Project Details
Projekt
Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices in a Global Perspective
Applicants
Professor Dr. Giovanni Maltese; Professor Dr. Dominik M. Müller; Professorin Dr. Eva Pils
Subject Area
Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
Principles of Law and Jurisprudence
Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
Principles of Law and Jurisprudence
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 491072807
The Center for Advanced Studies – Erlangen (CAS-E) continues in its second funding phase (2026–30) to globally investigate practices that are marked as “esoteric” and negotiated in relation to hegemonic claims of rationality. In the first phase (2022–26), an interdisciplinary research space was established at the intersection of Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Area Studies, alongside contributions from other disciplines. In relation to the notion “esoteric”, CAS-E has analyzed practices aimed at predicting, controlling, or transforming contingent life events – such as divination, spiritual healing, or interactions with immaterial agents – across world regions and diverse settings. In the second phase, accompanied by a generational shift (1st phase PIs_ Lackner/Müller/Nehring; 2nd phase: Maltese/Müller/Pils) and in continuation of CAS-E’s praxeological approach, a central focus is now placed on the situated and globally entangled practices of marking and boundary-making themselves, through which practices are identified, legitimized, or delegitimized as esoteric. These include attributions, translations, re- contextualizations, and other forms of negotiation that render such practices legitimate, dangerous, irrational, or “alternative.” Epistemic orders, power asymmetries, and the positionality of researchers therein have become central to the analytical agenda. An “analytical double helix” connects heuristic comparison with performativity- theoretical approaches. Key aims are the development of a methodologically sharpened, empirically grounded, and internationally visible paradigm for analyzing alternative rationalities and esoteric practices as negotiation processes of epistemic orders in a global perspective, as well as a context-sensitive analytical framework capable of capturing contemporary struggles over legitimacy and knowledge in times of “post-factual” crises of communication. CAS-E continues to develop its creative formats of interaction, events and publications. It sees itself as a laboratory of critical scholarly practice that experiments with new forms of communication across conventional (including disciplinary) boundaries. Collaborative writing, experimental formats, and a diverse fellowship program remain central. The research is structured in three streams: (1) institutional- political and legal configurations, (2) configurations of social and media representation, (3) configurations of efficacy experience. Legal and human rights perspectives are newly integrated to address fields of normative tension surrounding practices marked as esoteric The core staff (PIs, postdocs) works closely together with annually rotating fellow cohorts, annually returning permanent fellows, and various cooperation partners.
DFG Programme
Advanced Studies Centres in SSH
