Participatory & Flexible

DAVO thrives on collaboration and participation. We coordinate and support working groups and conferences that strengthen our community of scholars. To increase the visibility of our research, we seek to promote research through various modes of communication (e.g., through a lecture series, blogs, podcasts, research briefs, and our newsletter).

Space for Research & Exchange

We support workshops and our working groups that connect researchers from different disciplines and regions. DAVO encourages interdisciplinary research that integrates a wide range of perspectives and methodologies, culminating in our annual DAVO conference, a key event for scholarly exchange.

Transnational & Connected

DAVO is committed to building bridges across regions, disciplines, and generations. We promote inclusivity in our board, working groups, and events and support our early career researchers. We expand cooperation with international scholarly associations such as BRISMES and MESA and strengthen the exchange between scholars from North Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia and those based at German institutions. Our conferences offer spaces for the generation of ideas and intellectual community.

Overcoming Orientalism

DAVO actively engages in critical reflection on colonial legacies and research practices that continue to shape scholarship today. Together, we seek to critically rethink terminology, structures, and representations in our research and related activities.

Scholarship Is Not Neutral

DAVO acknowledges that scholarship is rarely neutral. We advocate for engaged research that embraces social and ethical responsibility and take a firm stance against genocide, colonialism, and racism. To underpin these principles, DAVO is developing a Code of Conduct that will guide our work. This Code will also commit us to recognizing, naming, and actively challenging expressions and structures of racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia.

Defending Academic Freedom

Academic freedom is a cornerstone of our mission. To protect it, DAVO’s general assembly has established the Committee for Academic Freedom (DAVO-CAF), dedicated to defending the rule of law, academic rights, and freedom of research and expression.