Direction: Global History
Position: Associate Professor
Tilmann Kulke is an Associate Professor for Islamic and Global History and primarily interested in the narratological analyses of premodern Islamic texts and the history of multiple globalizations. Here, he focuses on the Mughal Empire and early modern Georgia, in order to retrace the multi-layered connections between both of these fascinating cultures (roughly between 1300-1800) and to position Georgia and the Caucasian regions in a more global and comparative perspective. His current research project on enlightened and structural reforms in Georgia, c. 1750-1830, organized together with his colleagues at Ilia State University, gets founded by the Rustaveli Foundation from 2023 onwards. Additionally, he has been working as a special editor at www.sehepunkte.de within the field of Islamic and early modern global history since 2010.
Between 2003 and 2010, Tilmann Kulke studied Islamic studies, early modern history and Anglo-American history at the universities of Cologne and Bonn, Dogus Universitesi Istanbul (2008) and the German Historical Institute Paris (2009). Between 2003 and 2007 he studied Arabic under the one and only Ali Almakhlafi in Damascus, switching between Cologne and Damascus, and defended his Phd-thesis in 2016 at the European University Institute in Florence. He then took a job at the DAAD-scholarship programme for Syrian refugee students and finally moved the following year, together with his family, to Tbilisi.
His current book-projects include “Narrative Strategies for India in Transition” (Berlin: EBV-Verlag, 2023). Together with the Narratology-Squad in Bonn, the team of authors analyzed the diverse – and often striking similar – narrative strategies of travel and fictional reports on India during the long nineteenth century.
Together with Nino Doborjginidze and Oliver Reisner, he recently published Sebastian Conrad’s “What is Global History?” (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2016) into Georgian [Sebast’ian K’onrad, Ra aris Globaluri Ist’oria? Tbilisi: Ilias Universit’et’is Gamomtsemloba, 2023].
Together with Irene Maria Vicente Martín, he brought together 20 articles and essays of leading and emerging scholars within the field of early modern global history, in order to honor his doctoral father Jorge Flores and his productive working period at the EUI “From Florence to Goa and Beyond. Essays in Early Modern Global History” (Florence: European University Institute Press, 2022). Beside several articles in edited volumes and journals, he published 28 Reviews in different review Journals dealing with topics such as Islamic history and culture, global history and international relations of the Middle East since 1800.
Outside academia, he is a constant seeker for alternative and innovative methods to teach German to his young Georgian students, in order to reach at least B1 and to support them in finding long-term scholarships in Germany and abroad. He is on parental leave until October 2023.
Languages: German, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Latin, Georgian (beginner)
Scientific interests / research interests
- Narratology
- Global history
- Postcolonial history
- Intellectual history
- Islamic history and culture
- Gender and cultural studies
- International history of the Middle East since 1800
Books
- Anna Kollatz, Tilmann Kulke, eds., Narrative Strategies for India in Transition, Berlin: EBV-Verlag, 2023.
- Nino Doborjginidze, Oliver Reisner, Tilmann Kulke, Translation of Sebastian Conrad’s What is Global History?, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016 into Georgian: Sebast’ian K’onrad, Ra aris Globaluri Ist’oria?, Tbilisi: Ilias Universit’et’is Gamomtsemloba, 2023).
- Tilmann Kulke, Anna Maria Vincente, eds., From Florence to Goa and Beyond. Essays in Early Modern Global History, Florence: European University Institute Press, 2022.
Special-Issues
- Anna Kollatz / Tilmann Kulke: Aktuelle Studien zur Geschichte des Islams in Indien, in: sehepunkte 22 (2022), Nr. 4
- Moritz von Brescius, Robrecht Declercq, Tilmann Kulke, James White, eds., Special Issue of Zeitenblicke: Current Historiograpical Research at the European University Insitute, in Zeitenblicke, 2013, Vol. 12, No. 1, Universität zu Köln, 2013.
Selected articles in edited volumes, journals and Encyclopedias
- Anna Kollatz, Tilmann Kulke, Editors’ Preface: Narrative Strategies for India in Transition, in idem, eds., Narrative Strategies for India in Transition, Berlin: EBV-Verlag, 2023, 9-19.
- Giorgi Kavtaradze, Tilmann Kulke, Luring the Tsar into India: Rafael Danibegashvili’s political narrative of transitional India, in Anna Kollatz, Tilmann Kulke, eds., Narrative Strategies for India in Transition, Berlin: EBV-Verlag, 2023, 107-155.
