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P. Marcel Kurpershoek papers

Call Number

AD.MC.054

Date

1970-2020, inclusive

Creator

Kurpershoek, Marcel (Role: Donor)

Extent

15.5 Linear Feet in 30 boxes, 7 cassette cases, circa 120 books, and circa 12 - 15 framed photographs.

Language of Materials

Dutch; Flemish , Arabic , English .

Abstract

Manuscript drafts, transcripts, field notes, correspondence, speeches, publications and research materials, chiefly related to the research and writings of P. Marcel Kurpershoek, in particular his work on oral poetry traditions of Bedouin tribes of central Saudi Arabia. Also includes materials related to other writings by Kurpershoek, including manuscript drafts and research materials for his doctoral dissertation on the Egyptian writer, Yusuf Idris.

Biographical statement

Paul Marcel Kurpershoek was born in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1949. After completing his secondary schooling (Gymnasium) in 1967, he attended the University of Leiden for his undergraduate degree, studying Arabic literature, completing his studies there in 1970, following which he spent a year of further study in Cairo, and obtained his MA at the University of Leiden in 1973. In 1975, he joined the diplomatic service of the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands, and during the next several decades, served in postings in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, among other locations, including an eight-year period of service at the Ministry in The Hague, where he was Director of Middle East and North African Affairs. He later served as the Netherlands Ambassador to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Poland, and as a Dutch special representative for Syria, based in Istanbul. He retired from the Foreign Ministry in 2014.

During his diplomatic career, he also pursued a scholarly one, completing a doctorate in Arabic literature from the University of Leiden in 1980, with a dissertation about the Egyptian short story writer Yūsuf Idrīs, subsequently published as "The short stories of Yūsuf Idrīs : a modern Egyptian author" (Leiden: Brill, 1981). During his posting in Riyadh in the late 1980s, his interest in the oral poetic traditions of Bedouin tribes of central Saudi Arabia led him to take a sabbatical year between postings in 1989 to conduct field work in Nejd and Wadi Dawasir, recording and transcribing such poetry, also known as Nabati poetry. The resulting work led to the publication of five scholarly volumes of such poetry, with transcriptions, translations, and scholarly analyses, titled "Oral Poetry and Narratives of Central Arabia" (Leiden: Brill, 1994-2005).

He also authored several several titles about his field work in Arabia for a popular audience, including "Diep in Arabië"(Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1992), "De laatste Bedoeïen"(Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1995), and an English translation and adaptation of those two titles, "Arabia of the Bedouins" (London: Saqi Books, 2001), as well an Arabic translation of the latter title, "al-Badawī al-akhīr: al-qabāʼil al-badawīyah fī al-ṣaḥrāʼ al-ʻArabīyah" (London / Beirut: Saqi Books, 2002), among other books, essays, and journal articles. His interest in the wider Middle East also led him to publish a book about the history of various claims to Jerusalem, "Onzalig Jeruzalem" (Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1996).

During the latter years of his diplomatic service, and following his retirement, Kurpershoek continued his scholarly work on Arabic literature and Nabati poetry. He was appointed Professor of Arabic Literature and Politics at the University of Leiden in 1996, serving in that post until 2001, and in 2015 he joined New York University Abu Dhabi as a Senior Research Fellow in the Humanities Research Fellowship Program. In this latter program, he has published further works through the university's Library of Arabic Literature series, including "Arabian Satire: Poetry from 18th century Najd," "Arabian Romantic: Poems on Bedouin Life and Love," and "Love, Death, Fame: Poetry and Lore from the Emirati Oral Tradition" (New York: NYU Press, 2017, 2018, and 2022). In addition, his fieldwork in Saudi Arabia was profiled in a television documentary on the al Arabiya network in 2017 and 2018 titled "The Last Traveller"(al-Raḥḥālat al-akhīr)and "Monuments of Poetry" (Qāmāt al-qaṣīd).

Arrangement

The Marcel Kurpershoek collection is arranged in seven series: I. Publications, II. Correspondence, speeches and miscellaneous writings, III. Research notes and background materials, IV. Dissertation and other academic materials, V. Printed materials, VI. Photographs and other miscellanea, VII. Sound recordings, VIII. Film footage. The series are arranged largely in alphabetical order by folder title, with some sub-series added in the "Publications" series for materials related to individual published works.

