144015 SE Muslims in Europe: Society, Politics, History and the Present (2023S)

This seminar aims at an in-depth examination of the current situation of Muslims and Muslim groups and communities in Europe. In particular, the heterogeneity of the living environments of Muslims in countries of the European Union will be made visible and discussed, taking into account the respective legal, political and social framework conditions along with their historical and current developments. Accordingly, the basics of religious law, political science and sociology with regard to 'Islam' in Europe will be taught and worked out. With a multi-perspective, multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary approach, any phenomena, challenges or dilemmas as well as creative and practicable approaches to solutions are to be recognised and discussed, for example on the basis of country-specific examples. The basic teaching includes:
a) Basic historical understanding of Muslims in Europe, starting from the first influences from Eastern, Southern and Western Europe to the relationship of the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg Monarchy to the labour migration and flight of Muslims to Europe.
b) Basic understanding of systems of religious law in Europe, looking back at their origins and taking into account current converging trends in Europe, especially in the legal spheres of the EU (EuG/EuGH) and the Council of Europe by means of supranational jurisdiction (EGMR).
c) Basic understanding of systems of governance and social theories in political science, including 'Multiple Diversity Governance' (Joseph Marko), in particular of integrative, assimilationist or separating/segregating maxims of action, with reference to current political developments and events in Austria and other states of the EU and the Council of Europe.
d) Basic sociological understanding of social behaviour, taking into account various factors such as origin, religion, minority, milieu, education, language, work, participation, etc., in particular the behaviour of religious minorities in Europe in connection with legal and political circumstances.
e) Basic theological knowledge about living (together) in non-Muslim majority societies.
In the first seminar unit there is an introduction of the course leader and all participants. Organisational matters are discussed, in particular attendance and absence, SE procedure, cooperation and assignments, office hours and grading. From the second seminar unit onwards, the course leader either sets reflection tasks or short presentations for the teaching of the basics (a-e). This means that texts are posted on Moodle for individual seminar units. Based on these texts, students are to write reflections in preparation for the following unit, which must contain the essential core statements of the respective text. These core statements should be presented by the students at the beginning of the unit; they serve as a basis for discussion and a starting point for a more in-depth discussion in the corresponding focus. For the remaining seminar units, topics are given by the course leader in preparation for the next unit, which can be chosen by the students. The students should prepare the chosen topic for the following unit by means of internet and literature research (attention sources!) to such an extent that they can set up and argue theses and/or hypotheses within the framework of a short presentation or statements; they serve as a basis for discussion and as a starting point for more in-depth explanations.
According to the curriculum, it is also possible to write the Bachelor's thesis in this seminar.