- Anna Kollatz, Tilmann Kulke, Conclusion: Perspectives on India in Transition, in idem, eds., Narrative Strategies for India in Transition, Berlin: EBV-Verlag, 2023, 323 – 357.
- Nino Doborjginidze, Oliver Reisner, Tilmann Kulke, Shesavali, in idem, transl., Sebast’ian K’onrad, Ra aris Globaluri Ist’oria?, Tbilisi: Ilias Universit’et’is Gamomtsemloba, 2023, 1-16.
- Tilmann Kulke, Irene Mª Vicente Martín, eds., Prelude, in idem, eds. From Florence to Goa and Beyond. Essays in Early Modern Global History, Florence: European University Institute Press, 2023, 7-13.
- Nino Doborjginidze, Tilmann Kulke, Erekle II. (1720-1798) goes global: Zwischen Aufklärung, Wissenstransfer und strukturellen Reformen in Georgien ab den 1750er Jahren, in Tilmann Kulke, Irene Mª Vicente Martín, eds., From Florence to Goa and Beyond. Essays in Early Modern Global History, Florence: European University Institute Press, 2023, 145-175.
- Tilmann Kulke, Irene Mª Vicente Martín, Current historiographical research in early modern global history. An interview with Jorge Flores, in idem, eds. From Florence to Goa and Beyond. Essays in Early Modern Global History, Florence: European University Institute Press, 2023, 267-280.
- Tilmann Kulke, Aurangzeb and Islam in India: 50 Years of Mughal Realpolitik, in Knut Jacobsen, ed., Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions, Leiden: Brill, 2020, 190-205.
- Tilmann Kulke: Muḥammad Kāẓim, in, Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, eds., Encyclopedia Islamica III., Leiden: Brill, 2020, 121-122.
- Tilmann Kulke: Mustaʿidd Ḫān, in Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, eds., Encyclopedia Islamica III., Leiden: Brill, 2020, 144-145.
- Tilmann Kulke: ʿInāyat Allāh Ḫān b. Mirza Šukr, in Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, eds., Encyclopedia Islamica III., Leiden: Brill, 2020, 47-48.
- Moritz von Brescius,Tilmann Kulke, Interview über die Globalgeschichte mit Professor Sebastian Conrad, in in Zeitenblicke, 2013, Vol. 12, No. 1, Universität zu Köln, 2013.
Reviews:
- Tilmann Kulke: Ulrike Herrmann, Das Ende des Kapitalismus: Warum Wachstum und Klimaschutz nicht miteinander vereinbar sind – und wie wir in Zukunft Leben werden, Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2022, pp. 352, in: The Book Review, No 3 MARCH 2023.
- Tilmann Kulke: Stephan Conermann, Anna Kollatz, Macht bei Hofe. Narrative Darstellungen in ausgewählten Quellen. Ein interdisziplinärer Reader. Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2020, 265 pp., in: The Book Review, No 3, March 2022.
- Tilmann Kulke: Eva Orthmann, Anna Kollatz, The Ceremonial of Audience. Transcultural Approaches, Bonn: Bonn University Press, 2022, in: The Book Review, No 4, April 2022.
- Tilmann Kulke: Ariel I. Ahram, Break all the Borders Separatism and the Reshaping of the Middle East, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019, in: Weltsichten, January 2020.
- Tilmann Kulke: Stephen Dale, Babur: Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, 1483-1530, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, in The Book Review, No 1, january 2021.
- Tilmann Kulke: Fareen Parvez: Politicizing Islam. The Islamic revival in France and India, New York: Oxford University Press, in: Sehepunkte 21 (2020), 3 (eingereicht).
- Tilmann Kulke: Prasannan Parthasarathi: Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not. Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011, in: sehepunkte 19 (2019), Nr. 6 [15.06.2019]
- Tilmann Kulke: Susanna Burghartz, Lucas Burkart, Christine Göttler: Sites of Mediation. Connected Histories of Places, Processes, and Objects in Europe and Beyond, 1450-1650, Leiden 2016, in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte, 69,1, 2019, 164–203.
