Theme 1 - Arabic Literature, Translation & Translation Theory

Contributors: Claude Audebert, Mohamed Bakhouch, Annamaria Bianco, Stéphane Cermakian, Richard Jacquemond, Pierre Larcher, Homa Lessan-Pezechki
PhD students: Chakib Ararou, Nedjma Atoui, Mohammad Mostafa
Associate Researchers: Maxime Adel, Rosa Pennisi

This research in this field covers classical Arabic literature (principally ancient poetry, its textual and anthropological aspects) as well as oral literature and poetry in the Arab peninsula (as part of the oral poetry research group CEFAS-CEFREPA/IREMAM). It also covers historical literature and chronicles in Farsi from the Seljuk period and early Ottoman history, from a Turkish-Persian comparative history approach.

In Modern Arab literature, the research takes a sociological approach to Arabic literary texts, examining the relationships between literature, politics and society, specifically in the post-2011 context (in partnership with the Center For Near And Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS), University of Marburg), as well as Arab children’s literature and narrative image codes.

Literary translation is paired with research into translation theory, for the field of Ancient Arabic poetry and for the translations and adaptations of this poetry in scholarly and literary Orientalism. This also applies to the circulation of contemporary translations from and into Arabic, as part of the wider context of the sociology of intercultural exchange (in partnership with the King Abdul Aziz Al Saoud Foundation in Casablanca and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha). This in turn is tied to the network of comparative and translation theory researchers working in other linguistic fields in Aix.