An Arabist by training (with an MA in Arabic Studies with minors in religious studies and political science, and an MA in Conference Interpreting (Arabic, German)), I am now pursuing my PhD in the field of the history and culture of the Near and Middle East, focusing specifically on Jewish-Arabic cultures.
While I enjoy listening to Arabic broadcasting and following the news about current events in the Arabic-speaking world, what fascinates me most as a researcher is to “hear” voices from the past by reading texts in manuscript form which are at the same time centuries removed from our modern experience but are nonetheless quite immediate in their materiality and serve as direct witnesses of a world that is otherwise long gone.
There is so much out there that is fascinating and deserves our attention, but like everyone else in academia, at one point I had to decide what to concentrate on. Given my interest in “distant worlds” and my background in religious studies, I chose Qaraite history and the field of medieval Qaraite Bible exegesis as my primary research focus.
In the framework of the project “Independence and Diversity: Unknown Karaite Commentaries in Judeo-Arabic from the Early Classical Age”, I am working on the commentary on the book of Genesis by Sahl ben Maṣliaḥ (fl. 10th century in Jerusalem). I am preparing an edition of the text, with a translation into English. Furthermore, building on my edition and translation, I will provide an analysis of several aspects of the text (structure, translation technique, (theological) topics discussed, etc.). In this way, I will present a relatively unknown Qaraite commentator to the wider scholarly public and enhance our understanding of exegetical diversity among Qaraites of his time.
friederike.schmidt@lmu.de lmu-munich.academia.edu/FriederikeSchmidt
Areas of Interest
Judeo-Arabic literature, Qaraite history, Qaraite Bible exegesis, Cairo Genizah, Jewish communities in the Levant, Iraq, and Yemen (19th and 20th centuries), Arabic dialects, intercommunal relations, manuscript studies
Historical Periods of Interest
9th through 14th centuries (main focus); 19th and 20th centuries
Positions
2021
Tutor for Judeo-Arabic, the Oxford School for Rare Jewish Languages, UK
2021
Tutor, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg (Introduction to Judeo-Arabic)
2019
Research Associate, DFG-funded project “Independence and Diversity: Unknown Karaite Bible Commentaries in Judeo-Arabic from the Early Classical Age”, Institute of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich
2018 – 2019
Research Assistant, project “Bibliotheca Arabica – Towards a New History of Arabic Literature”, Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Leipzig
2015 – 2019
Teacher of Modern Standard Arabic, Language Institute at the University of Leipzig
2014 – 2015
Research Associate, SFB 950 Manuscript Cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe, Hamburg
2011 – 2016
Research Assistant at the University of Leipzig (various positions, mainly at the Oriental Institute for projects related to Islamic manuscripts)
Education
2019
PhD Candidate, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich (working thesis title: “The Commentary on Genesis by the Karaite Sahl ben Maṣliaḥ (10th c.)”; supervisor: Ronny Vollandt)
2019
MA in Conference Interpreting (German, Arabic), University of Leipzig
2013
MA in Arabic Studies and Oriental Philology, Religious Studies, and Political Science, University of Leipzig
