Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MOBILESITES (Mobilizing Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem: Representations of the Islamic Holy Sites in the Ottoman Empire) Reporting period: 2021-08-23 to 2023-08-22 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project MOBILESITES is a three-year ‘mobility’ project that consists of an outgoing phase at the University of Michigan (U-M), a secondment at the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin, and an incoming phase at the Universität Hamburg (UHAM). It not only encompasses my first book’s preparations, research, and writing, but also working on other publications, teaching with digital tools, gaining curatorial experience, and improving linguistic skills. My publications, talks, and curatorial work concerning ‘Mobilising Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem: Representations of the Islamic Holy Sites in the Ottoman Empire’ aims to widen the textual and visual horizons of these sacred cities by scrutinizing the contents, forms, uses, and mobilization of religious imagery. They have the potential to spark a discussion about the migration of written and pictorial depictions across different regions, periods, and media, while suggesting an alternative way of thinking about spatial and temporal connectedness within the Islamic world. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far Since August 2021, I worked on my book proposal and the book itself preliminarily titled ‘The House of God and the Tomb of the Prophet: Images of Mecca and Medina in the Ottoman Empire (16th–19th Century).’ I signed an advance book contract with a US university press before the end of my outgoing phase. Furthermore, I co-authored a book chapter for an edited volume on early modern Mecca and Medina images. This volume is currently under peer-review. For these publications, I conducted research in libraries and collections in Ann Arbor, London, Berlin, and Istanbul and acquired digital images. I have also been co-editing a volume based on papers presented at a conference that I co-organized in Vienna in November 2021 (Expanding of Islamic Art Historiography: the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair). This edited book will go under peer-review at a press soon. These past two years, I made progress on my book project and other publications thanks to collaborations with colleagues and the support of my Michigan and Hamburg supervisors. During Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 terms, while at U-M, I taught the course ‘Visual Cultures of Islam’ as a part of the Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum (DISC), a course sharing program between Big Ten universities. I taught the course in-person for U-M students in Ann Arbor, while the University of Maryland students virtually followed the lectures in their classroom in College Park. Engaging with a multi-cultural student body from various disciplines and using digital tools, this course improved my teaching skills and also increased my knowledge about scholarship on Islamic art and architecture. In Winter and Summer of 2023, I co-worked with a curator on the display, objects labels, introductory texts, and video scripts for a future gallery of the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin. The museum will be closing for renovations in October 2023 and will reopen in a few years and this small gallery that I co-curated will be open to the public in a few years. Throughout the outgoing phase, I delivered five different talks for various academic and non-academic audiences. Both the curatorial work and talks aim to convert my research into displays and contents that are accessible to a larger public.From February 2022 to May 2023, I took Arabic grammar and reading courses to enhance my research and linguistic skills. Furthermore, with three colleagues, I have been co-organizing a second workshop on the popular Islamic prayer book Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt, which will take place in New York City in March 2024. We held the first workshop on the same topic in May 2019 and co-edited a special edition of the Journal of Islamic Manuscripts (2021, vol. 12) with selected papers from this workshop. This time, we are planning to publish the papers from the second workshop in a book format. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) By August 2024, my manuscript will be almost complete, and I will have acquired most copyright permissions for its included figures. This book has the potential to cross over and appeal to both academic and general audiences, as Islamic holy sites, their historical depictions, and their contemporary states still play a major role in art, religion, politics, and faith-based tourism in the Muslim world today. During my incoming phase, I am planning to deliver two more public lectures (one in Germany and one in Turkey), discussing the new findings of my book project. In September 2023, I already presented a paper in Warsaw at the 17th International Congress of Turkish Art, a major academic event that takes place every four years. In Winter 2023/24 term, I will teach a course entitled ‘Painting in the Ottoman Empire’ at UHAM. This course targets students from the Department of History and Culture of the Middle East; however, it also has the potential to attract students from other departments, such as that of Art History.By the end of my scholarship, I will have finalized my curatorial work on a gallery of the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin, which will ensure that my research findings will be available to a large and diverse public audience. In my remaining year, I will also improve my German linguistic skills, which will add to my professional development and career opportunities.Overall, the MOBILESITES already has—and will continue to have—tangible scholarly and public impact until and beyond August 2024. The scholarly impact of my work includes, but is not limited to, reaching out students and academics by means of three courses, several specialized lectures, a workshop, a conference, a co-edited book, and my own book. The public impact consists of lectures tailored for a general audience, curatorial work that will reach museum visitors, a co-authored open access book chapter, other online content that is freely accessible, and my own book that will also appeal to non-professionals. Seals, seal impressions, and paintings of the holy mosques in Mecca and Medina
