New theologians in the city: The establishment of Islamic Theology in Germany and the local negotiations of integration and difference [Neue Theolog*innen in der Stadt: Der Aufbau der islamischen Theologie in Deutschland und die lokale Aushandlung von Integrations- und Differenzverhältnissen]

Abstract

Islamic theology has been a new subject at German universities for a few years now. The establishment of Islamic theological institutes is strongly accompanied by discourses on integration. However, little attention has been paid to the local practice of Islamic theology and its new actors in the local urban contexts of their institutionalization. By means of ethnographic methods, we will investigate in two cities how the establishment of Islamic theology influences the negotiation of Islamic identities, representations, and practices. Informed by a (migration) regime theory perspective we analyze the establishment of the institutes and its actors as a re-negotiation of integration-political expectations that is linked to a constant reshaping of the situated geographies of identity, difference and belonging. © FranzFranz SteinerSteiner Verlag, Stuttgart Verlag 2021.