August 2022: MprinT PhD student Raphael Michaeli

Since his first travel to Egypt in 2010, Raphael has been learning Arabic and Muslim History in different contexts and institutions. His MA thesis at the FU Berlin focused on three early Sufi compilations written in Arabic. While comparing stories, narratives, and writing styles, he studied the process of the early Sufi ethos formation as reflected in these works. As part of the MprinT project he will focus the influence of print on Arabic Muslim textual production in East Africa. While comparing manuscript textual tradition and early prints, the aim is to study the process of textual validation, continuity, and change in the East African coast of the 19th and 20th centuries.