Congratulations to our Munich Research Centre member Dr. Sophia Dege-Müller on receiving an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council!
Sophia, an expert on Ethiopian manuscript cultures, has been awarded €2.5 million for a five-year research project dedicated to the religious manuscript heritage of Beta Israel, the Ethiopian Jewish community. The project will locate, catalogue, and study manuscripts that are today dispersed across libraries, synagogues, and private collections around the world.
The project will explore a broader question that reaches beyond the history of Beta Israel: what defines a religious manuscript, and how can its religious meaning and affiliation change over time? Some of the manuscripts under study passed between Jewish and Christian owners or were produced across religious boundaries, offering important insights into the historically close interactions between Jewish and Christian communities in Ethiopia.
A central aspect of the project is collaboration with members of the Beta Israel community and with speakers of the languages represented in the manuscripts. The research will therefore not only contribute to the study of Ethiopian Jewish history and manuscript cultures, but also to the preservation and renewed exploration of a cultural heritage that remains significantly understudied.
We warmly congratulate Sophia on this remarkable achievement and wish her and her team every success with this exciting project!
