Studying History in the Historic Town of Kufa

Initiation of Cooperation

The project ‘Historical Research at the University of Kufa. An in-depth study’ is connected to previous AGYA projects with a focus on Iraq, especially on ‘Historical Research at Iraqi Universities’ led by Bashar Ibrahim and Jenny Oesterle. Both projects in 2018 and 2019 drew attention to the widely unknown scientific landscape of historical research in post-war Iraq. These projects were the first endeavours of AGYA in Iraq, a country with a rich history and well established historical institutes, however, one of the most difficult countries to get acquainted with in the Arab world due to the still volatile post-war situation.

This project will concentrate on historical research conducted by scholars at the University of Kufa. The University of Kufa is one of the largest universities in Iraq with two renowned historical faculties, the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts and the History Department in the Faculty of Women, which belongs to the Faculty of Education. Both faculties conduct undergraduate (BA), graduate (MA) and PhD programs.

The University of Kufa protrudes from other Iraqi Universities because of its clear focus on historical research. Both above mentioned departments teach and research history in a broad perspective in time and space; additionally a renowned Archaeological department is engaged in interdisciplinary projects with the history faculties.

The final step of this project envisions mutual visits of delegations of the University of Kufa and the University of Passau to discuss possible future cooperation.