Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME) is a multi-disciplinary research program at the Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien. EUME seeks to rethink key concepts and premises that link and divide Europe and the Middle East. Within the framework of several research fields in the disciplines of Literature, Political Philosophy, Urban History, Philology-cum-Late Antiquity, and Islamic Studies, the program attempts to recollect the legacies of Europe in the Middle East and of the Middle East in Europe in an inclusive way that aims to do justice to their entanglements. The program creates a platform that rests upon the idea of “learning communities” (Wolf Lepenies) and the principle of “research with rather than research on”. It allows for the invitation of postdoctoral researchers, the organization of regular seminars, lectures, workshops and summer academies, that strengthen and modify existing research groups and contexts in Germany, beyond academic circles.

The program draws on the international expertise of a growing network of scholars in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university and research institutions in Berlin. EUME was initiated in 2006 by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and builds upon the previous work of the Working Group Modernity and Islam (1996-2006) at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

EUME is directed by a Collegium that currently consists of: Ulrike Freitag (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient), Cilja Harders (spokesperson of the Collegium; Freie Universität Berlin), Kader Konuk (Universität Duisburg-Essen), Nora Lafi (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient), Rashid Ouaissa (Philipps-Universität Marburg), Friederike Pannewick (Philipps-Universität Marburg), Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva), Samah Selim (Rutgers University), and Stefan Weber (Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin).

Contact:
Georges Khalil
Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME)
c/o Forum Transregionale Studien
Wallotstrasse 14
D-14193 Berlin
+49 (0) 30 / 89 001 427
eume(at)trafo-berlin.de