If the newsletter does not display properly, please click here.

Relocation

The KFG has finally moved to the 4th floor. Please note that our colloquia will remain to take place on the 5th floor (room 5.55). Due to some remaining construction work, the main entrance to our offices on the 4th floor will be closed from 6 to 9 October. You can reach our offices by using the other entrance - on the left when you exit the elevators - during this time.

Working Groups

Some of you might have heard of the working groups that have been established among the scholars of the KFG. Working groups are informal meetings of researchers working on similar or related questions within the framework of the KFG. As one preliminary result of our recent retreat, information about and from these groups will be shared in the Wednesday Weekly from now on.

The next meeting of the working group on "Religion and Medicine" will take place on 11 October, 4-6 p.m. in our meeting room. Please contact Katrin Killinger if you are interested in more information.

Our current Senior Research Fellow Johannes Quack suggested to establish two new working groups, please contact him directly if you are interested to participate:

I Discussing critical reactions to the work of Asad and his 'disciples'

Suggested readings:

• James Laidlaw. The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. (especially ch. 4) 

• Samuli Schielke "Second Thoughts about the Anthropology of Islam, or how to make Sense of Grand Schemes in Everyday Life. " ZMO working papers, Vol. 2 (2010).

II Discussing how “distinctions“ (e.g. of concepts) and “differentiations“ (e.g. of social spheres) matter to people in their everyday life

Suggested readings:

• Franzmann, Manuel (2017): Säkularisierter Glaube. Fallrekonstruktionen zur fortgeschrittenen Säkularisierung des Subjekts. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa. (IN GERMAN)  

• Samuli Schielke Egypt in the Future Tense: Ambivalence, Hope and Frustration in Egypt before and after 2011. Indiana University Press, 2015. (some excerpts)

• Samuli Schielke "Being a non-believer in a time of Islamic revival: Trajectories of doubt and certainty in contemporary Egypt." International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 44 (2012), pp. 301-320.  

• Joel Robbins.  “What is the Matter with Transcendence? On the Place of Religion in the New Anthropology of Ethics.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 

Lecture Series

Among others, our associate member Lena Dreier organises a lecture series on Islam and Education ("Islam und Bildung. Verhältnisbestimmungen in formellen und informellen Bildungsräumen") in Halle this semester. On 16 October Prof. Dr. Yasemin Karakaşoğlu (Bremen) will talk about Youth, Education and Islam in migration society ("Jugend, Bildung und Islam in der Migrationsgesellschaft – Grundlegende Perspektiven"). All lectures will be held in German.

Deadline Extension

Multiple Religious Identities – Individuals, Communities, Traditions 16th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR)  

The 2018 EASR conference deadline for pre-arranged panels has been extended. The new deadline is on  1 December 2017.