Modern Muslim Subjectivities

• Applicant: Dr. Sebastian Elsässer
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 364549631

The purpose of the network „Modern Muslim subjectivities“ is to create a forum for interdisciplinary dialogue and co-operation between young scholars who study Modern Muslim societies and communities. The participants will present and discuss their personal research projects, which are anthropological, sociological, or historical case studies that revolve around two main research questions: How can we analyse processes of subject formation among contemporary Muslims through practices and discourses? How do modern Muslims combine the resources of Islamic tradition with models of modern subjectivity? How do they handle the available sources of Islamic normativity (Islamic law, ethical and behavioural rules) in the process? The network will hold one preparatory and four topical workshops, which are designed to shed light on crucial aspects of subjectivity formation in the context of Muslim communities and societies: education, body and spirit, gender, and belief and religious conversion. The workshops will be devised by advanced members of the network in their respective fields of expertise. They will provide the participants with an overview of the state of research and the latest conceptual and theoretical developments in the different fields, with additional input by external guests. Altogether, the activities of the network will stimulate methodological reflection on the part of each participant and raise the general level of their academic production. The final outcome of this process will be an edited volume. The network will foster lasting mutual academic relations, and pave the way for further cooperation between Germany and the Scandinavian countries in the field of Middle Eastern studies.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks