Pious Practices among Danish Muslims. Diversity, Devotion and Aesthetics
By bringing Muslim pious practices, emotive persuasion and aesthetics into analytical focus, we strive for a more balanced appreciation of roles, meanings and functions that Islam can be given in the everyday life of Danish Muslims.
The project aims to break new academic ground by combining methodological and theoretical insights from the anthropology of Islam with perspectives on aesthetics as a consciously used tool in religious practice.
Our focus on Denmark will facilitate an investigation into how piety practices are affected by conditions in welfare states, such as a relatively high degree of individual rights, organisational freedom, access to higher education and economic security, and analyse how diversity among Muslims is shaped beyond ethnic cultures and theological stands. How do Muslim individuals and groups piously interpret and make sense of Islam through creative, aesthetics and ritual practices other than the daily prayers and the Friday service?
Pious Singing: Aesthetic Repertoires and Interpretive Domains
Catharina Raudvere
Muslim musical traditions is in general an understudied area, especially when integrated in prayer, teaching and guidance. Singing is controversial in Islamic theology: is it haram or a mode of praising God? This subproject will analyse materials from prayer circles and discussion groups which constitute interpretive domains where ‘the pedagogics of piety’ is conducted by instructors who are regognized as trustworthy guides based on their personal qualifications and access to aesthetic repertoires as much as their formal Islamic training. For participants involved, these gatherings represent opportunities to carve out space for semi-public activities, to sense the significance of specific ritual genres and to formulate arguments in favour of performative and aesthetic resourcefulness.
One part of the project will discuss the options for choices of different kinds of devotional gatherings, ritual variety and spaces for personal development; another will analyse how Islamic praise genres involving singing are used as pedagogical devices in terms of Islamic instruction, sense of community and variation in individual religiosity.
Sufi hagiography as pious practice
Simon Stjernholm
Hagiographies of Sufi masters have been pivotal throughout the history of Muslim spirituality and continue to be central today. In this subproject, hagiographical narratives of contemporary Sufi masters with a following in Denmark, as told and retold by their followers, will be examined with a dual analytical focus. Firstly, attention will be paid to how contemporary narratives relate to the classical corpus of Sufi hagiographies, in terms of both continuation and change. How are, for example, miraculous deeds and supernatural events combined with stories of individual lives in the modern world? Secondly, the subproject will investigate the meanings and functions of such hagiographies in the life stories of the followers of these Sufi masters. One question to be pursued concerns to what extent and how the trajectories of followers’ lives are narrated as being actively guided by their shaykh, which can have a legitimising function.
The Story Behind the Wedding: Piety Codes in Union Formation among Turks in Denmark
Petek Onur
Marriage and wedding rituals and celebrations are life-cycle events displaying piety and cultural identifications adorned with aesthetic preferences. Highlighting their significance in Muslim minority contexts, this subproject aims to examine the changing codes and symbols of piety among Turkish communities in Denmark about gender roles and femininities in their union formation practices. Memories and images from Turkey, transnational diaspora trends, generational differences, interactions with the majority culture, and immigration policies have aesthetic, cultural and religious influences on these practices. The subproject will employ a qualitative methodology to analyse intensified intersections of family values, religious norms and emotions. Ultimately, it will offer insights into aesthetic trends and symbolisms in gender, sexuality and devotion in Turkish communities in Denmark.
Researchers
Name | Title | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
Onur, Petek | Assistant Professor | ||
Raudvere, Catharina | Professor | +4551303037 | |
Stjernholm, Simon | Associate Professor | +4551300701 |
Funding
Project period: 2023 - 2026