The Orient-Institut Beirut and the Egyptian Society for Historical Studies are jointly convening a conference entitled “Arab-German Relations in the Mirror of History” in Cairo on November 8-10, 2025. The two institutions invite researchers to contribute to the conference’s theme, topics, and methodologies.
Long before academic specializations crystallized and new disciplines developed in the early twentieth century, historical and archaeological inquiries into relations between “East” and “West” have been foundational for framing interactions between different cultures. German Orientalists and archaeologists have been particularly prominent in this regard.
Our conference, which is being held at the Egyptian Society for Historical Studies in Cairo over two days, addresses the development of the study of issues related to Arab-German relations over time, with a focus on how research models, methods and approaches have changed. A prominent example of this development is how the study of the Crusades has changed in German and Arab discourse? We aim to explore the broader historiographical approaches and contemporary interests that shaped the most prominent features of this relationship.
For a long time, invocations of Arab and German pasts assumed a significant cultural gap between them, whether in terms of temporal or moral differences. More recent historical research has highlighted aspects of convergence between Germans and Arabs, identified sources of mutual inspiration, and found evidence of continuous cultural affinities.
From this standpoint, we invite researchers to present research papers on the following broad themes:
- The historical legacies of merchants, spies, scholars, missionaries, students, and translators in shaping and developing relations between Arabic-speaking and German-speaking lands since the Crusades.
- The image of Arab lands in the writings of German travelers, and the image of German lands in the writings of Arab travelers throughout the ages.
- Egyptology, archaeology, and modern historical imagination.
- Ottomans, Arabs and Germany in the Age of Imperialism.
- The Arabo-Islamic heritage in German literature and issues of Orientalism/Occidentalism, nationalism, and Romanticism.
- Germany (East and West) and Palestine (past and present).
Based on the methodologies of “intertwined history”, “comparative history” and related methodological approaches, conference participants are encouraged to think “across” history and “within” history, as we seek to answer a set of theoretical, methodological and conceptual questions together, to reveal how the study of Arab-German relations contributes to our deep understanding of history and its meanings in general. Among the questions that will be addressed are:
- How did the early encounters between Arabic and German speakers shape modern and contemporary relations?
- What political and cognitive divides can be identified in the course of Arab-German relations?
- To what extent are the areas of Arab-German relations (such as culture, politics, and economics) independent or interconnected?
- How did history and historiography influence the development of Arab-German relations, and what types of historical knowledge (or historical ignorance) did these relations produce?
Two keynote speeches will be given: the first on the day before the start of the conference, and the second on the evening of the first day, providing the historical framework on which the case studies that will be addressed during the six conference sessions will be based.
Researchers wishing to participate in the conference are invited to submit a summary of their research paper in no more than five hundred words, in either Arabic or English, accompanied by a brief CV that explains: academic specialization, scientific degree, a list of their published works and research, with a phone number and email address.