andere öffentliche Dokumente entwerfen eine nationale Identität aus einem dichotomen Freund-Feind-Schema: Auf der einen Seite befindet sich das in Großteilen positiv besetzte Eigenbild, dem auf der anderen Seite das überwiegend negativ bewertete Fremdbild entgegengesetzt wird. In Staaten, in denen ungelöste Konflikte bestehen, wird dieses Fremdbild häufig auf den Konfliktgegner projiziert. Über Lehrmaterialien werden derart konstruierte Feindbilder in die Folgegenerationen übertragen und erschweren so dauerhaft friedliche Lösungen. Zwar schweigen zwischen Aserbaidschan und Armenien nun seit mehr als anderthalb Jahrzehnten die Waffen, dennoch ist der Konflikt zwischen den beiden Nachbarn weiterhin virulent und vor allem in beiden Gesellschaften höchst präsent: Die Betonung des kriegsgeleiteten Feindbilds führt zu einer andauernden Mobilisierung im Volk, selbst in Altersschichten, die den Krieg als solchen nicht mehr erlebt haben. In einer Close-Reading-Analyse des aserbaidschanischen Geschichtsschulbuchs 'Ata Yurdu' (dt. Vaterland/Heimat) geht Sara Winter dem aserbaidschanischen Eigen- und Fremdbild und dessen Implikationen auf den Grund. Ihre Analyse liefert erstes wissenschaftliches Basismaterial und dient als Anstoß zur weiteren Aufarbeitung und Dekonstruktion konfliktfördernder Feindbilder.

Im Jahre 2002 gewann in der Türkei mit der AKP (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, Gerechtigkeits- und Entwicklungspartei) eine Partei die Parlamentswahlen, die erst ein Jahr zuvor gegründet worden war. Von ihren Anhängern und großen Teilen der westlichen Presse wurde sie als Trägerin des demokratischen Aufbruchs und Garantin des Siegs des Volkes über politische Eliten gefeiert. Andere Stimmen hingegen sahen die AKP als Protagonistin der Islamisierung des Landes und der Einführung der shari‘a. • Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt sich die Aufgabe, die AKP von ihrer Selbstbeschreibung ausgehend zu untersuchen. Hierfür wurden grundlegende Texte zu ihrem politischen Konzept Muhafazakar Demokrasi (Konservative Demokratie) aus dem Türkischen übersetzt und analysiert. Dabei wird der Frage nachgegangen, wo ›Konservative Demokratie‹ im türkischen bzw. internationalen Konservatismusdiskurs verortet werden kann bzw. wie zutreffend diese Selbstbezeichnung ist. • In einem zweiten Schritt wird die Umsetzung ›Konservativer Demokratie‹ in die Regierungspraxis anhand der Beispiele Menschenrechte, religiöse und ethnische Minderheiten, Gender und Demokratisierung beleuchtet. Es wird geklärt, welche externen und internen Faktoren zu Problemen bei der Umsetzung führten. • Um dem Vorwurf der Islamisierung der Türkei durch die AKP nachzugehen, werden die gemeinsame Geschichte der AKP mit den islamistischen Milli Görüs-Parteien betrachtet sowie die von ihr verfolgte Religionspolitik und ihre Vorstellungen über das Verhältnis von Staat und Religion detailliert untersucht. Populäre Zuschreibungen wie 'die AKP als Modell für die islamische Welt' oder 'die AKP als türkische Christdemokraten' werden kritisch auf ihren prospektiven Gehalt hinterfragt.