SAI Colloquium “Breaking Frames, Building Bridges”

In an upcoming SAI colloquium Prof. Anna Kollatz will explore how historical narratives from the Islamic world engage with the concept of dis-order as a deliberate and powerful storytelling device and how this can be applied in research. With a background in Middle East Studies and a research focus spanning from the Mamluk Sultanate to 20th-century Egyptian caricature magazines, Kollatz will examine how breaking narrative frames can reveal deeper insights into ethnically and religiously diverse societies.

Her talk will challenge traditional notions of stability in historiography, asking if disorder itself can serve as a unifying lens for comparative studies between (Islamicate) South Asia and the Middle East. Kollatz joined Heidelberg University at the Department of Islamic Studies in 2022 and we are excited to have her as an associated professor at the South Asia Institute starting this year. 

The event will take place on Thursday, 12.06.2025, 18:00 CET in the HCTS building, Room 212