Nomads and Nomad PolitiesRomanIslam Guest Lecture Series

21 January 2026, 5:00 pm

Photo: © Wikimedia Commons

We cordially invite you to our guest lecture “Nomads and Nomad Polities" on Wed. Jan. 21, 2026, 5 -7 pm (German time) on Zoom. For registration please contact romanislam"AT"uni-hamburg.de by Jan. 18, 2025.

The format comprises the lectures "Nomads, Empires and the (Non-)Formation of Nomadic „States“ in Roman and Byzantine North Africa (1st to 6th c.)" by Dr. Daniel Syrbe (Fernuniversi'tät Hagen) and "Des Maures aux Berbères: représentations textuelles et processus d'intégration à l'Islam d'Occident (VIIe-Xe siècle)" by Prof. Dr. Allaoua Amara  (l’Université Émir Abdelkader de Constantine, Algeria)

Whoever studies North Africa is puzzled by the presence of the Roman and Islamic Empires and the seemingly amorphous polities beyond them; meaning the regions of what is now Algeria and Morocco. Seemingly, only a few were organized by the Empires. Most of them formed their own polities. They developed distinct structures, as well as political and religious outlooks. These polities, as far as we can identify them, were formed by nomadic and semi-sedentary groups, which were called collectively ‘Berber’ in the Islamic period. Their history is mostly known from the perspective of the narrative (Arabic) sources of the Empires. Different forms first of Romanization and Christianization, afterwards of Islamication and Islamization during this state building processes took place, uncontrolled by the Empires.

In the wake of urbanization, particularly in western Maghrib, outside Africa Proconsularis and Ifrīqiya, the local nomadic groups also created urban centers. This is, especially, evident in the case of the Islamic period.

The two lectures of our general topic “Nomads and Nomad Polities”  follow up questions raised by these polities, their adaptions and responses  to imperial forms.

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