Middle Eastern studies in the Netherlands

Abstract

It is difficult for anyone working on the Middle East to escape all knowledge of the great names of the Dutch orientalists of the last century and the beginning of this--de Goeje, Dozy, Wensinck, Snouck Hurgronje. By contrast, the situation at the present time--how Middle Eastern studies in Holland are organized, who is active in them, what kinds of courses are offered and in which areas research is concentrated--appears comparatively unknown. This article seeks to provide information of the most straightforward, factual kind about the situation today, to give a sketch of what is available and serve as a first guide to outsiders wanting to establish contacts with scholars in Holland working on the Middle East. The area covered is that of Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages and literatures, together with the history and culture of the region where these languages are spoken. I have not included Hebrew and Jewish studies, which until recently were pursued only in two environments, one being the faculties of theology, which in the State universities serve as training colleges for ministers of the Dutch Reformed and other churches apart from their more general academic role, the other being the Jewish community with its traditional system of teaching and study. Now, however, the study of Jewish culture in the post-Biblical, medieval and modern periods, organized at the Juda Palache Institute, forms part of the course of Hebrew and Aramaic at Amsterdam University which, in its turn, can be taken together with Arabic, and there is an opportunity to learn modern Hebrew at some of the other universities. Judaic and Hebrew studies are also taught at the Catholic Theological Institute in Amsterdam. Nonetheless, Jewish studies are not fully integrated into the pattern of Middle Eastern studies, as the organization of many departments and curricula reveals. A second point must be made in connection with Islam. Often it is Islam in India or Indonesia which is the specific concern of a particular section or individual; here I have referred only to appointments and activities which treat the religion either as a whole or expressly in its Middle Eastern context. The first home of Arabic studies in the Netherlands was Leiden, which has sheltered a series of scholars of international reputation from the seventeenth century onwards. The Department of Arabic, Persian, Turkish and South-Semitic Languages and Literature within the Faculty of Letters represents the nearest equivalent to a department of Arabic and Islamic studies in Britain, with four professors, viz. Baljon (Islam), Brugman (Arabic), Drewes (South Semitic) and a chair of Turkish at present vacant, and six lecturers (medewerkers), two for Arabic, one for Persian and three for Turkish, as well as a lector (taatdocent) for Persian. (Leiden is, in addition, the only university which has a lecturer in Urdu, in the department of Indian languages and literature.) Within the department of history of religions (Faculty of Theology) there is a lecturer in Islam and Phenomenology of Religion. The University Library houses by far the largest collection of manuscripts in the country, and two principal posts are set aside for orientalists, one to have responsibility for the so-called 'Legatwn Warnerianum', the other for oriental letters and history of religions; the latter has several assistants specialized in different languages and disciplines. The Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo is a dependency of Leiden University.