Timothy Nunan is Professor for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge in the Department for Interdisciplinary and Multiscalar Area Studies at the University of Regensburg. His research focuses on international history, Russian and Soviet history, and the history of the modern Middle East. His first book, “Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan” (Cambridge University Press, 2016) examined the history of international development in Afghanistan during the Cold War, looking in particular at the role of the Soviet Union and Western humanitarian NGOs. His current book project, “Believing Globally: Islamist Internationalism Between the Cold War and Decolonization” (forthcoming with Columbia University Press) explores the twentieth century transformations of Shi’a Islamism.
Office: BA.819, Bajuwarenstr. 4
E-Mail: timothy.nunan@ur.de
Telephone: +49 941 943 65966 (secretary's office)
Personal Website: www.timothynunan.com (external link, opens in a new window)
On Leave During 2025-2026 Winter Semester
Office Hours: By Appointment
CV
Academic Positions
| 10/2022- | Appointment as Professor for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge at the University of Regensburg |
| 04/2022-09/2022 | Guest Professorship (Vertretungsprofessur) for Global History at the Free University of Berlin |
| 10/2016-03/2022 | Head of Volkswagen "Freigeist" Junior Research Group ?The Cold War's Clash of Civilizations? at Center for Global History, Free University of Berlin |
| 09/2015-06/2016 | Harvard Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, Harvard University |
| 10/2014-08/2015 | Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Zentralasien-Seminar, Humboldt Universit?t zu Berlin |
| 09/2013-06/2014 | Harvard Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, Harvard University |
Academic Training
| 07/2013 | Awarded D.Phil. in History, Faculty of History, University of Oxford |
| 10/2011-07/2013 | Doctoral Student at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford |
| 09/2011 | Awarded M.Phil. in Economic and Social History, Faculty of History, University of Oxford |
| 10/2009-06/2011 | M.Phil. Student in Economic and Social History at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford |
| 10/2008-09/2009 | Fulbright Scholar and Student of History and Slavic Studies at Georg-August-Universit?t G?ttingen and Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin |
| 09/2004-06/2008 | Bachelor's Student in German Studies and European Cultural Studies at Princeton University |
Research
Research Interests
- History of the Soviet Union in a global context; socialist internationalism; Soviet development aid in the Global South; Communist movements in the Global South
- History of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran
- Entanglements between the post-socialist world and the Islamic world
- Imperial entanglements in 19th and 20th century Eurasia: Russian Empire/USSR, Ottoman Empire, Iran, China, Japan
- History of the Cold War in a global context
- History of the spread and reception of revolutionary ideologies: Communism, Islamism, Maoism
- World order politics and the history of international order; alternative international orders (Communism, Pan-Islamism, the Non-Aligned Movement, the New International Economic Order)
- History of international development
- International political economy; global monetary policy
Publications
Monographs
Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan. Cambridge UP, 2016.
In Vorbereitung: Believing Globally: Islamist Internationalism Between the Cold War and Decolonization
Edited Translations
with Carl Schmitt. Writings on War. Polity, 2011.
Selected Articles
“Doomed to Good Relations: The Soviet Union, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Fate of Anti-Imperialism in the 1980s.” The Journal of Cold War Studies, Winter 2022.
“Asymmetries of Internationalism: Performing and Remembering Subnational Internationalism in the Age of Developed Socialism.” The Russian Review, vol. 80, no. 4, Sept. 2021.
“‘Neither East Nor West,’ Neither Liberal Nor Illiberal? Iranian Islamist Internationalism in the 1980s.” Journal of World History, vol. 31, no. 1, 2020.
“From Land Reform to Veterinarians Without Borders in Cold War Afghanistan,” Comparativ 27:2, 2017.
“The Violence Curtain: Occupied Afghan Turkestan and the Making of a Central Asian Borderscape,” Transcultural Studies 1, 2017.
