In many ways, German politics is notable for its lack of diversity. For instance, no minister in the current government is non-white; none of them possess what in Germany is referred to as a ‘migration background’ – a slippery term that in politico-administrative parlance refers to everyone with at least one parent born outside of…
Sebastian Kurz, Austrian Chancellor and leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) has pulled off a remarkable political feat: having governed in a coalition with the far-right nationalists of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) since 2017, he has not only emerged unscathed from the rubble of his ÖVP-FPÖ government, which collapsed amidst a corruption scandal….
Biased representations of Islam and Muslims abound across Europe, in journalism as well as in research. The situation is no different in Germany, as a recent book edited by Berlin-based academic Schirin-Amir Moazami shows: contributors to the volume Der Inspizierte Muslim (German for The Inspected Muslim) analyse the myriad ways in which research and public debates about Muslims –…
Adherents to the Islamic faith across the world are currently celebrating Ramadan – including millions of Muslims who live in Germany. In many respects, German Muslims’ experience is hardly unique. Ramadan in Germany also comes with its specificities, however – and these are not only due to lengthy daytime hours in northern Europe, forcing believers…
At the University of Frankfurt, a fierce debate has broken out over a proposed conference on the Islamic headscarf, signalling growing contestation over questions of identity and discrimination. Entitled “The Islamic headscarf – Symbol of dignity or of oppression?”, the conference is scheduled for May 8, 2019. Its principal organiser is Susanne Schröter, an anthropologist…
