The configuration of “Islam” in integration policies of major German cities

Abstract

The study examines the way in which “Islam” has been dealt with within local integration policies in Germany. Based on expert interviews in more than 50 large cities, it reconstructs how “Islam” and “Muslims” are “governed” in local contexts, i. e. imagined, addressed, activated and thus always specifically affected. It can be seen that in many cities formats of an interreligious “Dialogue with Muslims” have been established that focus specifically on the religious identity of subjects. These interreligious dialogues rely on the creation of intensive personal relationships in local arrangements of encounter and (re-)produce specific patterns of in- and exclusion.