“An Empire Reframed: Sovinformbiuro, Postwar Soviet Photography and Visual Orders in Soviet Central Asia,” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 17:3, Summer 2016.
“Ecologies of Socialism: Soviet Gradostroitel’stvo and Late Soviet Socialism,” Journal of Eurasian Studies 3:2, July 2012.
“Getting Re-Acquainted with the ‘Muslims of the USSR’: Staging Soviet Islam in the Muslim World, 1978-1982,” Ab Imperio 4, 2011.
“Under a Red Veil: Staging Afghan Emancipation in Moscow,” The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, 38:1, 2011.
“Soviet Nationalities Policy, USSR in Construction, and Soviet Documentary Photography in Comparative Context, 1931-1937,” Ab Imperio 2, 2010.
Book Contributions
“Persian Visions of Nationalism and Inter-Nationalism in a World at War.” Beyond Versailles: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Formation of New Polities After the Great War, Marcus Payk und Roberta Pergher, eds., Indiana UP, 2019.
“The Soviet Elphinstone: Colonial Pasts, Post-Colonial Presents, and Socialist Futures in the Soviet Reception of British Orientalism,” in Mountstuart Elphinstone in South Asia: Pioneer of British Colonial Rule, Shah Mahmoud Hanifi, eds., London: Hurst, 2018.
“Graveyard of Development? Development in Cold War Afghanistan.” The Development Century, Erez Manela und Stephen Macekura, eds., Cambridge UP, 2018.
Teaching and Science Communication
Teaching
Summer Semester 2025
- Decolonization and the End of European Empires
- The Global Cold War
- Global History: Methods, Approaches, Sources
- Intellectuals and Decolonization
- Topics in Intellectual History: Malcolm X
Winter Semester 2024/25
- American Conservatism: Intellectuals, Movements, Institutions
- Central Asia from Independence to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, 1991-2022
- The Iranian Revolution: A Global History
- What Is American Conservatism?
Summer Semester 2024
- The 1970s
- The Cold War: A Global History
- Regional Histories of the Cold War: Europe, Asia, the Middle East
- Russia's Wars
- Tips, Tricks and Hacks: How to Design, Write and Revise a Research Project in the Humanities and Area Studies
Winter Semester 2023/24
- History Lab: Mit digitalen Archiven forschen und wissenschaftliche Kurzvideos produzieren am Beispiel der digitalisierten Archive des V?lkerbundes
- Trauma and Cultural Production in Post-Conflict Societies: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon
Summer Semester 2023
- The Cold War: A Global History
- Colonization and Decolonization in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe and Eurasia
- Hannah Arendt
Winter Semester 2022/23
- Research Colloquium for Transregional History
- Afghanistan and the Great Powers
- Transregional Eurasia, 1850s-Present
Science Communication
(Selection)
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, American Prestige Podcast
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, The Peel Podcast, 08.10.2021
2021 Interview on the elections in Germany, American Prestige Podcast, 27.09.2021
2021 Interview on the history of the USSR in Afghanistan, The Slavic Connexion Podcast, 24.09.2021
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, Counterpoint Podcast with Amanda Vanstone (Australia), 13. 09.2021
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, Politics, Theory, Other Podcast, 03.09.2021
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, Himal Southasian magazine (Colombo, Sri Lanka), 31.08.2021
2021 Interview on the history of Afghanistan, ?1 Europa Journal, ?RF, 30.08.2021
2021 Article on the history of development aid in Afghanistan, Noema magazine (Los Angeles, USA), 24.08.2021
Projects and networking
Committee work and academic functions
Internationalization Officer of the Faculty PKGG (2022-)
Reviewer activity (selection): Ab Imperio; American Councils; American Political Science Review; Cambridge University Press; Central Asian Survey; Columbia University Press; European Commission Research Executive Agency; European Research Council; Indiana University Press; International History Review Journal of Cold War Studies; Journal of Global History Kritika; Oxford University Press; Stanford University Press; Routledge
Lectures and conferences
(Selection)
Lectures
2025 “Islam and the Cold War,” Pierre du Bois Conference, Geneva Graduate Institute, 21.01.2025
2024 “The Shi'a Islamist Discovery of the Third World, 1960s-1980s,” University of California, Berkeley, February 24, 2024
