History
The department was founded in 1908 as the "Seminar for the History and Culture of the Middle East" and formed part of the Hamburg Colonial Institute. This was integrated into the University of Hamburg, founded in 1919, after World War 1. The first director was the founder of German Islamic Studies, Carl Heinrich Becker.
The initial purpose of the seminar was to prepare merchants and civil servants for service in the Orient by offering courses in language and regional studies. With the integration of the seminar into an academic institution came a widening of the narrow horizon of diplomatic and commercial utility. General historical and philological studies joined contemporary historical research, introduction to language and regional studies.
Until the years after World War II, various academic fields were covered at the seminar under the umbrella term Oriental Studies. These field included Semitic Studies, Jewish Studies and topics related to Turkey. In 1951 the seminar was divided into Iranian Studies, Islamic Studies and Turkish Studies, with a professorship for each field. An additional professorship was established in Islamic Studies for the field of modern history in 1981. In 2009, the academic mid-level position of the Department was transformed into a junior professorship in Islamic Studies.
At the department the different fields were represented by the following persons:
After World War I:
- 1908-1913 Carl Heinrich Becker (1876-1933)
- 1914-1919 Rudolf Tschudi (1884-1960)
- 1919-1925 Helmut Ritter (1892-1971)
- 1920-1952 Arthur Schaade (1883-1952)
- 1920-1923 J. Obermann (1888-1956)
- 1925-1941 Walter Windfuhr (1878-1970)
- 1927-1947 Rudolf Strothmann (1877-1960)
After World War II:
Islamic Studies
- 1948-1980 Bertold Spuler (1911-1990)
- 1980-1999 Albrecht Noth (1937-1999)
- 2001-2008 Lawrence L. Conrad (*1949)
- Since 2011 Stefan Heidemann (*1961)
- Since 2021 Konrad Hirschler (*1971)
- 1981-1984 Werner Ende (1937-2024)
- 1984-2003 Gernot Rotter (1941-2010)
- 2007-2009 Bettina Dennerlein (*1963)
- Since 2010 Thomas Eich (*1973)
- 2009-2014 Katja Niethammer
2016-2020 Serena Tolino (*1983)
Turkish Studies
- 1951-1966 A. v. Gabain
- 1971-1979 B. Flemming
- 1981-2004 P. Kappert
- 2006-2023 R. Motika
- 2009-2017 Y. Köse (Vertr. Motika)
- Since 2024 Barbara Henning
Iranian Studies
- 1946-1949 Olaf Hansen (1902-1969)
- 1951-1968 Wolfgang Lentz (1900-1986)
- 1969/70 Richard Nelson Frye (1920-2014)
- 1969/70 Helmut Humbach (1921-2017)
- 1971-2001 Ronald Erich Emmerick (1937-2001)
- Since 2003 Ludwig Paul (*1963)
- Since 2022 Shervin Farridnejad (*1979)
Assyriology
- Seit 2023 Nicole Brisch (*1968)
Further background information on the history of the Asien-Afrika-Institut can be found here on our homepage as well as at the respective departments of the institute.
Further reading (selection):
- Becker, Johanna E.: Die Gründung des Deutschen Kolonialinstituts in Hamburg. Zur Vorgeschichte der Hamburgischen Universität (Magisterarbeit, Universität Hamburg, 2005).
Becker, Johanna E.: Die Gründung des Deutschen Kolonialinstituts in Hamburg (pdf)
- Paul, Ludwig (Hg.): Vom Kolonialinstitut zum Asien-Afrika-Institut. 100 Jahre Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften in Hamburg (Deutsche Ostasienstudien 2), Gossenberg: Ostasien Verlag, 2008.
Stumpenfeldt, Hans – Paul, Ludwig: "Einführung", in: Paul, Ludwig (Hg.): Vom Kolonialinstitut zum Asien-Afrika-Institut. 100 Jahre Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften in Hamburg, S. 3-12 (pdf)
- Paul, Ludwig, „Zur institutionellen Geschichte der Asien-Afrika-Wissenschaften an der Universität Hamburg“, in: Nicolaysen, R. – Krause, E. – Zimmermann, G.B. (Hgs.): 100 Jahre Universität Hamburg. Band 2: Geisteswissenschaften, Theologie, Psychologie, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2021, S. 406-430
- Eich, Thomas, „Die Wissenschaft, eine Revolution – und der Alltag. Das Jemen-Projekt an der Hamburger Orientalistik in den 1980er Jahren“, ebd., S.489-508.
Link to parent title in the SUB library catalog.
The project "One Foot In The Past - One In The Future: Young Investigators and the Tradition of Middle Eastern Studies in Hamburg" (duration 4/2019-3/2020), led by Serena Tolino, focused on the recent history of Iranian Studies, Islamic Studies, and Turkish Studies in Hamburg. It was awarded the special prize for the 100th anniversary of the University of Hamburg by the Claussen-Simon Foundation in 2018.