Professorship of the Cluster of Excellence – Ethnology of Colonial and Postcolonial Orders

Prof. Dr. Susanne Schröter

The research focus of the Cluster Professorship “Anthropology of Colonial and Postcolonial Orders” is on transformations of normative orders in the Islamic world and in countries with numerically strong Muslim minorities. Current developments in the areas of religion, culture and politics are examined from both a diachronic (colonial) and a synchronic (postcolonial) perspective, with theory and empiricism closely interlinked.

Methodologically, ethnographic methods, in particular participant observation, are of particular importance. The regional focus was on Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand), China, Central and South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran), the Mediterranean region (Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco) and Western Europe (Germany, England, France and Belgium).

The research was carried out by the holder of the professorship, research assistants and doctoral students, most of whom came from the countries in which the studies were conducted. Through an ongoing series of lectures as well as international workshops and conferences, the framework was also expanded to include case studies from Africa and other Asian countries where no data was collected.

This made it possible to capture changes in normative orders in a global dimension, in which local, national, regional and transnational aspects correspond with each other. Together with colleagues from other EXNO disciplines, the focus on post/secularism was established. The results show that religion is becoming increasingly important as a normative force and that this “return of religion” (Riesebrodt) is strengthening predominantly fundamentalist or even extremist forces.

The Cluster’s research was presented at national and international conferences in cooperation with Hessian ministries (Social Affairs and Integration; Science and Art), the Hessian State Criminal Police Office, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the French and US Consulates General. They led to numerous publications, including two anthologies in the Cluster’s own series published by Campus Verlag. In the area of internationalization, eight dissertations by foreign doctoral students were supervised. In 2014, the “Frankfurt Research Center for Global Islam” (FFGI) was founded at EXNO, which significantly increased the visibility of the research focus and facilitated the transfer of scientific results to politics and society (third mission). Since then, members of the FFGI at EXNO have been asked to give lectures and consultations at schools and youth welfare offices, by judicial, administrative and police institutions and by political parties. Prof. Schröter has been entrusted with honorary tasks in several civil society institutions, including the board of the German Orient Institute, the Hessian Information and Competence Center against Extremism (HKE) and the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society (IDZ).

The most important publications of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

Schröter, Susanne: “Islamic feminism. National and transnational dimensions”, in: J. Cesari, (ed.), Islam, gender and democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 115-138.

Schröter, Susanne: Being closer to God than your own jugular vein. Pious Muslims in Germany, Frankfurt: Campus, 2016.

Schröter, Susanne/Christoph Günther/Mariella Ourghi/Nina Wiedl: “Dschihadistische Rechtfertigungsnarrative und mögliche Gegennarrative”, in: HSFK-Report 4/2016, Frankfurt am Main.

Schröter, Susanne: “The young savages of the Ummah. Heroic gender constructions in jihadism”, in: Friedensgutachten 2015, Berlin: Lit, 2015, pp. 175-186.

Schröter, Susanne (ed.): Gender justice through democratization? Transformations and restorations of gender relations in the Islamic world, Bielefeld: Transcript, 2013.

Schröter, Susanne (ed.): Gender and Islam in Southeast Asia. Women’s rights movements, religious resurgence and local traditions, Leiden: Brill, 2013.

The most important events of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

“Emergence of Islamist Terrorism: The Role of Lawless Spaces and Parallel Societies”, February 3, 2017, Berlin.

“Muslim Youth – Between Integration, Isolation and New Paths”, October 28, 2016, Frankfurt am Main.

“Which Islam belongs to Germany?”, April 29, Frankfurt am Main.

“Islamischer Extremismus: Prävention und Deradikalisierung zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit”, July 3, 2015, Frankfurt am Main.

“Salafism and Jihadism. The dream of the theocracy in the 21st century”, November 28, 2014, Frankfurt am Main.

“Islamism versus Post-Islamism? Mapping topographies of Islamic political and cultural practices and discourses”, December 13 – 15, 2013, Frankfurt am Main.