This annual exploratory and informal workshop offers the opportunity to reflect on methodologies, case studies, and research agendas for investigating history writing in Arabic in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond in any period from the seventh century to the present.
Join us for two days of papers addressing fundamental questions such as ‘Who does history represent, how, and why?’ ‘In what ways do educational institutions, museums, media organisations and proponents of heritage use history writing to shape loyalties and senses of belonging in society?’ ‘When and how did pre-modern and modern historians writing in Arabic conceptualise the history of Palestine as a distinct geographical and political unit?’ ‘How can works of fiction contribute to our understanding of the past as it was actually experienced in earlier times?’ and many more topics.
Please register to join us in person at the Aga Khan Centre in London. The workshop runs 9–10 October 2025.
Download finalised Arabic Pasts Schedule.
Organisers
Arabic Pasts is co-organised by Sarah Bowen Savant (AKU-ISMC), Lorenz Nigst (AKU-ISMC), Anna Chrysostomides (Queen Mary University of London), Yossi Rapoport (Queen Mary University of London), Hugh Kennedy (SOAS).
Workshop on Digital Methods
On 8 October 2025, the day before Arabic Pasts, faculty members of the Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) at AKU-ISMC will offer a workshop on digital methods. If you wish to participate in this workshop, please register here on a first come, first served basis. Only the short listed candidates will be contacted for the workshop on Digital Methods.
Please note that you can still attend the Arabic Pasts workshop, regardless of your selection for the workshop on Digital Methods.
Image Credit
Muḥammad Amīn al-Suwaydī, Silk al-dhahab fī maʿrifat qabāʾil al-ʿArab, BnF Arabe 6199, 33v (part)
