Werner Schiffauer is Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Europa Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. He has written and edited books on rural and urban Turkey, on Turkish migrants in Germany, on Islamism in Germany, and on foreigners in the urban context. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Ethos - Journal of Anthropology and of the Council of Migration Research.

Recent articles

Are Islam and democracy incompatible? The evolution of a radical Turkish Islamic group in Germany suggests that the pursuit of ‘fundamentalist’ goals can itself create the space for a rational appraisal of tradition. By seeking truth in origin and scripture rather than history, successive generations of Islamists may be drawn – even despite themselves – towards a more flexible commitment to a network society of social individuals. This may not yet be democracy; but it is reformation.