Contributors: M. Assam, S. Chaker, M.-L. Gélard, A. Giuffrida, C. Hincker, I. Sfaxi.

PhD students: Hamid Annouz, Walid Ghali, Ramdane Touati.

Spread out across a vast and diverse territory, splintered in both geographic and geopolitical terms, the Berber world is distinctive in that it is traversed by diverse and multiple dynamics. A multidisciplinary approach must be adopted for this rapidly reshaping and ever-moving object of study. The Berber Studies section is based around two principal sites of exchange:

• The Berber Encyclopaedia: A multidisciplinary publication that receives the active collaboration of all Aix researchers working on Berber studies, the Berber Encyclopaedia is a space for mutual exchange and exploration, bringing together a broad, international network of collaborators (37 volumes published since 1984, 3 forthcoming).

• The Research Seminar “Amazighs - Tamazight/Berber(s) (Mediterranean – Sahara – Sahel – Emigrations) Interdisciplinary Research” gives central importance to sociolinguistic questions, and attracts many PhD students and Berber studies researchers from Algeria (Universities of Tizi-Ouzou, Bejaia, Bouira, CNRPAH) and Morocco (IRCAM, University of Agadir) as well as advanced students from Aix-Marseille University and other French and European universities.

Around these two exchange sites, several more specialized projects have developed: exploiting and promoting the Arsène Roux Berber archive (with IRCAM and the INALCO); exploiting and promoting Marceau Gast’s photographic archive (Sahara-North Africa); developing The Berber Encyclopaedia website (OpenEditions Journals.org, formerly Revues.org); the Program “Berber Speech: Isolated, Endangered and/or Under-Documented”; and translating reference, scientific, literary and historical documents to and from Tamazight. Through annual multidisciplinary workshops, the section also works closely with the Berber studies team at the INALCO (LACNAD, EA 4092), as well as Berber studies researchers at the University of Naples (L’Orientale), Leiden, Cádiz, Rabat (IRCAM), Agadir, Algiers, Tizi-Ouzou, Béjaïa, Bouira, Batna, Prague, and Gerona. More...

Contributors: C. Audebert, C. Gaubert, M. Giolfo, P. Larcher, H. Lessan Pezechki, C. Miller, C. Pinon, M. Sartori, V. Serreli (Univ. Bayreuth).

PhD Students 2017-2018 : Farah Hawa Abdillahi, Laalikhan Ali Mahmoud, Jacopo Falchetta, Célia Hassani, Sara Khajavi, Saïda Larej, Abdellatif Taif.

Research in descriptive and typological linguistics centers around recent evolutions in syntax and vocabulary, applied to Arabic, Arabic didactics, and Persian. One of its aims is to take these evolutions into account when compiling linguistic grammars of these languages for teaching purposes, in order to bridge the gap between conventional grammatical explanations and the reality of contemporary written use. This research focusses on the evolution of written modern Arabic, in collaboration with researchers at University Paris 3, the University of Cádiz, the University of Oslo, etc. Another dimension of this research is the critical reading of ancient grammars, taking the approach of a history of representations of the Arabic language and of the formation of knowledge pertaining to it. Research is also dedicated to building an online Egyptian Arabic contextual dictionary, which currently includes 8 letters and 2886 entries.

In sociolinguistics and dialectology, research principally centers around the contact between languages/dialects in an urban context, examining the interaction between social change and the evolving practices and representations of language: be it in daily practices, the media, cultural and artistic scenes, youth speech in the Maghreb and the Middle-East, in Egypt and in Sudan. This research also participates in an international partnership with Lacnad (INALCO), the University of Cádiz, the University of Saragossa, and the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Vienna. Specific emphasis is given to artistic productions and to the process of vernacularisation and writing of Arabic vernaculars. More...

Contributors: P. Cassuto, Saba Farès, F. Imbert, P. Larcher, R. Mugnaioni.

PhD Students 2017-2018 : Camille Guérin, Amandine Idasiak, Anna Lagaron, Ludwig Ruault.

Associate researcher: Martina Massullo.

The research carried out in the field of Semitology deals with the study of Ancient and Modern Semitic languages and their socio-cultural context. For Ancient languages, specific focus is given to the comparative linguistics of these languages and their writing systems. This is an opportunity to revisit Semitic language classification, thanks to recent discoveries, and to question some of the analytical criteria used in linguistics, such as roots and cases. As for modern languages, research in this field centers around the sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects of Bible translations. This research is also carried out as part of projects in collaboration with the INALCO (HAAH project: Hebrew Arabic-Arabic Hebrew) and EA ALITHILA (Literary Analysis and the History of Language) at University of Lille 3.

In Arabic Epigraphy, the research is conducted alongside archaeology fieldwork that has led to some important discoveries, particularly in Saudi Arabia and in Jordan. This includes Graffitology (analysis of the corpus of Arabic graffiti, not only from a linguistic and paleographic standpoint, but also in terms of historical and religious anthropology), Paleography (the study of the appearance and development of diacritic symbols in Ancient Kufic Arabic and their use in late Ayyubid and Mamluk texts), monumental and funerary Epigraphy, and Onomastics. More...

