Gender in Manuscript Cultures Lecture: Britta Frede

Why should we be interested in women's contribution to Islamic scholarly culture?

Dr Britta Frede (University of Bayreuth), Guest Professor for Gender in Manuscript Cultures

Islamic manuscript culture and scholarly culture have a long and ambiguous history. First, the question of what texts are supposed to be written down and second, who shall access the written texts, have been subject to negotiation. However, technological innovations, like script and later print, were accepted for most sorts of texts at different times. Nevertheless, for writing scholarly texts, manuscripts and scholarly culture are domains that have intertwined intricately since then. This lecture will direct the reader's attention to the Western Sahara region, focusing on the contributions of female authors and educators to Islamic knowledge production. The focus is on didactic texts and devotional literature as the primary genres of the scattered sources about women scholars. When measured quantitatively, their contribution is marginal. Nevertheless, the research presented is meant to complement the documentation of male activities and better understand the legacy of patriarchal hegemonies. First and foremost, the scarce traces of texts written, taught, and/or copied by female scholars invite us to reflect on the archive that local scholarly culture and, to a certain extent, academic research have created for documenting Saharan manuscript culture. This intervention's primary focus is on applying feminist theories to research domains within the humanities and cultural studies, which can facilitate a more nuanced comprehension of power dynamics in our research field. If we study manuscripts, we are amid social hegemonies at work, especially as they have to be considered knowledge work. Engaging with texts written by women and with their absence from archives and reference works raises questions about what we create in academic research and which research paradigms and blind spots are perpetuated, often without deliberate intention.