- Tilmann Kulke: Arundhati Roy: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, London: Hamish Hamilton 2017, in: sehepunkte 18 (2018), Nr. 4 [15.04.2018]
- Tilmann Kulke: Thomas Hegghammer (ed.): Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2017, in: sehepunkte 18 (2018), Nr. 4 [15.04.2018]
- Tilmann Kulke: İhsan Oktan Anar: Galîz Kahraman, Akara: İletişim Vayιnlarι 2014, in: sehepunkte 14 (2014), Nr. 5 [15.05.2014]
- Tilmann Kulke: Ayşen Anadol, Zeynep Avcı, Nazan Ölçer et al.: Louvre Koleksiyonlarından Başyapıtlarla İslam Sanatının 3 Başkenti İstanbul, Isfahan, Delhi, Istanbul: Sabancı Üniversitesi 2008, in: sehepunkte 13 (2013), Nr. 11 [15.11.2013]
- Tilmann Kulke: Muzaffar Alam, Sanjay Subrahmanyam (eds.): Writing the Mughal World. Studies on Culture and Politics, New York: Columbia University Press 2011, in: sehepunkte13 (2013), Nr. 7, 8 [15.07.2013]
- Tilmann Kulke: Kumkum Chatterjee: The Cultures of History in Early Modern India. Persianization and Mughal Culture in Bengal, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009, in: sehepunkte 13 (2013), Nr. 7,8 [15.07.2013]
- Tilmann Kulke: Manning Marable: Malcolm X. A Life of Reinvention, New York: Penguin Press 2011, in: sehepunkte 12 (2012), Nr. 10 [15.10.2012]
- Tilmann Kulke: Jeffrey B. Perry: Hubert Harrison. The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918, New York: Columbia University Press 2009, in: sehepunkte 12 (2012), Nr. 9 [15.09.2012]
- Tilmann Kulke: David O. Morgan, Anthony Reid (eds.): The Eastern Islamic World. Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010, in: sehepunkte 12 (2012), Nr. 7,8 [15.07.2012]
- Tilmann Kulke: Musharraf Ali Farooqi: The Adventures of Amir Hamza, New York: Random House 2008, in: sehepunkte 11 (2011), Nr. 10 [15.10.2011]
- Tilmann Kulke: Nader Purnaqcheband: Strategien der Kontigenzbewältigung. Der Mogulherrscher Humāyūn (r. 1530-1540 und 1555-1556) dargestellt in seiner “Taẕkirat al-Wāqiʿāt” seines Leibdieners Jauhar Aftābčī, in: sehepunkte 11 (2011), Nr. 6 [15.06.2011]
- Tilmann Kulke: Sönke Finnern: Narratologie und biblische Exegese, Tübingen 2010, in: sehepunkte 11 (2010), Nr.6 [15.06.2011]
- Tilmann Kulke: Klaus Kreiser: Istanbul. Ein historischer Stadtführer, 2., durchgesehene Auflage, München: C.H.Beck 2009, in: sehepunkte 10 (2010), Nr. 11 [15.11.2010]
- Tilmann Kulke: Geert Mak: Die Brücke von Istanbul. Eine Reise zwischen Orient und Okzident. Aus d. Niederländischen v. Andreas Ecke, 2. Aufl., New York: Pantheon Books 2007, in: sehepunkte 10 (2010), Nr. 1 [15.01.2010]
- Tilmann Kulke: Peter Feldbauer, Jean-Paul Lehners (Hgg.): Die Welt im 16. Jahrhundert, Wien: Mandelbaum 2008, in: sehepunkte 10 (2010), Nr. 1 [15.01.2010]
- Tilmann Kulke: John Darwin: After Tamerlane. The Global History of Empire, London: Penguin Books 2007, in: sehepunkte 9 (2009), Nr. 10 [15.10.2009]
- Tilmann Kulke: Sanjay Subrahmanyam: Explorations in Connected History. From the Tagus to the Ganges, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005, in: sehepunkte 9 (2009), Nr. 10 [15.10.2009]
- Tilmann Kulke: Reza Aslan: Kein Gott außer Gott. Der Glaube der Muslime von Muhammad bis zur Gegenwart. Aus dem Englischen von Rita Seuß, München: C.H.Beck 2006, in: sehepunkte 9 (2009), Nr. 6 [15.06.2009]
- Tilmann Kulke: Sanjay Subrahmanyam: Explorations in Connected History. Mughals and Franks, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2005, in: sehepunkte 9 (2009), Nr. 1 [15.01.2009]
Current Courses |
Course Catalog |
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| Understanding Global History (ENG); History, Politics, and Culture of Islam; A Global History of the 19th-Century. The Transformation of the World(ENG) The Global History from 1914 until 2000; Understanding Global History (ENG); Understanding Islam. History, Politics and Culture (ENG) |
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