Book Contributions

Check the Human Behaviour – Islam and German Law

Publication by Mathias Rohe, in: Glanzlichter der Wissenschaft 2016, published by Deutscher Hochschulverband (December 2016)

The anthology “Glanzlichter der Wissenschaft” (“Highlights of Science”) combined outstanding scientific publications and lectures by respected authors which occured during 2016. They reflect developments which retain their importance beyond today and the year of their publication – as an example for the scientific debate with the topics of our time.

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Turkish Migration to Vorarlberg in the context of individual community experiences

Publication by Hüseyin I. Çiçek, in: WANDERUNGEN. Migration in Vorarlberg Liechtenstein und der Ostschweiz zwischen 1700 bis 2000, published by Peter Melichar et al. (October 2016)

The authors of the books show the immense importance of all kinds of migration for the central Alpine region in the last 300 years, contradicting the fixed self-image of a supposedly settled community. The variety of migration is surprising and doesn’t stop with the well-known Bündner Zuckerbäcker (confectioners from Bünden), Montafoner Krauthobler (herb planners from Montafon) or Italian construction workers. Today, the question is not if, but rather to what extent the observation of migration changes our approach of history. What will change, if we acknowledge that history is not only the history of class struggle, but also one of migration?

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European Private International Law and Religious Law

Publication by Mathias Rohe, in: Grundfragen des Europäischen Kollisionsrechts [Fundamental Questions of European Private International Law], published by Stefan Arnold (August 2016)

European Private International Law serves the European idea of an area of freedom, security and justice. For that task, it seems crucial that the legal actors of European Private International Law address its fundamentals. The fundamentals – or fundamental questions – of European Private International Law are manifold. Some of them are discussed in this volume. They concern the political framework within which European Law operates, the challenges of modern concepts of “family” or the relationship of Private International Law and Religious Law.

Mathias Rohe focuses on the relation between European Private International Law and religious law. Using examples, he shows the problems which can occur when foreign law influenced by religion is applied in German courts.

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Regime Change and Islamic Movements: The Turkish AKP and the Egyptian MB in a Compartive Perspective

Publication by Mahmoud Jaraba, in: Religiöse Bewegungen als politische Akteure im Nahen Osten, ed. by Peter Lintl, Christian Thuselt and Christian Wolff. (2016)

The anthology discusses politicized religions of the Middle East that don’t seem to be virulent nowadays. The spectrum of analysis breaches the focus on jihadist actors and shows other Islamic, Christian and Jewish phenomena of political religiosity as well.

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Capturing the Other – European Perceptions of Muslims between Transmission and Experience

Publication by Gerdien Jonker, in: Umstrittene Sichtbarkeit. Moscheebaukonflikte, in Österreich, Deutschland und der Schweiz, ed. by R. Bernhardt and E. Fürlinger (Zurich: TVZ-Verlag), p. 123-136. (2016)

The construction of mosques and minarets in European countries is still disputed. For the first time, the situation of the construction of mosques and minarets and the related debates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are compared in this anthology. The first part of the analysis offers a research-based overview of the conflicts surrounding the building of mosques in these three countries. The second part gathers analytical perspectives of different disciplines on these social and political debates – for a better understanding of the dynamics. The anthology offers a comprehensive description of a central hotspot in the area of conflict related to Islam and the immigration of Muslims in the German-speaking region.

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Imitation and Terrorism

Publication by Hüseyin I. Çiçek, in: Eskalation zum Äußersten?, ed. by Wilhelm Guggenberger and Wolfgang Palaver, p. 317-333. (November 2015)

The authors of the book follow René Girard throughout European history, fill out some of his sketches, throw light on some mysterious parts and mark inconsequences in the unfolding of his approach. When read critically, Girards “Battling to the end” will contribute to a better understanding of younger European history and of the dangerous crises that we face today.

The contribution by Hüseyin I. Çiçek tests Girards work with regard to violence, war and terrorism by States as well as non-state actors. He shows how Girards concept of fundamental anthropology contributes to explaining terrorist activities by states and states that religions should not hastily be hold accountable for terrorism.

