TransIranIdea – Mīrzā Āqā Khān Kermānī and the Transregional History of the Enlightenment.
Project leader: Roman Seidel
TransIranIdee is a research project on the history of philosophy and ideas of the 19th and 20th centuries (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research). The overarching goal of the project is to correct the “grand narrative of the Enlightenment” through a trans-European perspective. Until today, the Enlightenment as an intellectual phenomenon or as an epoch in the history of ideas is usually presented as the exclusive heritage of Europe or “the West”. At best, non-European developments are assigned an epigonal character. Through the lens of a non-European “micronarrative” provided by detailed studies of the work and impact of the Iranian thinker Mīrzā Āqā Khān Kermānī (1853-1896), the Euro-centric approach to the history of the Enlightenment will be challenged and its transcultural entanglements will be stressed. To this end, Kermānī’s writings will be specifically examined for references to texts, persons, concepts, and discourses in the history of Islamic and European ideas.
Part of the project is the digital processing of these research data in an internal project database. This Website will successively present excerpts from this research data, such as bibliographical entries on Kermānīs Works, biographical entries on Persons he interacted with and information of further studies and ressources on Kermani and make them accessible for further research.
