Anonymous, 9 Sep 2010
Research on Middle East, Islam and digital media
keyword: Germany

New Book: Islam and Muslims in Germany

The empirically- based contributions in this volume aim to reflect the variety of current Muslim social practices and life-worlds in Germany. The volume goes beyond the fragmented methods of minority case studies and the monolithic view of Muslims as portrayed by mass media to present fresh theoretical approaches and in-depth analyses of a rich mosaic of communities, cultures and social practices. Issues of politics, religion, society, economics, media, art, literature, law and gender are addressed. The result is a vibrant state-of-the-art publication of studies of real-life communities and individuals.

“Gaining Knowledge”: Salafi Activism in German and Dutch Online Forums

Recent years have witnessed an expansion of Salafi activism into computer-mediated environments like online discussion forums. Forum activities are part of the activists' endeavor to access the religious sources (Quran and Sunnah) and, through these sources, the lives of the prophet Muhammad and the first generations of Muslims. The prophet and the first generations embody the perfect model of a (Muslim) life which Salafi activists strive to emulate. This article analyses the knowledge practices of Salafi activists in Dutch and German discussion forums revolving around the religious sources. Knowledge practices are understood as meaning-making activities that tell people how to behave and how to “be in the world”. Four aspects are central to Salafi knowledge practices in Dutch and German forums: (1) Fragmentation and re-alignment form the basic ways of dealing with digitized corpus of Islamic knowledge and (2) open the way for Salafi activists to engage in “Islamic argumentation” in the course of which they “excavate” behavioral rules in form of a “script” from Quran and Sunnah. (3) These practices are set within the cognitive collaboration of forum members and part of a broader decentralizing tendency within Islam. (4) And finally, narratives and sensual environments circulating in forums help activists to overcome contradictions and ambiguities while trying to put the script, which tells them what to do in which situation, into practice.
 
Trebbe, Joachim, Types of Integration, Acculturation Strategies and Media Use of Young Turks in Germany. The European Journal of Communication Research, Vol. 32, No. 2, June 2007 abstract full text

Summer School: Moving Images and Media Rituals

Summer School organised between 28 July and 8 August 2008 in Heidelberg by the Ritual and Media Working Group of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 619 "Ritual Dynamics" University of Heidelberg.
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