Generations of Islamic Activism: cultural and ideological change within the Arab Muslim Brotherhood (ca. 1970-today)

• Applicant: Dr. Sebastian Elsässer
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 508403725

Since its establishment and rapid expansion between the 1930s and 1950s, the Muslim Brotherhood has been one of the most important religious and political movements in the Arab world. Although previous research has examined the Muslim Brotherhood in detail, its research questions have been shaped predominantly by the paradigms of political science and democratization theory. This research project, on the other hand, proposes a change of perspective inspired by sociology and cultural studies and examines the Muslim Brotherhood not primarily as a political organization, but as a sociocultural milieu in the process of generational change. Its aim is to critically investigate existing hypotheses and explanations of generational change within the Muslim Brotherhood on the basis of current developments within the sociology of generations, and to put them on a sounder conceptual and empirical basis.Using an interview-based oral-history approach and a diverse research team, the project sets out towards new methodological and practical directions: The three project staff members, including one woman, will conduct 60 in-depth guided interviews with members (male and female) of the Arab Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar. The research sample is to include members of different age groups. The research design implements three different aspects of the concept of generations: Firstly it asks how different cohorts have been shaped by the surrounding social and cultural circumstances and political events. Secondly, it looks out for generational self-descriptions and “identities” and their function within the Muslim Brotherhood. Thirdly, it investigates the aspect of transgenerationality, i.e. whether and how affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood is transmitted within families. The interview guide consequently consists of questions about family history and social background and about the personal life story of the interviewees and the events that shaped their political consciousness. This is complemented with a set of questions about political, cultural and religious attitudes and their motivation for being Muslim Brotherhood activists. Finally, the interviewees will be given an opportunity to express their own views about generational change within the Muslim Brotherhood.In this way, the project will be able to trace underlying processes of social change, e.g. in connection with increasing levels of education, migration patterns or the demographic transition. The resulting analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood as a religious-cultural milieu in transition consistently situates "political Islam" in its social context. This innovative and explorative approach intends to counteract the narrow focus of research on Islamism in political science and will open up multiple interdisciplinary perspectives for comparison with sociological, anthropological and historical research on other countries and socio-religious milieus.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants