Please tell us about your research project
Title of the dissertation : « Laughing at the other’s Religion in the Middle Ages. A comparative analysis of the Heresies by John of Damascus and the Opuscula islamica by Theodore Abū Qurra. »
I am a fourth-year PhD student working on Christian responses to the rise of Islam in the 8th and early 9th centuries.
My research focuses on two key text collections: the Heresies by John of Damascus (c. 650-750) and the Opuscula islamica by Theodore Abū Qurra (c. 750-830), which I examine through close textual analysis.
My work consists of four parts :
1) I translate my corpus into French and compile lexicons to make these texts accessible to a wider audience and facilitate further analysis ;
2) I investigate the ideological background against which the authors framed Islamic cultic practices and beliefs. To do so, I adopt a historical-anthropological approach to explore the implications and transformation of so-called heresiological discourse from John of Damascus to Theodore Abū Qurra.
3) I analyse the use of laughter in my corpus: both as a response to humour – here, primarily, mockery –, and, in dialogues, as a sign used by characters to convey a certain meaning, or as an emotional expression. My aim is to identify evidence of humour, as distinct from or alongside, for example, contempt, and to inquire into the role played by laughter in the authors’ communicative and persuasive strategies. This analysis draws on linguistic theories, in particular pragmatics.
4) I extend my analysis to other comic texts from the same period, notably the Toledot Yeshu and the Satirical jousts of Garīr et al-Ahtal. Through these comparisons, I aim to reconstruct aspects of interreligious dialogue in the 8th and early 9th centuries, as well as the emotional norms of laughter of this period.
This project is innovative in several respects : it will notably provide the first French translation of the Opuscula islaimica by Theodore Abū Qurra, and the first literary analysis of these texts, notably through the lens of laughter, humour and the comic – an entirely new approach for these authors. I intend to submit the thesis by the end of 2026.
Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I am a resident of the MFO under an International Doctoral Contract awarded by Aix-Marseille University in partnership with the MFO. This scheme requires that I spend one third of my doctoral contract at the MFO. I was a resident in Michaelmas term 2022, Hilary and Trinity terms 2024, and I am currently in residence for Hilary term 2026.
First impressions of Oxford/the University?
Oxford offers a conducive environment for research, with extensive libraries, academic events, and strong scholarly networks. One possible challenge is the risk of distraction from one’s main research focus.
