Within the first 18 months of the project, we accomplished several objectives in our dissemination plan, these include: The design and launch of the APCG website ( www.apcairogenizah.com); Creating a social media presence; Establishing a research page on the Trinity College Dublin website (www.tcd.ie/nmes/research/apcg); and a mailing list.
In the second 18 months of the project, Over 250 poetry fragments have been meticulously identified, categorized, and thoughtfully organized into four main Working Packages. The research outputs have been widely disseminated through various channels, including publications, presentations at national and international conferences/workshops, and engaging invited talks. A dynamic seminar series has been initiated to continually promote project-relevant research, hosting two informative public seminars. Additionally, the project has facilitated a productive Seed workshop on July 15, 2022, and a stimulating international conference on June 19-20, 2023. APCG also achieved numerous milestones as part of our comprehensive dissemination plan. Notably, we successfully organized three exhibitions in prominent locations: Dundee, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. Additionally, we made our events accessible to a wider audience through live streams. To expand our outreach further, we launched the APCG podcast in both Arabic and English languages.
In October 2023, Ahmed Sheir and Muhammad Imran Khan submitted a proposal for a special issue focusing on the social and cultural aspects of Arabic poetry from the Cairo Genizah. The proposal was accepted, and the special issue was published online under the title “Entangled Histories and Cultures: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Premodern Mediterranean through Literary and Folk Sources”, in the journal Entangled Religions Vol. 15 No. 3. Several articles from this issue were published in an open-access journal.
In December 2024, almost all poetry fragments planned for the project have been translated into English, and a book proposal for an edited volume is being prepared for submission to Brill. The plan includes publishing the Arabic poetry fragments in a critical edition volume, co-authored by the Principal Investigator (PI) and the project’s senior researcher, Prof. Ben Outhwaite.
In collaboration with Ahmed Sheir, the PI has signed a contract with the journal Ostour for Historical Studies, Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Doha Institute, Qatar, to serve as guest editors for a special issue, titled: “Between the Marginalized of History and the Forgotten of Literature in the Arabic Fragments of the Cairo Genizah”. This issue will focus on the Cairo Genizah, with particular emphasis on the Arabic poetry found within it, exploring its literary, historical, and folklore dimensions. The planned publication date is set for the first half of 2026.
Additionally, the PI and Sally Abed have proposed a special issue featuring papers from the August 2024 conference, Anthropology of Texts: Crossroads and Connections in Medieval and Early Modern Societies and Cultures, highlighting anthropological aspects in Arabic poetry fragments.
In the past 18 months, major dissemination milestones included exhibitions in Madrid (Sept 2023–March 2024), Washington, D.C. (Nov 4–6, 2023), and Dublin (Aug 1–2, 2024), alongside continued podcast episodes and social media updates.