2023 “From the ‘Imam of Atheism’ to ‘Orthodox Iran’: Russia and Shi'a Islamist Movements, 1970s - Present,” Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, University of Michigan, USA 13.09.2023
2022 “Lighting a Candle for Khomeini: How the Human Rights Movement Transformed the Islamic Movement in the Long 1970s,” University of Connecticut, USA 14.04.2022
2021 “Iranian Islamist Internationalism and Histories of the Cold War,” The PostCold War Middle East: Iran, Iraq and International Politics in the 1980s, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 06.05.2021
2020 “Iran's Soviet-Afghan War: Revolutions, Diasporas, Diplomacy, 1970s-1990s,” International History Forum, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland, 15.12.2020
Conferences and workshops
2023 “Reform's Long Shadows: Global Reactions to Perestroika and 'Reform and Opening Up,” Point Alpha Research Institute, October 5-7, 2023
2019 “Cold War Islamisms,” Freie Universit?t Berlin, 15.3.2019-16.3.2019
2018 “New Histories and Anthropologies of Development, Humanitarianism, and Human Rights,” Freie Universit?t Berlin, 15.11.2018-16.11.2018
2018 “The Middle East in the 1980s: An Exploratory Workshop,” Freie Universit?t Berlin, 30.6.2018
Panels
2021 “Archives of the Global South: Researching & Conceptualizing Anti-Imperial Internationalism,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting, 23.6.2021
2018 “New Approaches to the History of the United States and the Third World,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting, June 23, 2018
2018 “Bids for Recognition: International Society and Third World Sovereignty,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting, June 22, 2018
2017 “The Origins of Global History: A Reappraisal,” (Toynbee Prize lecture, Jürgen Osterhammel), American Historical Association Annual Meeting, 6.1.2017
Cooperation/ Projects
Internal Funding Programs at the University of Regensburg
- "UR Fellows" Funding Program (Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations and Interdisciplinary Networking at the University of Regensburg, together with Dr. Dani Nassif for Project "Writing a “History Without Documents”: Using Literary and Creative Sources to Write the History of Post-Conflict Societies), (2023-2024)
- "freiraum2023@ur" Funding Program (Program for Development and Testing of Innovative Ideas in Digital Teaching for the Project "Researching with Digitized Archives and Producing Short Videos"), (2023)
- Host for Prof. Dr. Mia Fuller, the 1st Berkeley-Regensburg Guest Professor (2023)(Press Release)
- Outgoing Fellowship Program, Leibniz ScienceCampus "Europe and America in the Modern World" (University of Michigan), (2023) (Report)
Other Funding Programs
- Funding from the Gerda and Hermann Weber Foundation (Gerda-und-Hermann-Weber-Stiftung) for the Planned 2027 Conference "Communist Regimes and the Global Economy Since the 1970s" (2024)
- Funding from Bavarian-Czech Academic Agency (BTHA) for International Workshop "Central Asia trans/regional: New Regional Studies Approaches" (2024)
- Funding from Point Alpha Research Institute for International Workshop "Reform's Long Shadows: Global Reactions to Perestroika and ‘Reform and Opening Up,’ 1978-1991" (More Information) (2023)
Current Research Projects
Triangle of Hubris: Iran, Iraq, and the United States, 1991-2003
This research project explores the history of relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, and the United States of America during the years 1991–2003. These were tumultuous years, bookended on the one hand by the expulsion of Saddam Hussein from Kuwait by a massive international coalition, led by the United States, during the Gulf War (1990–1991) and, on the other hand, by the United States’ invasion of Iraq, together with its “coalition of the willing”, in 2003. Whereas the Gulf War left Saddam Hussein in power, the 2003 Iraq War led to the ouster of Saddam and efforts to transform the Iraqi state into a model democracy for the Arab world. Indeed, from 2003–2004, an American-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) led an ambitious program of nation-building to make Iraq a democratic, neoliberal, pro-American Arab state. American visions for Iraq quickly gave way to chaos, however, as sectarian violence claimed the lives of many Iraqis. Likewise, Iraq’s neighbor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, soon assumed an unprecedented level of influence on Iraqi politics, above all through its support of Shi?a militias.