Contributors: Mohamed Ali Abdel-Jalil, C. Audebert, M. Bakhouch, M. Chèvre, R. Jacquemond, P. Larcher, H. Lessan-Pezechki, Fatima Al Zawiya Al Baydani.

PhD students 2017-2018: Nedjma Atoui, Eylaf Bader Eddin, Enrichetta Battista, Fella Bendjilali, Iman Bouoiyour, Simon Dubois, Neda Sharifi, Michele Scala, Zeynab Sadeghi, Neila Thouaibia.

Post-doctoral fellow 2017-2019: Sbeih Sbeih

This research in this field covers classical Arabic literature (principally ancient poetry, its textual and anthropological aspects) as well as oral literature and poetry in the Arab peninsula (as part of the oral poetry research group CEFAS/IREMAM). It also covers historical literature and chronicles in Farsi from the Seljuk period and early Ottoman history, from a Turkish-Persian comparative history approach.

In Modern Arab literature, the research takes a sociological approach to Arabic literary texts, examining the relationships between literature, politics and society, specifically in the post-2011 context (in partnership with the Center For Near And Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS), University of Marburg), as well as Arab children’s literature and narrative image codes.

Literary translation is paired with research into translation theory, for the field of Ancient Arabic poetry and for the translations and adaptations of this poetry in scholarly and literary Orientalism. This also applies to the circulation of contemporary translations from and into Arabic, as part of the wider context of the sociology of intercultural exchange (in partnership with the King Abdul Aziz Al Saoud Foundation in Casablanca and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha). This in turn is tied to the network of comparative and translation theory researchers working in other linguistic fields in Aix. More...

Contributors: Michel Balivet, Homa Lessan-Pezechki, Camille Rhoné-Quer.

Using comparative Turkish and Ottoman history, the research in this theme is based on the collaboration between historians and linguists, and aims chiefly to compile an anthology of previously unpublished Persian-language chronicles from the Seljuk period and early Ottoman history.
Having recently brought out a first publication on a Persian chronicle of the history of the Seljuks of Turkey : (Les Turcs Seldjoukides d’Anatolie XIe-XIVe siècle, Michel Balivet, Homa Lessan Pezechki & René Mounier, Vol. 1 Les sources persanes Ibn Bîbî, PUP-IREMAM, Le temps de l’histoire, 2016, 486 p.), the authors are preparing the publication of a second and third volume, as well as extracts of the translation of Idris de Bitlis’ unpublished Ottoman chronicles. As a mid-term goal, the entirety of this chronicle is set to be published; made up of about one thousand folios, it is an essential Ottoman history source, from Osman to Suleiman the Magnificent, which until now has only existed in manuscript form.

This comparative history research has served as the basis for a seminar : “Historical Anthropology : Medieval Anatolia, Iran & Central Asia". More...

Contributors: Eric Chaumont (CR/HDR), Denis Gril (Emeritus), Myriam Laakili (IE), Ahmed Oulddali (ATER), Nadjet Zouggar (MCF).

Associate Researchers: Mohamed Amine Hamidoune, Ruggero Vimercati-Sanseverino.

The research in Islamic studies looks at the doctrines and practices of Islam, from the classical to the contemporary era. In particular, this includes participation in ANR Prophet, a French National Research Agency project (The Presence of the Prophet: Muhammad in the mirror of his community in early modern and modern Islam), critical thought and a comparative approach to anti-philosophical trends in the three monotheisms, and the corpus of the prophetic tradition (hadîth). This work is also tied to research on the sociology of the religious field, and specifically of Islamic practices in France and in Europe.

A monthly seminar is held on the theme “The ḥadīṯ: Corpus, Transmission, Customs and Debates”.

Upcoming activities in cooperation with the Paul Albert-Février Center (CPAF) include a workshop on the theme “Comparing Readings of Ibn Kammûna’s Examination of the Three Faiths (d. 1280)” (Spring 2018) and the preparation of an international colloquium on the theme “Anti-Speculative Tendencies in the Three Monotheisms” (Spring 2019), and a two-day colloquium open to the wider public, with a double theme: “The Words of Islam and the Principal Schools of Muslim Thought” (May/June 2018 at the Mucem). More...

Contributors: Ghislaine Alleaume, Isabelle Grangaud, Brigitte Marino, Michel Tuchscherer.

This theme is a continuation of research that has been conducted for a few years at the Iremam on urban history, inventories after death and ownership. It is based around three programs:

• “Local Belonging in the Mediterranean: Social relations, law, claims”: The activities of this program aim in particular to compile a dictionary of words related to belonging (Isabelle Grangaud).
• “Disposing of Property, Passing on an Inheritance”. It is through the parallel study of two legal instruments, the foundations (waqf) and the wills (wasiyya) that are articulated, for Damascus in the Ottoman era, the researches on the transmission of the patrimonies and their incomes (Brigitte Marino).

