19.06.2019 EGYLandscape: New ANR-DFG Funded Project (2019-2023)

The EGYLandscape project explores the landscapes of Egypt during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods (13th-18th centuries).

The EGYLandscape project is a new ANR-DFG-funded research project that explores the landscapes of Egypt during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods (13th-18th centuries). This broad topic includes the study of Mamluk and Ottoman Egypt’s agriculture, land use and tenure, biology (plants and animals), climatology, hydraulic systems, demography, and more! Using archeological, digital, and textual methodologies, EGYLandscape will bring together a team of researchers and scholars from a variety of backgrounds to collaborate on the issues at hand.

The project is coordinated by Nicolas Michel on the French side (Aix-Marseille Université) and Albrecht Fuess on the German side (Philipps-Universität Marburg). With additional team members at twenty-one universities and institutes in six different countries, the project will seek online cooperation through digital fora, discussions, webinars, and working papers as well as by hosting three workshops and a conference. In addition to regularly published working papers, EGYLandscape will produce a mid-project journal issue (2020/21) and a final volume (2022/23).

In the short term, the project will be hosting two panels and a workshop in 2019. Our first panel will be at this year’s Mamluk Studies School in Tokyo, entitled: “Irrigation, Landscapes, and Environment: Towards a History of Mamluk Agriculture.” In September, the EGYLandscape Project will kick-off its first workshop with a project workshop in Marburg. This workshop will give participants a chance to introduce their research projects and plans and get to know the team and our framework. Finally, the project will present a second panel at this year’s MESA annual meeting in New Orleans: “The Egyptian Landscape: New Insights on Agrarian and Rural Trends in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods.”

We’re just getting things off the ground, but like our Facebook page for regular updates and check out our website to learn more. You can also find us on Facebook: @EGYLandscapeProject or on Twitter: @EGYLandscape.