Since the mid-2000s, an "international boom of protest" (Roth 2012: 23) can be observed, which uses new forms of the political. Especially in the societies of the global South, youth movements are the most important protagonists of this protest, which often refers to the economic and political developments of the past years, but sometimes does not even formulate any decided demands of its own, but rather makes the plurality of civil society actors openly and spontaneously visible - for example by occupying and redefining public spaces. These new forms of protest become particularly effective through the rapidly growing availability of new media, as these enable new forms of (also global) networking and concerted collective action at short notice. In some countries of the South, organised youth movements refer to political and pietistic forms of Islam to revolt against existing orders. Its more politically oriented forms in particular serve as forms of legitimacy for youth movements and provide alternative options for action. As the Arab uprisings have shown, the consequences of this constellation for the established social orders and political cultures of the respective countries can hardly be reduced to a uniform formula. This is also the case because more detailed studies on the transformations driven by youth protest are still lacking.

This project addresses this gap by asking in what way youth movements dynamise the existing political cultures in the two Muslim-majority countries of Senegal and Bangladesh and contribute to their transformation.

The proposed project will empirically clarify in which way the youth movements in the two countries create meaningful references to Islam and secularism as well as traditionality and modernity and to what extent they align themselves with clear formulations of a for and against. Many current global protest movements (Occupy, Nuit Debout) refuse such binary constructions. From a theoretical point of view, the project builds on insights from movement research as well as cultural, media and development sociology. Methodologically, it takes a micro-sociological perspective on the everyday actions of youth movements and their protest practices. The comparison of two youth movements in two different Muslim-influenced societies enables the mapping of analogous and conflicting patterns, the formulation of context-relieved statements and the identification of general structures.

Project management:

Prof. Dr. Eva Gerharz

Prof. Dr. Christian Meyer (University of Konstanz)

Dr. Sandrine Gukelberger (University of Konstanz)

Duration: October 2018-March 2022