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Salafism, Jihadism and Islamism in Germany

Publication by Riem Spielhaus, in: Jahrbuch Extremismus & Demokratie, ed. by Uwe Backes, Alexander Gallus, Eckhard Jesse, p. 247-269 (2015)

The yearbook “extremism and democracy” strengthens the scientific debate on problem complexes concerning left- and right-wing extremism and fundamentalism. It considers itself a forum for discussion, a reference book, and a guideline at the same time. The 27^th volume of the book extensively documents, analyses and comments on the developments in the year under review 2014.

Apart from analyses, dates and documents, the book provides an extensive overview on the most relevant publications in the area of extremism research. The main emphasis on the current publications concern questions on how to position the 20^th century in a coordination system of “ideology” and “knowledge”, on populism in Germany or on the local liberalism and equidistance towards all forms of extremism. Finally, an answer is given to the puzzle of how the “Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund” (National Socialist underground, NSU) as able to remain undetected of the security services for so long.

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The Forgotten Experiment. German-Muslim Elective Affinities in the Interwar Period

Publication by Gerdien Jonker, in Ouverture Spirituelle. Disputationes der Salzburger Festspiele 2014, ed. by Claudia Schmitt-Hahn. Salzburg: Herbert Batliner Institut, p. 35-41. (2015)

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The Forgotten Experiment. Jewish-Muslim Elective Affinities in the Interwar Period

Publication by Gerdien Jonker, in: Interreligiöse Beziehungen im Wandel der Zeit, ed. by Michael Gabel, Jamal Malik and Justyna Okolowicz (Forum Religion, Vol. 11). Münster. (2015)

In her contribution „the forgotten experiment. Jewish-Muslim elective Affinities in the Interwar Period”, Gerdien Jonker describes friendship and cooperation between Jews and Muslims in the Interwar Berlin. After the end of World War One, many Muslim elites moved to Berlin. Due to the poverty of the city, many Jewish families decided to take Muslim students in with them, hoping for financial support. What began as an alliance of convenience, often ended with friendship, sometimes even love or marriage. Furthermore, there was cooperation on scientific topics. With the beginning of World War two, the depth of the elective affinities showed: Many of the Muslims already considering Germany their home helped Jewish friends and family that were haunted by the Nazis to leave Germany – sometimes even to Islamic countries.
However, the Muslim escape agents of the Jews were long forgotten, their importance was being suppressed. Only the establishment of the so-called “Stolpersteine” helped to newly discover their role. However, if this part of Nazi-Germany history will be strengthened, Jonker writes, the “European History of Islam will change fundamentally.”

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The Jews of Marienwerder: A Very Short History

Publication by Gerdien Jonker, in: Schody Kawowe, Kwartalnik Kwidzyńskiego Towarzystwa Kulturalnego (Kwidzyn, PL). (2015)

In her contribution „The Jews of Marienwerder: A Very Short History”, Gerdien Jonker traces the life of 50 Jewish families, who managed to avoid the deportation of Jews following the Prussian annexation of Pomerania and established a Jewish Community in Marienwerder. She describes the erection of the first synagogue and the lives of the families up until the Nazi deportation of the remaining 22 families. She also addresses the few material objects that have survived the brutal aftermath of the Nazi regime and discusses in how far they can help towards giving the Jews of Marienwerder a place in memory.

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In Search of Religious Modernity: Conversion to Islam in interwar Berlin

Publication by Gerdien Jonker, in: Muslims in Interwar Europe. A Transcultural Historical Perspective, ed. by Bekim Agai, Umar Ryad and Mehdi Sajid. Muslim Minority Series. Leiden: EJ Brill, 27-66. (2015)

Based on personal and official archives, memoirs, press writings and correspondences, the contributors analyse the multiple aspects of the global Muslim religious, political and intellectual affiliations in interwar Europe. They argue that Muslims in interwar Europe were neither simply visitors nor colonial victims, but that they constituted a group of engaged actors in the European and international space.

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Yearbook of Muslims in Europe Vol. 5 – Germany

Publication by Mathias Rohe, in: Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Vol. 5. (2013)

The presence of considerable numbers of Muslims in Germany is a relatively new phenomenon, as compared to the UK or France. Since the 1960s, thousands of so-called Gastarbeiter” (guest workers) were attracted to work in Germany with many of them being Turkish nationals, followed by people from the Balkan region (mainly Yugoslavia and Albania).