Call for Papers

Der Islam: Journal of the History and Culture of the Middle East

About one hundred years ago, Carl Heinrich Becker authored his programmatic editorial for the newly founded Journal Der Islam – “Der Islam als Problem.”  This inaugural text was an important step toward the creation of modern Islamwissenschaft, signalling a new way of studying Islam and its civilization.

Becker understood “Islam” as a term denoting the history, culture, and civilization of the societies of the Islamic Empire and all its successor states until the present.  Islam, he argued, in one way or another had put its imprint on the cultures, ethnics, and different religious belief systems of the societies it had come to rule. It was to be seen as the equivalent of the terms “Hellenistic” or “Roman” in the study of antiquity. This secular understanding of Islamwissenschaft had deep roots in nineteenth-century Western scholarship of the Middle East in its Enlightenment-inspired dissociation from the near-exclusive focus on Middle Eastern languages and texts as practised by Christian theologians.

In some ways, the events of 9/11 and their aftermath have caused the meaning of “Islam” to shift back to a much narrower definition, at least in the public discourse, involving the religion and theology and, even more so, its political expression. Yet in its new incarnation, starting with the 2012 issue Der Islam maintains its name as conceived by its founder. It also represents continuity by wanting to be a forum for discussion about the history, culture, sociology and civilisation of the societies dominated, influenced and inflected by Islamic empires, from the seventh century to advent of the “modern” world in the nineteenth century. Its geography range runs from the Iberian peninsula to the Indian subcontinent, from the Ukrainian steppes to the highlands of Yemen. In keeping with its multi- and interdisciplinary tradition, Der Islam seeks to transcend disciplines and to bring together contributions which blend fields such as history, art history, archaeology, philology, cultural studies, art, papyrology, archival studies, and numismatics, so as to pave the way for a renewed understanding of Islam-inflected societies. We welcome question-driven studies that combine various methodologies and that have implications for one or more fields of study.

With a new editorial board, consisting of Stefan Heidemann (Universität Hamburg, editor in chief), Gottfried Hagen (University of Michigan), Andreas Kaplony (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich) and Rudi Matthee (University of Delaware), a multidisciplinary approach to history and culture of the Middle East is assured.


Guidelines for Contributors

(http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/islm.2010.87.issue-1-2/issue-files/islm.2010.87.issue-1-2.xml)

Der Islam is a semiannual journal published by De Gruyter, Berlin. It is devoted to the study of the history and culture of the Middle East to the advent of the ‘modern’ world using a wide range of sources and methods to explore its political, economic, social, cultural developments. All article submissions are subject to a peer assessment by international authorities. The editors welcome contributions in English, but also in German and French. A fast publication can be assured.

The journal is published in print and online (hosted by De Gruyter). The print content of the journal includes the following:
-Scholarly articles of up to 8,000 words including footnotes; each article should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 150 words. The system of transliterations follows IJMES in English texts, that of the DMG in German and French texts.
-Review articles of up to 8,000 words
-Book, catalogue, and exhibition reviews of up to 2,500 words
Longer texts will also be considered, although the longer format must be justified and longer pieces may experience more delay in being considered and published in the journal.

Direct submission inquiries to:

Der Islam 

Universität Hamburg, Asien Afrika Institut

Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Ost

 D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
T +49 40 42838 3180 or 3181
T +1 347 537 2535
F +49 40 42838 5674

Editorial Board

Stefan Heidemann, Editor in Chief, Universität Hamburg, stefan.heidemann [at] uni-hamburg.de
Gottfried Hagen, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, ghagen [at] umich.edu
Andreas Kaplony, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, andreas.kaplony [at] lmu.de
Rudi Matthee, University of Delaware, Newark, matthee [at] udel.edu