معرفی
Dr. Ute Pietruschka (b. 1959) is a senior research fellow at the Academy of Sciences Göttingen and associate researcher in the Seminar für Arabistik/Islamwissenschaft, University of Göttingen. From 2001-2021 she taught as Lehrbeauftragte at the Oriental Institute, University of Halle, after earlier appointments at Queensland and Marburg. Her projects include the Corpus of Arabic and Syriac Gnomologia and the Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany.
Education & Career
- 1982 Diplom, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (Arabic & Christian-oriental languages)
- 1986 Dr. phil. Halle, thesis on Ethiopian transmission of Greek philosophical sayings
- 1985-1992 wiss. Mitarbeiterin / Oberassistentin, University of Halle
- 1992-1994 Lecturer, University of Queensland
- 1994-2001 Assistentin, University of Marburg
- 2001-2021 Lecturer, Oriental Institute, University of Halle
- 2012-2022 Senior researcher, Academy of Sciences Göttingen
Research Interests
Pietruschka investigates the circulation of Greek wisdom literature into Arabic, Syriac, Coptic and Ethiopic cultures. Using philological and Digital-Humanities methods she edits gnomologia, traces manuscript transmission, and studies the educational role of monasteries and schools in the Islamicate world. Additional interests include the representation of nomads in Syriac writing and the reuse of biblical material in Islamic adab.
Publication Profile
Recent articles cluster around three thrusts: (1) Edition and analysis of Greek-Arabic gnomologia and doxographies, showing how compilations like Ps.-Plutarch’s Placita served as textbooks; (2) Study of Christian Arabic and Syriac wisdom collections, especially the monastic Apophthegmata Patrum and their pedagogical Sitz im Leben; (3) Codicological surveys of Coptic and Karšūnī manuscripts, highlighting monasteries as intellectual hubs after the Islamic conquest.
Projects & Grants
- Head, Corpus der arabischen und syrischen Gnomologien (since 2011, continuation planned 2023-)
- Co-leader (with Jürgen Tubach) DFG-SFB project “Das Bild des Nomaden in der syrischen Literatur” (2004-2008)
- Senior researcher, Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany, Göttingen Academy (2012-2022)
Teaching & Digital Humanities
Together with Dr. Marco Büchler (Leipzig) she regularly offers courses on Digital Humanities applied to Semitic manuscript cultures, combining codicology, XML/TEI and network analysis.
