Official inauguration of the French Institute of Islamology

The 8 institutional partners

The member institutions of this grouping at its creation in February 2022 are the University of Strasbourg (Unistra); Aix-Marseille University (AMU); the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco, Paris); the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris). Three other institutions have since joined the group: Université Lumière-Lyon 2, Université Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 and École normale supérieure de Lyon. GIP IFI is based at Campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers.

IFI missions

In a context of international development of the discipline, IFI aims to promote and strengthen high-level, non-denominational research, teaching and scientific training in Islamology in France.

In particular, the Institute aims to "contribute to consolidating the fundamental knowledge of Islamology through teaching, research and doctoral studies" and to "offer courses, including distance learning, aimed at strictly non-denominational disciplinary training for students, senior civil servants and religious leaders of the Muslim faith". (Claudio Galderisi, president of the IFI general assembly, 22/11/2022 - quoted by AEF)

Back to the inauguration evening

Summary by Augustin Jomier, historian of the contemporary Maghreb at Inalco and deputy scientific director of the IFI.

As rector Claudio Galderisi, the new president of the general assembly, and Pierre Caye, the new director of the IFI, reminded us in their opening speeches, the institute's primary mission is to develop and structure nationwide research and training in Islamology - that is, the scientific study of Islam as a religion.

Thanks to the work of its Scientific Advisory Board, chaired by Mr Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Director of Studies at the EPHE, the institute has been able to set up a program from 2022 onwards to meet its mission, through the allocation of doctoral and post-doctoral contracts, support for publishing and translating texts and, finally, end-of-thesis grants.

Winners of the latter scheme, which enables doctoral students to complete their dissertations in good conditions, presented their work at a round table dedicated to young research in Islamology. They demonstrated the research of tomorrow: international, in touch with scientific debates and the most advanced methods.

A second round table brought together three leading Islamologists, Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, from the University of Strasbourg; Meryem Sebti, from the CNRS, and Alexandre Papas, from the EPHE, who presented the major issues at stake in their respective fields, namely Koranic studies, Islamic philosophy and the vast field of Sufism.


In the media:

Podcast: Le Temps du débat (France Culture): French Institute of Islamology: how to scientifically study Islam today? (23/11/2022 - 39mn) with Augustin Jomier, Historian of the contemporary Maghreb, deputy scientific director of the Institut français d'islamologie; Sylvie Toscer-Angot, Professor of civilization, specialist in religious recompositions and the regulation of religious pluralism in Germany and Youssouf T. Sangaré, Islamologist, PhD in Arabic Studies.

Articles:
AEF: Islamology: the IFI sets out to keep the discipline at a "high level" as it expands abroad (23/11/2022)
Saphir News: What you need to know about the French Institute of Islamology after its inauguration (23/11/2022)
ObservAlgérie: Inauguration of the French Institute of Islamology: an instrument in the fight against Islamist separatism (23/11/2022)