Shunhua Jin Postdoctoral Fellow Resident at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: April–July 2024 Research topic at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: »In the Contact Zone. Historical Mosques and Islamic Material Culture in Northwestern China (17th–19th century)« Project outline: My research focuses on the historical mosques in Northwestern China, which have not been explored so far. Numerous Chinese Muslims live in this region, surrounded by different cultural and linguistic zones: Mongolia in the north, Turkestan in the west, and Tibet in the south. The investigation aims to understand the specific forms of Chinese mosques and the material culture associated with Chinese Muslims in this region. This study firstly maps the mosques that still exist today and dates them through visual analysis, local gazetteer and other documents. Secondly, it analyzes the form of these buildings through their spaces, materials and decoration, including inscriptions, wall paintings, and carvings. These will be compared to parallels in the local architecture and mosques of other regions in the Islamic world. Besides, the project explores these mosques as the hub of religious learning and productions, such as Quran and other Islamic manuscripts. Through this research, I would like to explore the visuality of Northwestern Chinese mosques through religious, social and historical contexts. I would also like to investigate potential connections to Ottoman art and other visual inspirations, providing the possibility to study this art beyond its relation to Islam in China. (Shunhua Jin) Research partner: Shunhua Jin follows the invitation of Hagit Nol, Junior Professor of Islamic Archaeology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Her stay is supported by the project »Islamic Archaeology and Art History« (IAAH) funded by the VolkswagenStiftung and an ECR Grant of Goethe University Frankfurt. Scholarly profile of Shunhua JinShunhua Jin is a post-doctoral researcher with a PhD in Philosophy of Art from Fudan University, Shanghai. Since October 2023 she holds a museum fellowship at the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin. Formerly, she was a post-doctoral researcher at IrAsia (Asian Research Institute) at Aix-Marseille University.Website: Main areas of research: Islamic material culture in China (mosques, manuscripts); cultural transfer between Eastern Asia and the Islamic world; Iran Safavid visual culture (especially on drawings)
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