How, this project asks, did Washington and Tehran understand their adversary — Saddam Hussein — and the prospects for regime change in Iraq throughout the 1990s? How did the Washington and Tehran, neither of which sought to transform Iran in the wake of the Gulf War, come to shift their views over the course of the next decade? How, moreover, did Saddam Hussein seek to push back against pressure from Washington and Tehran, including by portraying himself as a champion of Sunni Arab interests? And how did exogenous developments, such as the Oslo Accords (1993), the election of Iranian reformists (1997), and the September 11, 2001, attacks, affect relations between the three countries? Together, these questions illuminate the evolving strategic calculations of Washington, Tehran, and Baghdad, and offer a deeper understanding of how regional and global developments reshaped their interactions in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War.
This project proposes to answer these questions through new historical sources that have only recently become available, or which have seldom been brought into conversation with one another. Researchers have had access to the files of the Iraqi Ba’ath Party since the late 2000s, but recently-released Iraqi state files covering the period from 1968-2003 allow us to see the world from behind Saddam’s desk—including his struggle against Washington and Tehran — and in greater detail than ever before. Complementing these new Iraqi archives are new American sources, such as the papers of CPA head L. Paul Bremer III and new files from the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. We propose to bring these sources into conversation with memoirs and diaries from leading Iranian officials. Together, these sources will allow us to tell the story described above and make a significant contribution to the historiography of Ba?athist Iraq, the Iraq War, and the post-Cold War international order.
The project is led by Prof. Dr. Timothy Nunan and supported by Dr. Dani Nassif, building on their collaboration through the University of Regensburg’s UR Fellows program. It builds upon Prof. Dr. Nunan’s work on the history of Shi’a Islamism, Iranian foreign policy, and an emerging research focus on post-Cold War international history. Dr. Nassif, a native of Lebanon and native speaker of the Arabic language, brings to the project his expertise in Arab intellectual terrains and connections with Iraqi universities through his work for the DAAD project “Digital Teaching and Learning in Historical Studies.” While Prof. Dr. Nunan and Dr. Nassif constitute the core team for the project, it is anticipated that they will collaborate with colleagues from institutions such as the Catholic University of Eril, the University of Baghdad, and the University of Sulaimani.
The project is funded by the generous support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for a period of two years, starting in October 2025.
Resources for Students
Latest News
Courses offered for the Summer Semester 2025
Research and Teaching Stay of Prof Dr Nunan at the University of Kansas (USA)
Prof. Dr. Nunan Visits University of Kansas (USA) Through Leibniz ScienceCampus "Europe and America in the Modern World"
From April 1-18, 2025, Professor Dr. Nunan visited the University of Kansas (USA) thanks to the support of the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Europe and America in the Modern World.” During his stay in Lawrence, KS, Professor Nunan delivered two lectures: one, “Sick Man of Europe? German Politics and German-American Relations After the 2025 Elections” at the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies; and another on his recently funded AHRC-DFG project “Transitions: Examining Changing Regimes of Sexuality in Post-Soviet Muslim Republics” at the Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies. Professor Nunan also spoke to students at the University of Kansas about study abroad and fellowship opportunities in Germany, and he was able to serve as a guest lecturer for classes offered by Professor Sheyda Jahanbani and Dr. Rebecca Johnston. Professor Nunan also met with representatives of the University of Kansas, such as Dr. Joe Potts (Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Partnership and Innovation) and Dr. Charles Bankert (Senior Internationalization Officer).