“Ottoman and Early Modern Alexandria”: Coordinated since 2001 by the Centre for Alexandrine Studies (CEALex) in collaboration with IREMAM, this program carries out research on the treatment, analysis and sharing of the enormous collection of legal acts, in particular the acts of waqf, compiled up to the present day on the city of Alexandria. More...

This research team brings together historians and specialists in Islamic studies. Their research covers a broad timescale, from the 7th to the 20th century, and a geographic area stretching from the Maghreb to Iran, including the Arabic Peninsula and Turkey.
Working with approaches from social history, cultural history and political history, the historians study a diverse array of themes and fields: religious figures, nationalisms and borders, archival practices and historiographic writings, circulations, teaching and education, law (studied through its sources, practices and applications), urban history and rural history studies, colonial and postcolonial studies. Special attention is given to the analysis of source production (Arabic, Ottoman, Persian and Western), in all their diversity: legal sources, accounts and memoirs, fiction, historiographic and scientific writings, chronicles, institutional and administrative documents, archival collections etc.
The research in Islamic studies looks at the doctrines and practices of Islam, from the classical to the contemporary era. In particular, this includes participation in ANR PROPHET, a French National Research Agency project (The Presence of the Prophet: Muhammad in the mirror of his community in early modern and modern Islam), critical thought and a comparative approach to anti-philosophical trends in the three monotheisms, and the corpus of the prophetic tradition (hadîth). This work is also tied to research on the sociology of the religious field, and specifically of Islamic practices in France and in Europe.
The members of the History and Islamic Studies team are particularly involved in the laboratory’s three cross-disciplinary axes (Educational Policies, Circulations, and Conditions of Knowledge Production), and also in research training for the masters students (Level 1 and Level 2) at the Department of Middle-Eastern Studies and at the Aix-Marseille University History Department. They meet once a month for a presentation of current research.

IREMAM Contributor: Saïd Belguidoum.

Since the early 2000s, the countries of the Maghreb and the Mashrek have seen a new stage in their urban transition. With 70% of the region’s population concentrated in its cities, which have expanded considerably, the urban structure has become increasingly dense, and the hierarchy of urban networks reinforced. Be they national or regional cities, medium or small towns, cities in the process of restructuration, young cities (with planned urbanism), or new cities (with local dynamics), the city of the Arab world comes in many different forms. Steeped in their own contradictions, bubbling with tension, they seek coherence and structure under the joint and contradictory actions of public policy and of different social actors. The societies of the Arab and Muslim worlds face many common challenges, and each have developed their own unique methods for building their urban societies, more or less dependent upon characteristics inherited from their contrasting histories. The ambition of this theme is to explore different fields that might allow us to better comprehend urban dynamics, by privileging themes such as urban restructuring and socio-spatial redistribution, the production and circulation of urban and architectural models, public policies and urban governance issues, practices in public spaces, social groups in the city, local identities and hierarchies of belonging, and forms of urban mobility. More...

IREMAM Contributors: Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, Bernard Botiveau, Vincent Geisser, Myriam Laakili, Françoise Lorcerie, Aude Signoles.

This rapidly-expanding research theme at IREMAM covers several projects and research programs:

• The ethnicization of social relations (ethnicity, secularism and discrimination): This research looks at inclusion policies and processes for populations of immigrant origin from Muslim countries settled in Europe. It questions the prevailing political ideology and public action, as well as the mobilizations and the social and cultural practices of these populations. In particular, studies look at how school education deals with religious and cultural diversity. Conflicts around secularism, struggles against discrimination, and the normalisation of Islam are some of the key subjects under study. In the field of education, ties have been established with SFERE, a federative institutional structure set up by Aix-Marseille University, as well as with the ESPEand the Local Education Authority of Aix-Marseille. The RIED network (International Education and Diversity Network) has offices in France through IREMAM.

• Economic anthropology and religious norms: This theme deals with the study of the tripartite relationship between religious officials, politics and the economy. It brings together research that analyses the normative religious dynamics of “market economies”, where the economy is partly “disincorporated” of its social relations. Taking into account both the economic dimension of religious practices, and the religious dimension of economic practices, provides an opportunity to reappraise the binary model of secularisation that puts the political in opposition with the religious (according to various models of “leaving” or “returning” to religion, post-secularisation, etc.). This theme coordinates and encourages research on the circulation and commercialisation of “faith goods”, both material and immaterial, which are resistant to classical economic analysis, are legally challenging, and do not fit well into an overly restrictive sociological conception of “religious practices”. To this aim, the MHALEC program (funded by the Central Bureau of Worship, French Ministry of the Interior, 2016-2018) works to keep abreast with the economic, legal and socioreligious reality of the halal market in France (and its legal aspects in the European Union).

Islamic humanitarian aid in France, from “NGO” label to the search for an original Muslim approach?: This program, financed by the French Ministry of the Interior’s Central Bureau of Worship, aims to study the emergence of associations and humanitarian NGOs labelled as “Muslim” in the French public space. Between mimetism of a universalist-style humanitarian aid and the search for an alternative Islamic approach, between the need for professionalisation and activist engagement drawing on a co-religious ethos, between forces of change and continuity, what is specific to French Islamic humanitarian aid, and what makes it unique. More...