Dimensions of Multiplicity: New Perspectives on Turkish Muslim Community Centres in Germany as Relational Space

Abstract

The paper is based on an ethnographic study of Turkish Muslim Community Centres in Germany. It analyses the multiplicity of these centres at various levels on the basis of participant observations, interviews, plans and photographs. The article describes the multiplicity of religious, cultural, social and commercial functions in the multifunctional clusters that are constantly changing. It clearly shows how individual spaces house a variety of overlapping social practices and how users associate diverse meanings with the centres. The paper develops a new perspective on mosques by focusing on the space and the complexity of everyday routines.

Urban Space, Functional Differentiation, and Conditions of Religious Place-Making in 19th-Century German and British Cities

“…In this regard, structural concepts that attempt to incorporate social offers of functional differentiated subsystems into religious community centers as well as the founding of faith based functional equivalents like art museums, colleges, hospitals and so on, are of particular interest. Here, too, it could be productive to compare the recent debates on migrant community centers (Munsch, 2019) with historical predecessors. Another question is how the boundaries between religion and other logics are negotiated within denominational hospitals, schools, museums, and so on, what architectural solutions result, and how this has changed over time.…”

“…There was strong empirical evidence for such a connection. The demand for religious salvation fell dramatically, especially in the newly emerging working-class neighborhoods of the industrial centers (Hölscher, 2001;McLeod, 1997). It is therefore not surprising that pastors viewed such communities as "mission areas" (Häusler, 1931).…”

Calling to Prayer in ‘Pandemic Times’: Muslim Women’s Practices and Contested (Public) Spaces in Germany

“…3 I use the terms "German-Arabic-language" and "German-Turkish-language" as the Friday prayer is preached bilingually and the women primarily use German to communicate with one another. Moreover, given the heterogeneous groups of women who came together in the mosques during my research and who were not necessarily connected to the board or the umbrella organizations of the mosques, this designation seems the most applicable in order to avoid overemphasising ethnicity, culture of origin, or associational theological positioning (Klapp 2022, 225;Yildiz 2021, 49; see also Herz and Munsch 2019). Elaboration on differing everyday practices in these different mosques exceeds the scope of this contribution.…”