Professor Dr. Timothy Nunan thanks the University of Regensburg and the Leibniz ScienceCampus for facilitating and financing his trip to Lawrence, and he looks forward to developing further research and teaching collaborations with colleagues in Kansas.
Prarie Precarity: Professor Dr. Nunan Publishes Piece on LSC Exchange to University of Kansas for Frictions: Europe, America and Global Transformations
Prof. Nunan visited Kansas in April 2025 as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Kansas (KU), supported by the Leibniz ScienceCampus ‘Europe and America in the Modern World’.In a piece for the Leibniz ScienceCampus' blog (external link, opens in a new window), Frictions, he reflects on his stay in Kansas, where he lectured on his research and introduced students to the University of Regensburg’s international fellowship programs. He also delivered a talk at the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies on the challenges facing Germany post-Merkel. A highlight of his trip was a visit to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, where he explored Truman’s pivotal Cold War decisions, including his views on race relations and civil rights. Prof. Nunan also participated in the KU Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival, honoring local Indigenous traditions, and explored the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Throughout his stay, Prof. Nunan met with KU faculty to discuss potential academic collaborations. His visit emphasized the importance of maintaining trans-Atlantic ties, particularly as tensions between the U.S. and Europe rise under the Trump Administration. He highlighted the ongoing value of programs like DAAD and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in preserving scholarly exchanges despite political challenges.
Leibniz Science Campus International Conference
Professor Dr. Nunan Moderates Panel Discussion at 2025 Leibniz ScienceCampus International Conference “Navigating Epistemic, Cultural, and Legal Translations: Processes, Hierarchies, Spaces”
On April 23, 2025, Professor Dr. Nunan led and moderated a panel discussion at the 2025 Leibniz ScienceCampus International Conference, featuring Marianne Braig (Free University of Berlin), Jan Hornát (Charles University Prague), Claudia Kraft (University of Vienna), and Beatrice Schuchardt (University of Regensburg). A detailed writeup of the panel can be found here (external link, opens in a new window).
Erasmus+ Teaching Stay by Prof Dr Nunan to the University of Zagreb in Croatia
Prof. Dr. Nunan Travels to University of Zagreb (Croatia) for Erasmus+ Teaching Exchange
From March 17-21, 2025, Professor Dr. Nunan traveled to the University of Zagreb (Croatia) as part of an Erasmus+ teaching exchange. During his visit to the University of Zagreb, Professor Nunan delivered two lectures to the students of his host, Prof. Dr. Tvrtko Jakovina: “ Graveyard of Empires? Afghanistan Between Decolonization, the Cold War, and the "Global War on Terror", 1921-2021” and “The Islamist Century: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Transformations of Political Islam, 1924-2024.” Following conversations on pedagogy and teaching with Prof. Dr. Jakovina and Prof. Hroje Klasi?, Nunan also made use of materials at the National Library of Croatia on the history of the Non-Aligned Movement to prepare future courses on the history of multipolarity on international relations.
During his visit, Professor Nunan also had the opportunity to deliver a lecture on approaches to teaching the history of the Cold War to a student conference held at the Faculty of Croatian Language on March 19, 2025. He further had the chance to meet with University of Zagreb faculty in his capacity as member of the Center for German and European Studies, a joint initiative between the University of Regensburg and the University of Zagreb. Besides meeting with scholars from Zagreb, Nunan met with historian Vjeran Pavlakovi? and anthropologist Jeremy F. Walton from the University of Rijeka.
Prof. Dr. Timothy Nunan thanks the University of Regensburg and the Erasmus+ program for facilitating and financing his trip to Zagreb, and he looks forward to developing further teaching and research collaborations with colleagues in Croatia.
