Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Philosophische Fakultät III - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Over recent years Islam in Central Asia has largely been studied as a ‘postsocialist’ issue. Postsocialism has proved to be a useful and convincing analytical framework to explain the massive shifts in the Central Asian religious landscapes; as outcomes of personal and communal negotiations with transition, crisis and social change. But is postsocialism the only suitable analytical concept to understand the ongoing religious dynamics, and in particular the changing role of Islam in Central Asia? What impacts do the contemporary social, political and economic conditions in the region have on local Muslim life? Who are the key individuals or groups that are introducing, or influencing new forms of Islam and religious practice? Are there urban and rural peculiarities? Which analytical frames and theoretical approaches should be used, or further developed to identify regional, trans-regional or global features of Islam in Central Asia?

In order to consider these questions the symposium will bring together anthropologists social scientists that have focused recent studies on Islam, Muslim identities, beliefs, discourses and practices in present day Central Asia. The central aims of this symposium are to assess the current state of scholarship, as well as to identify key issues that deserve further investigation. The presentations should give fresh impetus to the discussion of the above leading questions and preferably apply to at least one of the following topics:

• Muslim identities and quests for belonging in a changing, globalized environment
• Muslim practices as ways to express the religious self
• Authorities, public Islam and forms of (de-)secularization
• Youth and generation

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Venue: Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstraße 118 (Zugang über Schlegelstraße 26), Raum 507

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Manja Stephan, Junior Professor for Islam in Asian and African societies, in co-operation with the Seminar for Central Asian Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin

Contact details:

Prof. Dr. Manja Stephan
Juniorprofessorin für Islam in den Gesellschaften Asiens und Afrikas
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften
Invalidenstraße 118 (Zugang über Schlegelstraße 26)
10115 Berlin

Tel.: +49 (0)30 2093-66052
Fax: +49 (0)30 2093-66048
Email: manja.stephan@asa.hu-berlin.de

Please contact Sabine Wahdat for registration: sabine.wahdat@cms.hu-berlin.de

Photo: © Henryk Alff, Turkmenbashi mosque, Turkmenistan