Surveillance and prayer \u2013 comparing Muslim prison chaplaincy in Germany\u2019s federal states

Lisa Harms-Dalibon

doi:10.1186/s40878-017-0051-5

Abstract

Moving beyond approaches that emphasise the influence of national ideologies and transnational frameworks on the governance of religious diversity in Western Europe, recent scholarship has underlined the importance of analysing the impact of concrete institutional settings such as hospitals, schools and prisons on the public incorporation of religious minorities. Building on this approach, the present article analyses the emergence of Muslim prison chaplaincies in three German federal states by focussing on how framing strategies of state- and religious actors accommodate the national state-church framework and prison-related norms. The article thus shows how national ideologies of diversity regulation and prison norms are mutually shaped in the process of the local governance of Islam. The comparative perspective of the article highlights subnational variations regarding actor constellations and strategies and thereby emphasises a multidimensional process of negotiating the national regime of diversity governance.

Highlights

With an increasingly diversified religious landscape in Europe, the accommodation of faith-related claims of minorities has come under a central spotlight of public debate and an important research concern
The initiatives in Hessen and Berlin, in contrast, have followed a bottom-up dynamic wherein legal challenges have been respectively accommodated through a socio-political framing of chaplaincy related to the needs of the prison structure and the emphasis of an individual right to religious care
Even though observing the initial moment of emergence of Muslim chaplaincy does not allow to assess routines and stabilized modes of interaction, it sheds light on dynamics and mechanisms which articulate the negotiation of the place of religious newcomers at the intersection of law, institutional frames and specific actor constellations

Summary

Introduction

With an increasingly diversified religious landscape in Europe, the accommodation of faith-related claims of minorities has come under a central spotlight of public debate and an important research concern. The initiatives in Hessen and Berlin, in contrast, have followed a bottom-up dynamic wherein legal challenges have been respectively accommodated through a socio-political framing of chaplaincy related to the needs of the prison structure and the emphasis of an individual right to religious care.

Results

Conclusion