Being German, becoming Muslim : race, religion, and conversion in the new Europe

187 Pages·2015·0.86 MB·English

by  Esra Özyürek

Being German, Becoming Muslim
Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics
Dale F. Eickelman and August Richard Norton, series editors
A list of titles in this series can be found at the back of the book
Being German, Becoming Muslim
Race, Religion, and Conversion in the New Europe
Esra Özyürek
PRiNCEtoN UNivERSity PRESS
Princeton and oxford
Copyright © 2015 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
in the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 oxford Street, Woodstock, oxfordshire oX20
1tW
press.princeton.edu
Cover photograph © Lia Darjes
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Özyürek, Esra.
Being German, becoming Muslim : race, religion, and conversion in the new Europe / Esra ozyurek.
pages cm.— (Princeton studies in Muslim politics)
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBN 978– 0– 691– 16278– 2 (hardcover : alk. paper)— iSBN 978– 0– 691– 16279– 9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Muslim converts— Germany. 2. islam— Gemany. 3. Conversion— islam. i. title.
BP170.5.A1o99 2015
297.5'740943— dc23
2014003822
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
this book has been composed in Stempel Garamond Lt Std
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
In loving of memory of Dicle Kog˘acıog˘lu
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
introduction
Germanizing islam and Racializing Muslims 1
Chapter 1
Giving islam a German Face 24
Chapter 2
Establishing Distance from immigrant Muslims 51
Chapter 3
East German Conversions to islam after the
Collapse of the Berlin Wall 69
Chapter 4
Being Muslim as a Way of Becoming German 87
Chapter 5
Salafism as the Future of European islam? 109
Chapter 6
Conclusion 132
Notes 137
References 149
Index 163
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Acknowledgments
i was able to write this book only because so many people, institutions,
and organizations helped me so generously at every turn. i especially ben-
efited from the generosity of a few extraordinarily smart and supportive
women. i am so lucky to have met Katrin Simon shortly after my arrival
in Berlin. She held me by the hand, took me to all the major German-
speaking mosques, and introduced me to a number of insightful German
converts to islam. Riem Spielhaus and yasemin Shooman helped me un-
derstand the dynamics of German society and academia, and showed me
how one can combine political iconoclasm with scholarly excellence. Last
but not least, Nina Mühe inspired me to write the book, challenged my
ideas at every point, and gave me the gift of sisterhood.
through this project i got to know some remarkable scholars, who
deeply influenced my thinking. Matti Bunzl and Paul Silverstein are my
role models for asking questions that reveal central tensions in “Europe”
as an idea and project. My work follows the trail they blazed earlier. Damani
Partridge, Fatima El- tayeb, Schirin Amir-M oazami, Werner Schiffauer,
Kader Konuk, yasemin yildiz, and Ruth Mandel continue to be major
sources of influence on me in figuring out what islam and Muslims represent
in Germany.
the research for the project was generously funded by residential fel-
lowships and research grants from the American Academy in Berlin, Al-
exander von Humboldt Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, German Aca-
demic Exchange Service, and University of California at San Diego. My
academic hosts in Berlin, Gudrun Kraemer at the Free University and Rolf
Scheider and Gökçe yurdakul at the Humboldt University, made my life
as easy as possible. i am thankful for my colleagues at the University of
California for supporting my extensive research leaves. i also am grateful
to Craig Calhoun, who made it possible for me to take a leave before i
started my new position at the London School of Economics so that i could
devote a year to finishing up this book.