Wiesbeck, Tilman

During my undergraduate studies, I focused on Jewish and Muslim oral traditions (i.e. rabbinic literature and ḥadīṯ) as well as on non-canonical Jewish and Muslim texts that date back to the 7th through 10th centuries. Thanks to professorial guidance, I also developed an interest in reformative aspects of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement and its adherents’ motivations for researching Judeo-Arabic literature.

In the course of my graduate studies, and also on account of my time as an exchange student at Tel Aviv University, my interests expanded to include modern times as well. While still working with predominantly medieval Judeo-Arabic manuscripts, I am now also studying modern Jewish-Arabic literature, writings of diaspora communities and their relationship to host- and homeland, and (self-)perceptions of Arab Jews (Mizraḥīm) in Israel – all of these as expressions of cultural junctures. Conceptually, I am interested in how colonialism and orientalism affect our fields of study and societies in the present.

With my acquired understanding for cultures, I intend to work as a journalist and counter simplified societal conceptions, othering, and framing in contemporary (German) media. I would thereby hope to contribute to acknowledging and increasing cultural space for the pluralistic and diverse society I see in Germany today.

Areas of Interest

Arabic-speaking Jews, (post)colonialism, Orientalism, transnationalism, media science

Historical Periods of Interest

6th through 10th centuries, 19th through 21th centuries

Positions

Education