Workshop "Prayer, Pop and Politics: Researching Post-Migrant Religious Youth Culture", 29.-30. September 2017

On September 29th and 30th, 2017, the workshop “Prayer, Pop and Politics: Researching post-migrant religious youth culture” took place at the University of Vienna. It was organized by Astrid Mattes and the research platform “Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society“ and assembled researchers from various disciplines from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and thus bundled a broad spectrum of research questions, interests and perspectives with regard to empirical research on the role of religion in the life of young migrants. Three topic areas were at the centre of the event: the issue of belonging (intersectionality, the negotiation of ideas, ideals and identities amongst young religious migrants), the topic of religion in mobile times (youth cultures among religious migrants in relation with established religious traditions and communities), and the religiosity of migrants in the context of secular societies (youth cultures of migrants as an expression of religiosity in interaction with the secular environment). The lectures treated manifold religious and sociological aspects of the topic of the conference inquiring into questions such ass: Which authorities and sources are used by young Muslim migrants (in Switzerland) for religious education and counselling? How do children and adolescents in mosque communities handle specific orders of affiliation with regard to experiences of inequality? How can research be done with people who are affected by racist discourses? How does religious radicalization or deradicalization on the internet work amongst adolescents? Which (religious) identities form among young Hindus in Austria or Switzerland or among Sunnis and Alawites in Germany? Which role does pop culture play in the development and negotiation of religious identities and affiliations of young people; and which religious and political messages are transported by pop culture and how do adolescents incorporate these into their life style? Those and many other topics which are controversial in the context of the current social situation were discussed extensively and vividly at the workshop.