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Dear friends and colleagues,

Today's Wednesday Weekly puts a focus on new publications for you, including a new issue in our Working Paper Series. We also have two Calls for Papers for you. And we are again looking for a student assistant to support us with our publication and public relations activities.

Have a good week!

Anja & Lucy

Quiet August

Many of us will be on holiday in August. Therefore we will have a short summer break with our official events this month and have a quiet August. So there will be no colloquia for the next four weeks. But also all those who will stay in Leipzig can quickly get into the holiday feeling in the evenings and weekends: Around Leipzig there are a lot of beautiful lakes, for example the Cospuden Lake – or as the locals call it: Cossi – or the Kulkwitzer Lake – also known as Kulki. Both are easily and comfortably accessible by bike. And if you feel like another bike tour and fresh snacks, you can check out the Mundraub website and plan a tour to freely accessible fruit trees and fruit bushes.

Call for Applications: Studentische/wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft (Student Assistant) from 1 October

We are looking for a student assistant to support the academic and administrative coordination of our KFG with publications and public relations. The position becomes vacant on 1 October and comprises 10 hours per week.

Feel free to forward the job posting to potentially interested students. The deadline to apply via e-mail (cover letter, CV, relevant supporting documents, work samples if applicable) is 31 August. Thank you!

Lena Dreier on „Neue islamische Bildungsprojekte als Domestizierung des muslimischen Selbst? Studierende der islamischen Theologie in Deutschland”

Our Associate Member Lena Dreier develops the thesis that the subject of Islamic theology combines experiences of "Islamicity" and new forms of knowledge. The article locates the development at German-language universities in the context of European development.

Dreier, Lena. "Neue islamische Bildungsprojekte als Domestizierung des muslimischen Selbst? Studierende der islamischen Theologie in Deutschland." In "Islam in Europa: Institutionalisierung und Konflikt," ed. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Levent Tenzcan, special issue, Soziale Welt 25 (2022): 107-34.

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Gert Pickel und Cemal Öztürk on „Die Bedeutung antimuslimischer Ressentiments für die Erfolge des Rechtspopulismus in Europa – Konzeptuelle Überlegungen und empirische Befunde“

This study by our Senior Research Fellow Gert Pickel and Cemal Öztürk from the University Duisburg-Essen sheds light on the prevalence and socio-psychological drivers of anti-Muslim prejudice and its relevance for right-wing populist parties' mobilization success.

Pickel, Gert, and Cemal Öztürk. "Die Bedeutung antimuslimischer Ressentiments für die Erfolge des Rechtspopulismus in Europa: Konzeptuelle Überlegungen und empirische Befunde." In "Islam in Europa: Institutionalisierung und Konflikt," ed. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Levent Tenzcan, special issue, Soziale Welt 25 (2022): 303-55.

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Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Sana Chavoshian on “Islamwissenschaft an den Grenzen von Wissenschaft, Religion und Politik: Eine feldanalytische Perspektive“

With this article, our Director Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and our Associate Member Sana Chavoshian pursue a twofold intention: First, in a historical approach and with reference to Bourdieu's field analysis, they reconstruct the autonomisation of Islamic Studies as a scientific field with its own doxa, and the challenges posed by social sciences, cultural studies, and – more recently – Islamic theology as subjects of the extended field of Islamic studies. In a second step, the positioning of academics in this field is reconstructed on the basis of open expert interviews.

Wohlrab-Sahr, Monika, and Sana Chavoshian. "Islamwissenschaft an den Grenzen von Wissenschaft, Religion und Politik: Eine feldanalytische Perspektive." In "Islam in Europa: Institutionalisierung und Konflikt," ed. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Levent Tenzcan, special issue, Soziale Welt 25 (2022): 409–44.

Call for Papers I: “Engaging Buddhism in the West Studies: past, present, .... future?” / A Special issue for the journal Contemporary Buddhism

We would like to point to a Call for Papers for a special issue of the journal Contemporary Buddhism on “Engaging Buddhism in the West Studies: past, present, .... future?”, edited by our Senior Research Fellow Ugo Dessì together with Lionel Obadia and Lukas K. Pokorny.

Questions on globalization, the massive digitalization of societies, the so-called “spiritual revolution,” postcolonial considerations on the moral geographies of the East, offer, among others, avenues for new research to understand the dynamics and reshaping of Buddhism in the Western contexts and equally the transformations of the West irrigated by Buddhism values, beliefs, and practices. The aim of this special issue is to welcome original contributions exemplifying new trends, new topics, and new fieldworks dealing with Buddhism in the West (two conceptual categories deserving a critical appraisal) and shedding new light in this field. The issue will be published in 2023.

For more information, please contact the journal’s editor*ial team: Stefania Travagnin, Kate Crosby and Pyi Phyo Kyaw.

Submission of papers by 30 October via e-mail to the editors Lionel Obadia, Ugo Dessì and Lukas K. Pokorny.

Publication date: 2023

Call for Papers II: "Finding Home away from Home"

We have another Call for Papers for an international publication for you with the working title “Finding Home away from Home”. The volume follows an international Summer School, which will be held at the University of Jena from 3 to 7 October and is made possible by the organization of the Diaspora Studies Research Network. However, participation in the Summer School is not a prerequisite for inclusion in the anthology. The edited volume welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions on contemporary diasporas in Europe, the role of international organizations and civil society, and aims to advance scholarship and debate on emerging global networks, belonging, and transnational identities in the state of deterritorialization.

Please submit your max. 500-word abstract and a 150-word CV via e-mail.

If you have any content that you think suits the purpose of the weekly, please feel free to send it to us at multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de.