Wolf-Hagen von Angern, PhD

Wolf-Hagen von Angern, a German National, is research associate at the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Cologne in Germany where he teaches Arabic language and History of the Modern Middle East. He received stipends in 2005 and 2006 for Arabic language studies in Damascus / Syria (funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD) and from 2006 until 2009 for his PhD-studies (funded by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation). In 2007/2008 he has also been affiliate researcher at the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (CAMES) at the American University of Beirut.

His dissertation is entitled "Geschichtskonstrukt und Konfession im Libanon" (History and Confession in Lebanon). His research project aimed at detecting the different constructs of history as maintained by the different confessional groups of Lebanon. The research also touches the question of emigration as a means to overcome (or to flee) the troubled situation in Lebanon - which is (among many other problems) a product of confession-specific perspectives on Lebanon's history.

Dr. von Angern studied Extra-European History with focus on decolonization processes in the Middle East and South East Asia and International Relations with focus on Security Policy in the Arab Gulf at the University of Hagen / Germany. His Master’s thesis was entitled "The Gulf Cooperation Council GCC – Security by Military Cooperation" and dealt with the national and international impacts on the implementation of cooperative security structures in a highly volatile regional environment.

During his affiliation with Lebanese Emigration Research Center, Dr. von Angern was working on his PhD conducting a questionnaire-based field research and a series of expert interviews with 54 high-ranking representatives of the Maronite, Orthodox, Druze, Sunni and Shiite community.
At the moment he's concentrating his research on Islamic Commerce, Banking and Finance regarding different positions of prominent Sunni clerics towards core questions of Sharia conform business conduct.

wvangern@uni-koeln.de