ABSTRACT
In order to shift the perspective from the research tradition to the researchers in the field, the investigation has to begin by identifying the scholars who pursued a career at the university and specialized in Middle East studies. The institutional framework of the university, in particular the designation of chairs, is the obvious starting point. As mentioned in the introduction, however, not a single chair in Middle East studies, defined as Arabic and Islamic studies, existed at any German university during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries.1 Therefore, the institutional designation does not allow identifying the group of scholars I intend to investigate.
