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Conference/Humboldt Kolleg
Migration, Religion and Germany
Friday-Saturday, April 8-9, 2011
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201
To view a streaming video of the keynote address given by Rebekka Habermas, click here
To view photos from the event, click here
 This conference was made possible by a generous grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation.
Organizers
Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Research Professor in Germanic Languages and Literatures
Georges Tamer, M.S. Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at The Ohio State University
Overview
Migration and religion have shaped in particular the United States but also the German-speaking territories of Central Europe during the religious wars in the wake of the Reformation; immigration (especially from Islamic countries) has taken again an important role in present political debate in Germany (and in the EU). A first group of lectures at the conference will present and discuss recent research on the historical phase of early German transatlantic migrations and colonization by Pietists and Moravians in North America, especially Pennsylvania and Ohio from a post-colonial vantage point. The sessions of the second conference day will then address individual and group migrations from Turkey and Islamic countries in the 20th and 21st centuries and the political and religious controversies and cultural clashes as well as efforts at resolution in Germany.
The Migration, Religion and Germany conference will provide a stimulating intellectual environment for discussing important cultural issues concerning Central Europe, especially the German-speaking countries, and should also contribute to our understanding of the importance of the present migration / immigration debate in the United States.
Keynote Address: Rebekka Habermas, University of Göttingen
Program
Friday, April 8, 2011
Session I: Migration, Religion, and Colonization
9 a.m. -- Welcome and Opening Remarks
Dieter Wanner, Associate Provost for International Affairs
Barbara Becker-Cantarino
9:15 a.m. -- Wolfgang Breul, "Mission and Migration: Theological Principles and Motives (Francke and Zinzendorf)"
10 a.m. -- Pia Schmid, "John Heckewelder: Moravian Mission and Migration in 18th Century Pennsylvania and Ohio"
10:45 a.m. -- Coffee Break
11:15 a.m. -- Aaron Fogleman, “Migration, Gender, and Religious Conflict in 18th-Century British North America”
12:30 p.m. -- Keynote
Introduction: Anna Grotans
Rebekka Habermas, "Debating Islam around 1900 and 2010:Colonies in Africa, Muslims in Imperial Berlin, German Orientalists and Missionaries"
Abstract: Around 1900 German orientalists, missionaries and representatives of colonial pressure groups started a debate about the so called "moslem" world. This debate created new spaces, connecting Africa, Europe and the Ottoman Empire: It equally shaped and was shaped by old and newly invented religious traditions and it made and was made by changing coalitions between political, academic and economic interests of transnational scientific associations, local African societies and by worldwide organized missionary groups. Above all this debate shows surprising connections to current discussions and thereby provides an insight into the ongoing German discussions about modern migration and the role of religion.
Session II Transnational, Transcultural Migrations
Moderator: Gregory Wolf
2:30 p.m. -- Ulrike Gleixner, "Creating Space in Europe and India: The Halle Mission Network in the 18th Century"
3:15 p.m. -- Coffee Break
3:45 p.m. -- Ulrike Strasser, "Mission, Migration and German Manhood: Central-European Jesuits in the Spanish Indies"
4:30 p.m. -- Hans Boas, "Language, Religion, Migration: German Immigrants in Texas 1850 – 1950"
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Session III: Islamic Migrations and Contemporary Germany
Greeting: Richard Herrmann, Director of the Mershon Center
Moderator: Georges Tamer
9 a.m. -- Claudia Breger, "Christian Universalism? Racism and Collective Identity in 21st-century Immigration Discourse"
9:45 a.m. -- David Gramling, "You Pray Like We Have Fun: A Phenomenology of Secular Islam"
10:30 a.m. -- Coffee Break
11 a.m. -- Kamaal Haque, "Beyond Turks and Arabs: Other Muslim Migrants in Germany"
12 p.m. -- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation program
Cathleen Fisher: Humboldt Fellowships and Programs
Session IV: Cultural Representations of Religious Migration in Contemporary Germany
Moderator: Kai Hammermeister
2 p.m. -- Rolf J. Goebel, "Of Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues: Religion, Migration and Phantasmagoria in post-Reunification Berlin"
2:45 p.m. -- Thomas Schmitt, "Mosque Conflicts in Germany (and in Manhattan)"
3:30 p.m. -- Coffee Break
4 p.m. -- Randall Halle, "Migration Cinema and Religious Conflict"
4:45 p.m. -- Karl Solibakke, TBA: Response to Sarrazin, Deutschland schafft sich ab
To download the conference abstracts, please click here (Microsoft Word)
Participants
Hans Boas, University of Texas
Claudia Breger, Indiana University
Wolfgang Breul, University of Mainz
Cathleen Fisher, American Friends of AvH
Aaron Fogleman, Northern Illinois University
Ulrike Gleixner, HAB Wolfenbüttel and TU Berlin
Rolf J. Goebel, University of Alabama in Huntsville
David Gramling, University of Arizona
Rebekka Habermas, University of Göttingen
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Kamaal Haque, Dickinson College
Pia Schmid, University of Halle
Thomas Schmitt, Max Planck Institut, Göttingen
Karl Solibakke, Syracuse University
Ulrike Strasser, University of California, Irvine
Gregory Wolf, North Central College
Sponsors
This conference was made possible by a generous grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation. Co-sponsors of this conference include: College of Art and Humanities, The Ohio State University, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Mershon Center for International Security Studies.
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