The project is based on two case studies, one will be conducted in Bangladesh, another on in Europe. It is centred on the following questions. Firstly, it asks about the future views of young people in the environments of Islamic educational institutions in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi ‘diaspora’. Secondly, it looks into the emergence, appropriation, reproduction and transformation of utopias. Thirdly, it is concerned about their relevance in the "here and now". In this way, with reference to concrete actors, it will be examined to what extent adolescents (re-)adjust their individual and collective affiliations with regards to meaningful entities, in particular the nation state, and what implications any (re-)positioning may bring to a transformation of dominant conceptions of a (national) society. In theoretical terms, the project builds on the findings of interdisciplinary utopian, social movements and civil society research, as well as historically informed research on Islamic educational institutions in Islamic studies. Methodologically, this project takes an ethnographic perspective on perceptions, practices and contexts in everyday life, but also a communication science-based view of the influence of the media. With the aid of ‘thick comparison’ we aim to identify analogous and conflicting patterns and to specify dimensions of transnational connectivity.
Project Leaders:
Dr. Max Stille (Max Planck Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin)
Researchers:
Funded by Gerda Henkel Foundation's special programme "Islam, modern Nation State and Transnational Movements"
September 2018 – August 2020
