Stephan Conermann

Stephan Conermann serves as Professor of Islamic Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Bonn, where he has held continuous academic appointments since 2003. His institutional leadership includes directorship of the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg (2010-2022), Bonn Center for Transcultural Narratology, and significant administrative roles culminating in his current deanship since 2023.

Academic Background:

• Doctorate in Oriental Philology/Islamic Studies (Kiel University, 1996, magna cum laude)
• Magisterstudium in Asian History, Oriental and Slavic Philology (Kiel University, 1992)

Conermann's research examines pre-modern Islamic societies through narrative strategies in historiography, with specialized focus on Mamluk Sultanate governance (1250-1517), Delhi Sultanate/Mughal transitions, and Transottomanica mobility dynamics. His work uniquely connects asymmetrical dependencies (particularly slavery systems), power structures, and global entanglements across South Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

His extensive publication portfolio shows consistent thematic evolution toward comparative frameworks analyzing slavery beyond Eurocentric models, narrative construction of power across cultures, and mobility as historical catalyst. Recent scholarship increasingly integrates transcultural methodology with digital humanities approaches.

Academic Leadership:

• Supervised 290+ theses (59 PhD, 96 Magister, 47 Master, 88 Bachelor)
• Acquired ~9 million euros in third-party funding (DFG, BMBF, DAAD)
• Editor of 15+ publication series including Mamluk Studies and Dependency and Slavery Studies

Conermann directs the Bonn Center for Transcultural Narratology and co-leads the EXC 2036 'Beyond Slavery and Freedom' cluster, fostering interdisciplinary research on pre-modern dependency systems through international collaborations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.