Content Description

The collection consists of manuscript drafts, transcripts, field notes, correspondence, speeches, publications and research materials, chiefly related to the research and writings of P. Marcel Kurpershoek, in particular his work on oral poetry traditions of Bedouin tribes of central Saudi Arabia. Also includes materials related to other writings by Kurpershoek, including manuscript drafts and research materials for his doctoral dissertation on the Egyptian writer, Yusuf Idris.

The collection is divided into seven series. The "Publications" series contains manuscript and typescript drafts, notes, and other materials used or created by Kurpershoek in the writing and editing of several of his books, including the "Oral Poetry and Narratives of Central Arabia," his chief scholarly work on Nabati poetry. The materials related to that often demonstrate his process of recording, transcribing, and translating poetry that Bedouins recited to him during his field work in Saudi Arabia, and often include notebooks in which he first transcribed these poems from audio recordings he had made, and then subsequent drafts in Arabic, with edits and corrections provided by the poets or those close to them, or from other scholars he worked with, primarily Saad Sowayan, the foremost Saudi scholar of Nabati poetry. Materials related to the writing and research of Kurpershoek's later works, including the titles published as part of the NYU Abu Dhabi's Library of Arabic Literature, were added in 2021.

The "Correspondence, speeches and other writings" groups together a smaller amount of material, ranging from speeches or brief articles compiled by Kurpershoek about Nabati poetry and his field work in Saudi Arabia, to copies of correspondence he sent to his wife, Betsy Udink, during his trips to Nejd or elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, in which he describes his experiences and field work. Additional correspondence with other scholars and editors is included in this series as well.

The "Research notes and background materials" contains chiefly notes compiled by Kurpershoek from secondary sources, but also includes notebooks from his fieldwork and research trips, as well as scholarly papers and offprints, most notably from scholars of Nabati poetry and related poetic traditions, as well as papers presented at a conference in Riyadh on traditional oral poetry in 1988. The "Printed materials" series contain copies of books or other difficult to obtain published materials related to Nabati poetry, and used by Kurpershoek in his research.

The series "Dissertation and other academic materials" relates primarily to Kurpershoek's research and writing of his dissertation on the Egyptian writer Yūsuf Idrīs, including transcripts of interviews Kurpershoek conducted with Idrīs, news clippings from the Egyptian press about Idrīs, drafts of Kurpershoek's dissertation text, and a Dutch translation by Kurpershoek of one of Idrīs's short stories, "al- Ḥarām." Also included are notes retained by Kurpershoek during an earlier study visit to Cairo in 1970, and materials related to the granting of his doctorate at the University of Leiden in 1980.

The "Photographs" series, consists chiefly color slides and prints taken in Saudi Arabia (and to a lesser extent, Oman), during multiple research trips from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. Many of the slides are identified in inventories created by Kurpershoek, with many of the images corresponding to events described in the book "Arabia of the Bedouins," or related to poets whose works were highlighted in his other publications. This series also includes a few images enlarged as poster-sized reproductions.

The "Sound Recordings" series consists primarily of field recordings made by Kurpershoek, beginning in the late 1980s, of recitations of Nabati poetry in various locations in Saudi Arabia. Also included are recordings of radio broadcasts of interviews with Kurpershoek, on stations in the Netherlands, usually relating to books that Kurpershoek had recently published, or about his views on current events in the Middle East.

The series "Film Footage" contains raw footage created by staff with Middle East News and the Al Arabiya television network, for use in a documentary film about Kurpershoek titled "The Last Traveler" in 2017. The film is still in process at the time of the creation of this finding aid, but shows Kurpershoek visiting, interviewing, and holding discussions with a number of Saudi Bedouin poets, among other materials utilized in the documentary, and is under license to Middle East News. Additional video content includes recordings of television programs featuring Kurpershoek, usually in the Netherlands.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for use in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, New York University Abu Dhabi Library.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). This includes film footage provided by Middle East News / Al Arabiya network, which can only be viewed, and any further uses must be approved by the network.

Preferred citation

Identification of item, date; Marcel Kurpershoek papers; MC.054; box number; folder number or item identifier; Archives and Special Collections, New York University Abu Dhabi Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by P. Marcel Kurpershoek, 2018, with accretions in 2020 and 2021.

Collection processed by

Brad Bauer, with assistance from Muhammad Shehryar Hamid.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 18:17:36 +0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Code for undetermined script script.

Repository

NYU Abu Dhabi, Archives and Special Collections
NYU Abu Dhabi
New York University Abu Dhabi, C-2
P.O. 129188
Abu Dhabi
nyuad-asc-group@nyu.edu