News Archive
Lecture at RECET (University of Vienna) on March 12, 2025
On March 12, 2025, Prof. Dr. Nunan delivered a lecture entitled “Believing Globally: Islamist Internationalism Between the Cold War and Decolonization” at the Research Center for the History of Transformations in Vienna, Austria.
More information about the talk is available here (external link, opens in a new window).
Prof. Dr. Nunan Participates in Opening Event of Bavarian Academic Alliance for Security, Peace, and Conflict Studies
On January 13-14, 2025, Prof. Dr. Nunan attended the kick-off event of the Bavarian Academic Alliance for Security, Peace, and Conflict Studies [Bayerische Wissenschaftsallianz für Sicherheits-, Frieden- und Konflktforschung], a research initiative comprising several universities in Bavaria that encourages new, interdisciplinary research on topics related to today’s security challenges. Nunan is one of several professors and scholars from the University of Regensburg named as Fellows in the new initiative.
Prof. Dr. Nunan Delivers Lecture on "Islam and the Cold War" at Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2025 (Graduate Institute, Geneva)
On January 20-21, 2025, Prof. Dr. Nunan attended the Pierre du Bois Annual Conference on “The Cold War in the Middle East and North Africa,” hosted at the Geneva Graduate Institute. There, Prof. Dr. Nunan delivered a talk on “Islam and the Cold War.” A recording of the talk is available here (external link, opens in a new window).
"From Archives to YouTube": Prof. Dr. Nunan Reflects on "History Lab" Teaching Project on Working with the Digitized Archives of the League of Nations and Video Production
In a recent blog post for Lehrblick (external link, opens in a new window), the blog of the Center for University and Academic Teaching at the University of Regensburg, Prof. Dr. Nunan reflected on his experiences running the ‘History Lab’ course, which combined historical research, working with digital archives and video production. Supported by the freiraum2023@ur initiative, the students worked on three central areas: (1) the history of the League of Nations and the interwar period, (2) the use of digital archives - in particular the fully digitized League of Nations Archive (LONTAD) - for historical research and (3) the creation of short scientific videos using programs such as DaVinci Resolve and Camtasia.
The students learned how to critically analyze sources, engage with academic debates and prepare complex historical topics in video formats for platforms such as YouTube, in ways which are understandable to a wide audience. They worked with primary sources from the League of Nations Archive as well as secondary literature, developed their own scripts, filmed in a professional studio and edited their videos themselves. In the course of the seminar, they analyzed various forms of historical documentaries, from long formats such as Ken Burns' The Vietnam War to shorter YouTube formats such as MrWissen2go Geschichte. They also received a technical introduction to video production and dealt with copyright and ethical issues. The course thus offered a practice-orientated, interdisciplinary experience that combined academic work with media skills in an effective and entertaining way.
"Trumping Democracy? The USA and the World After the Presidential Elections"
On November 14, 2024, Prof. Dr. Nunan participated in a podium discussion with colleagues Volker Depkat (UR) and Cindy Wittke (iOS) about the upcoming American elections and their impact on American domestic politics and international politics. The event took place at 19:00 in the Evangelisches Bildungswerk (Am ?lberg 2, 93047 Regensburg).
Course Offerings for 2024-2025 Winter Semester
In the 2024-2025 winter semester, the Professorship for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge offered the following courses:
International Workshop "Zentralasien trans/regional"
On November 8-9, 2024, the Professorship for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge hosted the international workshop "Zentralasien trans/regional." The workshop aimed to bring together scholars based in Bavaria and the Czech Republic working on Central Asia broadly conceived (i.e. including Afghanistan and Xinjiang) to share current research projects and discuss further opportunities for collaboration. The workshop wasgenerously sponsored by the the Bavarian-Czech Academic Agency (BTHA).
