Principle Investigator Prof. Dr. Anna Kollatz

Anna Kollatz specializes in the history, society, and literature of the Islamicate world, with a geographic focus spanning the Mamluk Sultanate, the Mediterranean, and South Asia up to the 19th century. A core question of her research is the investigation of social roles and stereotypes and their profound impact on societies. This inquiry bridges premodern contexts—such as ethnic and religious diversity and forms of social dependency in Mamluk and South Asian societies—with modern fields of interest, specifically visual satire and caricature magazines in 20th-century Egypt. Crucially, this examination of social roles and stereotypes is closely linked to the study of ambivalent enmities, exploring how shifting perceptions of the ‘other’ shape societal cohesion, conflict, and text production across different eras.