Research Area 'Images': Detailed Description
Symbolic Boundaries and Images of Self and Other: Europe and Muslim Societies
Researching mutual perceptions, socially and culturally constructed boundaries and conflicts of recognition are central aspects of the Institute’s work. The research area focuses on these areas with reference to the relationship between Europe and Muslim-majority societies. This also includes observing conflicts of recognition concerning Muslims in Europe. To this end, the aim is to bring together research approaches from historical scholarship and the social sciences, to integrate current debates on multiculturalism and to locate practical points of reference within the field of Islamic studies with regards to educational media and the school.
Our research projects address the task of questioning current problem diagnoses regarding processes of mutual demarcation between the assumed cultural units of Europe and ‘Muslim societies’/’Muslims’ in Europe. They highlight the diverse levels of historical interlacement and the multiple dimensions of symbolic boundary drawing. They also show how ‘imagined’ boundary lines shift together with changes in focus and are reformulated from different perspectives.
With this in mind, research projects based on textbook analysis address narrative structures (scripts) that have remained stable over long periods of time. The studies trace their genesis and investigate the extent to which contemporary narrative also refer to ‘institutionalised’ images of self and other. This brings us to ask to what extent these images are open or resistant to change. Future research on the sociocultural context of the textbook will further aim to illustrate the dynamics of symbolic boundary drawing, such as disambiguation and purification, reinforcement and liquification, or the transformation of and shifts in boundary lines.
The focus on boundary drawing is further extended with a study of the reception and production of textbook contents in their current societal contexts, using an approach from the social sciences. The aims are, on the one hand, to collect qualitative data on boundary negotiations by various actors connected with the institution of the school, and, on the other hand, to conduct research on the design and production of textbook contents via knowledge communities and educational institutions.
Comparative Studies on Boundary Drawing: Research and Transfer
The research area inquires, from the cross-section of the humanities and social sciences, to what extent concepts of symbolic boundary drawing are reinforced in educational media themselves as well as in their production and in the dissemination of their contents. It thus analyses aspects of belonging, ultimately rendering visible social assertions such as tendencies towards certain cultures or ethnicities. Analyses of narratives that inspire a sense of meaning and belonging, cognitive patterns and various dynamics pertaining to boundary drawing are brought together across the project as a whole and tailored to new research ideas.
Comparisons refer to differences in the construction of otherness (modernity, religiousness and religious belonging, gender patterns, etc.), or asynchrony in new interpretations of educational media, contexts in which their contents are produced, or communication in the classroom. Contrasting studies on different national contexts are also being carried out. These address changing boundary productions regarding views of Europe from the external perspective of Muslim-majority societies and the perception of Muslim societies from a European standpoint. Boundary dynamics regarding the situation of Muslim immigrants and indigenous Muslims in Europe are also a topic of interest.
The transfer aspect serves to link specialised scholarship with teaching in this area. We are developing concepts of learning with multiple perspectives and strengthening awareness of the different contexts in which symbolic boundaries are constructed and dissolved. We are also extending our European networks of textbook researchers and those working on education reform in the Middle East or in within the topic area of ‘Islam/Muslim-majority societies’. Our transfer activities develop further perspectives for dialogue on the basis of research results that counteract unilateral perceptions and encourage boundaries to become more permeable. On the whole, the research area sees ‘applied Islamic studies’ as a research gap in the German-speaking world. In our research and transfer projects we focus on mutual interpretations and dynamics of symbolic boundary construction between Europe and Muslim-majority societies as variable cultural constructs that remain in flux.