In the September edition of AIA NRW‘s Coffee & Cake format, Dr Evelyn Bokler from the University of Muenster talked about the impact of religion on (political) communities, focusing on Islamic groups in the MENA region.
In a lively discussion with fellows, staff and guests, Dr Bokler explained the historical development of religious groups as revolutionary actors and traced these trajectories up until to today, looking at cases like Da‘esh/ISIS or Hamas. She particularly focused on the role of conflicts and wars on identity-formation and community-building, arguing that “In the MENA region, we recognise how strongly the interpretation of religious sources is shaped by the acute circumstances of the people who interpret them.”
At the same time Dr. Bokler stressed how religious norms can also serve to de-radicalise actors and support conflict resolution: “All religions have always tried to find a way out of the circle of violence and revenge by forgiveness and mercy.”
Speaker:
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Evelyn Bokler
She conducts research in the field of comparative extremism with a focus on Islamism, both in the MENA region and in Germany. She is also concerned with the political systems of the MENA region and their legitimisation of political rule. She is deputy head of the research unit ‘Islam and Politics’ at the Centre for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster and has also been a lecturer at the University of Bonn since 2018. Prior to this, she worked at the Deutsche Gesellschaft e.V., where she started to set up the Bildungswerk NRW der Deutschen Gesellschaft e.V. in 2015, before returning to academia and dedicating herself to her habilitation. She studied political science with public law and modern history in Munich, Heidelberg, Florence and Bonn and received her doctorate from Chemnitz University of Technology. In 2023, she was awarded a double venia legendi for political science and Islamic studies by the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bonn. Her habilitation was on the topic of ‘The dictatorship of the Islamic State and its normative order’.
Contact:
Lisa Hartmann
Public Relations and Events Officer
