Dr. Steffen Strohmenger
Contact
Dr. Steffen Strohmenger
Ethnologe
Seminar für Ethnologie
Institut für Ethnologie und Philosophie
Philosophische Fakultät I
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Witt
06114 Halle / Saale
phone: ++49 (0) 30 / 215 8154
phone: ++49 (0) 345 / 552 41 91
fax: ++49 (0) 345 / 552 73 26
steffen.strohmenger@ethnologie.uni-halle.de
The Afterlife in Everyday Discourses of Muslims in Egypt
Conceptions of life after death are an essential part of the Islamic creed. However, hardly any systematic study seems to exist about how the Islamic eschatological narrative of the Qur'an, the Hadith, and its scholarly teachings are reflected in the beliefs and standpoints of ordinary Muslim people. By doing an interview-based fieldwork among Muslims from various socioeconomic backgrounds in greater urban Cairo/Egypt I want to approach this topic from an anthropological perspective. While there seems to be an increasing interest in afterlife issues in Egyptian society, it shall be explored whether there are tendencies as to the ways popular Islamic beliefs concerning the hereafter are changing. Is there a general move towards fundamental or rather towards more liberal understandings? Are there significant diversities between different segments of society to be stated? What are the shifts in the perceptions of ethical behaviour, the good and bad deeds done on earth, with regard to its otherworldly compensation? Of particular interest will be to explore how far the notion of otherworldly recompense is loosing its relevance for daily life in face of conceptions of this-worldly compensation. Thereby, the overall question in mind is as to what extent the Islamic afterlife undergoes similar processes of change and deconstruction the concept of heaven and hell has experienced in the history of Occidental Christian society.
Academic CV
| 1987-1995 | Under/Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology, Sociology, Middle Eastern Studies, and Spanish at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz; The American University in Cairo; the Free University of Berlin |
| 1992 | Field Research in Cairo/Egypt |
| 1995 | M.A. in Social Anthropology from the Free University of Berlin |
| 1995-1999 | Research Assistant and Lecturer at the Institute of Comparative Cultural and Social Anthropology, Viadrina European-University of Frankfurt/Oder |
| 1997-1998 | Doctoral Programme ‘Representation-Rhetoric-Knowledge’, Frankfurt/Oder |
| 1997-2000 | PostGraduate Grant by the country of Brandenburg |
| 2004 | PhD in Social Anthropology from the Martin-Luther-University of Halle- Wittenberg |
| 2004 | Giving seminars in Social Anthropology in Berlin, Frankfurt/Oder and Halle |