Toward an Islamic Cultural Archive (ICA): Building a Collaborative Database of Islamic Learning in Africa
DFG, Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, since August 2019
Bayreuth team:
- Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Seeseman
- Prof. Dr. Ulrich Rebstock
- Dr. Franz Kogelmann
- Prof. Dr. Britta Frede
- David Malluche, M.A.
Other members:
- Prof. Dr. Hassan Ndzovu (Moi University, Kenia)
- Dr. Abdourahamane Seck (Université Gaston Berger, Senegal)
- Dr. Mohamed Mraja (Bomet College, Kenia)
- Dr. Fatimatou Abdel Wahhabe (Université Moderne, Mauretanien)
- Dr. Ramzi Ben Amara (Université Sousse, Tunesien)
The aim of this project is to collect data collaboratively about various aspects of "Islamic learning". The collaborative research team is bringing together a broad variety of perspectives reaching from every day Islam and festivities to informal and formalized settings of Islamic education. The team is creating synergies between various research interests by creating a joint cross-lingual database bringing together sources and research data from five African countries: Mauritania, Tunisia, Senegal, Kenya, and Tanzania. The database has been developed together with the digital team of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence as a trilingual working environment that allows entering data with Latin and Arabic script alike. The collection integrates various types of data and connects it beyond language barriers by using a standard data description in each language environment and meanwhile interconnecting it cross-lingual by a multi-layered expandable tagging taxonomy. Read more