Religion Vernetzt

Center for Religious Studies

In our collaborative efforts we focus on the productive contributions of religious communities to modern societies of immigration. We hypothesize that religion is considerably conducive to giving home to migrants. However, this contribution is not adequately being accounted for in political and academic debates. In our research group, we challenge this limited point of view via empirical case studies concerning the potentials of migrant religions in the realm of civil society. These include material and financial support as well as youth work or work with the elderly, educational opportunities, assistance in administrative formalities and, last but not least, political organizations and interest groups.

In this framework we specifically focus on the networks of religious migrant communities. We explicitly refer to relations of trust and support inside these communities on the one hand and their external networking on the other hand, e.g. relationships with government facilities or other religious groups. In order to analyze social interconnections in and beyond religious migrant communities, we combine traditional methods of empirical social research with network analytical approaches.