معرفی
Dr. Khaoula Trad is a Research Associate at the Cluster of Excellence: Understanding Written Artefacts (UWA) at the University of Hamburg, where she works specifically in the 'Ajami Lab'. She has been affiliated with the university since 2016, initially with the Department of Islamic Studies: Religion, Law and Ethics until 2021, and subsequently with the UWA Cluster until at least December 2025.
Her research interests focus on Islamic manuscript studies with particular expertise in West African manuscripts, manuscriptology, and cultural heritage preservation. Dr. Trad specializes in analyzing religious texts, talismanic traditions, and the transmission of Islamic scholarship across regions.
Dr. Trad's publication record demonstrates a strong focus on West African Islamic manuscripts, particularly those from Timbuktu, with significant contributions to understanding palimpsests, paper reuse, and talismanic figures in these historical documents. Her work bridges Islamic studies, anthropology, and material culture analysis, showing particular interest in how religious concepts like prenatal life were interpreted in medieval Islamic thought.
She has participated in numerous academic activities including workshops on Maghribi Islamic manuscripts, talismanic traditions in Timbuktu, and Ottoman manuscript sources. Dr. Trad has also collaborated on creating an English-Arabic glossary of manuscriptology terms.