Events Series on American Conservatism
From October 24-26, 2024, the Professorship for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge welcomed Mr. Matthew Sitman (Commonweal Magazine) for a series of events on the past and present of American conservatism. The event series began with a lecture on October 24, 2024, on the relationship between the right, the extreme right, and the Republican Party, followed by a brown bag lunch on the 2024 election. On October 25-26, 2024, Mr. Sitman and Prof. Dr. Nunan co-taught a block seminar "What Is American Conservatism?" introducing students to important currents and schools of thought in the American conservative movement.
Further details are available in the event poster. This event series was generously sponsored by the Regensburger Universit?tsstifung Hans Vielberth.
Prof. Dr. Nunan Speaks with "Media for Peace“ Podcast
Prof. Nunan chatted with Sabrina Harper in episode M4P#21 of the Media for Peace podcast (external link, opens in a new window), titled ‘Dialogues in Polarising Societies,, published on September 25, 2024. In the episode, he describes how differing political cultures in Germany and the USA shape the potential for polarization. Turning to Afghanistan and Lebanon, he outlines the political landscapes and ongoing crises that exacerbate division. In these contexts, media and cultural producers face immense challenges but also have a vital role: to offer space for dialogue, rebuild trust, and foster shared narratives. Prof. Nunan also highlights the role of international actors in supporting local efforts to engage with those countries’ troubled histories.
Lecture by Dr. Vassily Klimentov
On April 26, 2024, Professor Nunan will host Dr. Vassily Klimentov (SNSF Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Zürich) for a digital book talk on his new book A Slow Reckoning: The USSR, the Afghan Communists, and Islam (Cornell University Press, 2024). Dr. Klimentov's book talk will take place via Zoom from 14:45 - 16:30 (Central European Time) and is open to the wider public. If you are interested in joining, please register via this Zoom link (external link, opens in a new window).
Event Series on Islam in East Asia
From April 25-27, 2024, Prof. Dr. Kelly Hammond (University of Arkansas) was a guest of the Professorship for Transregional Cultures of Knowledge. During her time in Regensburg, Professor Hammond delivered a lecture on her current research on on ethnopolitics and state-building in China, participated in a lunch discussion with students on research and teaching area studies, and co-taught a block seminar "Regional Histories of the Cold War" with Professor Nunan.
More information can be found in the poster below. This event series was generously sponsored by the Regensburger Universit?tsstifung Hans Vielberth.
International Workshop on Memory Culture and Archives in Lebanon and Iraq
On January 26-27, 2024, Prof. Dr. Nunan and Dr. Dani Nassif (University of Regensburg) organized the international workshop "Memory, Archives, and Cultural Production in Contemporary Lebanon and Iraq." This event was made possible thanks to the generous support of the "UR Fellows" program of the University of Regensburg.
International Workshop on the Global History of Perestroika and Chinese Economic Reform
On October 5-7, 2024, Prof. Dr. Nunan hosted the international workshop "Reform's Long Shadows: Global Reactions to Perestroika and 'Reform and Opening Up'" thanks to the support of the Point Alpha Research Institute (PARI). For more information about the workshop, please follow this link (external link, opens in a new window).
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Christopher Rea on Where Research Begins
On May 5, 2023, Prof. Dr. Nunan hosted Prof. Dr. Christopher Rea (University of British Columbia) for a talk on his and Prof. Dr. Tom Mullaney's book Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World). This event was generously sponsored and funded by the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies.
Prof. Dr. Nunan Lecture at University of Connecticut
From March 13-14, 2023, Prof. Dr. Nunan was an invited Magnet Scholar at the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute. There, he discussed his ongoing research on Shi'a Islamism with faculty at the University of Connecticut and held a lecture titled "Lighting a Candle for Khomeini: How the Human Rights Movement Transformed the Islamist Movement." A recording of this lecture is available online on YouTube (external link, opens in a new window).
Colloquium for Transregional History
In the 2022/23, winter semester, Prof. Dr. Timothy Nunan organized a colloquium on transregional history featuring speakers from around the world as well as from Regensburg.