The Department of Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Ghent University studies the Middle East from various scientific disciplines such as anthropology, history, religious studies, philology, linguistics and literature. The modern term ‘the Middle East’ refers to a crucial region where Europe, Asia and Africa have come into contact with each other in many creative ways for centuries. From the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabic and Islam became increasingly prominent in this region, without losing local diversity. Today, what happens in this region remains of global importance.
Our department places the languages, cultures and societies of the Middle East at the heart of our education, research and services. Current perspectives such as decolonization, intersectionalism, multiperspectivism and the critical questioning of globalization and orientalism are the common thread in our lessons, projects, publications and public events.
History and Development
Since 1958, Ghent University has been conducting research and teaching in Arabic and Islamic Studies, a research domain that focuses on the study of Arabic language and literature and Islamic history, religion and culture. Nationally and internationally renowned Arabists and Islamologists who have been affiliated with Ghent University include professors Armand Abel, Geert Jansens, Marc Plancke and Urbain Vermeulen.
Since the 1980s, this research domain has developed worldwide and, following the development of the humanities and under the influence of critical postmodernism, has diversified and been further integrated into major humanities branches such as linguistics, literature, history, art studies, religious studies, anthropology, political science and law. This evolution of diversification and specialisation has also occurred at Ghent University and continues to do so.
Since the 2010s, a new wind has been blowing through our department, both in the field of research and education. The more explicit orientation towards the Middle East (Mashreq) as a starting point for education, research and services is a central element in this renewal.
Education and Curriculum
In language education, we follow the principles of foreign language education. From the very first lesson, attention is paid to the different language variants that are taught within their specific skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking). For example, the Egyptian Arabic lessons (al-ʿāmīya al-maṣrīya) focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, and the Media Arabic lessons focus primarily on writing, reading and listening skills. We strive for an integrated approach to language acquisition and education in relevant human and social sciences, and also for a curriculum that starts from decolonized perspectives. An important decolonizing spearhead in our language education is our Arabic language structures curriculum, which starts entirely from Arabic grammatical knowledge traditions and is a pioneer in ending the widespread practice of using European language structures as the norm. Similar approaches characterize the other parts of our curriculum, strongly fueled by our internationally oriented research.
Research and Collaboration
Our department consists of a number of permanent professors and language teachers, as well as several postdoctoral and doctoral researchers. Individual and joint research projects receive financial support from the university research fund, the Research Foundation – Flanders, and the European Research Council. We collaborate with colleagues from the History Department, the Gender and Diversity program, and the MENARG research group of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. There are also strong institutional ties with the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) and its network of Dutch and Flemish higher education and research institutions. This enables us to safeguard the international quality of our research and education. More information about our research projects and research priorities can be found on the research page .