Muslim-Jewish encounter, diversity & distance in urban Europe: religion, culture and social model (ENCOUNTERS)
Abstract
This proposal is for a study of intercultural, interethnic and interreligious encounters as exemplified by Jews and Muslims in urban Europe. The largest European populations of these two groups - overwhelmingly urban, concentrated in the same cities, and, strikingly, often in the same neighbourhoods - are in France, Germany and the UK, countries which on the face of it have followed different national models of framing majority-minority relations, creating ideal conditions for a comparative study of the possibilities of living together in urban Europe.
Although the academic evidence indicates negative attitudes to Jews and to Muslims correlate with each other in wider society, in the current century public discourse has instead emphasised growing antagonism between them, relating to events in the Middle East (including the intractable Israel/Palestine conflict) and to the rise of Islamist terror and consequent war on terror. For example, commentators have pointed to Muslims as key perpetrators of antisemitism. Ethnographic research, however, suggests that relations in urban neighbourhoods are often more complex: everyday commercial exchange, cultural traffic within music and arts scenes, both spontaneous and institutionalised interfaith initiatives, nostalgic attempts to retrieve earlier (real or imagined) periods of conviviality, and banal contact in the street are among the many - but not necessarily conflictual - forms these relations can take.
To address the lack of both empirical and conceptual research dedicated to comparative study of these two minorities, we will bring together a breadth of quantitative attitudinal data with a depth of qualitative (ethnographic and discourse analysis of community media) research. To do this our transnational collaboration will explore the specificities of and commonalities between the countries, shaped by different national histories and philosophies of integration and different traditions around the place of religion in social and political life, but also by local variations on national policies, to better understand how different types of positive, neutral and negative relations might arise.
At the national scale, this includes an examination of the varied migration and colonial histories, and of the classical models often attributed to European countries-British "pluralism", French "republicanism", German "federalism", each involving a different settlement between confessional life and public life and between national and ethnic identities. However, the picture can look radically different zooming in from the national to the local level. Thus the project will be grounded in specific urban sites: two city-regions in each country, with diverse populations, including significant Jewish and Muslim populations or histories, distinctive patterns of settlement, and distinctive approaches to urban governance.
We propose an interdisciplinary collaboration across six leading European research universities, involving sociologists, anthropologists, urbanists and migration policy experts, with a proven history of collaboration. The core of the project methodologically will be intensive, granular participative observation in areas of potential Muslim-Jewish encounter, combined with quantitative analysis of attitudes and discourse analysis of public discourse in the sites. The project will foster dialogue across academic disciplines and with societal stakeholders, drawing on local urban knowledges and skills from the cities and their neighbourhoods. We build on complementary academic expertise - urban and postcolonial studies (Britain), quantitative data, media discourse analysis and interfaith studies (France) and the curation and management of diversity/pluralism (Germany). Public engagement is vital to the research too, given scholarship's potential to address the silo working among Muslim and Jewish community stakeholders, and the urgent need to foster better relations.
Although the academic evidence indicates negative attitudes to Jews and to Muslims correlate with each other in wider society, in the current century public discourse has instead emphasised growing antagonism between them, relating to events in the Middle East (including the intractable Israel/Palestine conflict) and to the rise of Islamist terror and consequent war on terror. For example, commentators have pointed to Muslims as key perpetrators of antisemitism. Ethnographic research, however, suggests that relations in urban neighbourhoods are often more complex: everyday commercial exchange, cultural traffic within music and arts scenes, both spontaneous and institutionalised interfaith initiatives, nostalgic attempts to retrieve earlier (real or imagined) periods of conviviality, and banal contact in the street are among the many - but not necessarily conflictual - forms these relations can take.
To address the lack of both empirical and conceptual research dedicated to comparative study of these two minorities, we will bring together a breadth of quantitative attitudinal data with a depth of qualitative (ethnographic and discourse analysis of community media) research. To do this our transnational collaboration will explore the specificities of and commonalities between the countries, shaped by different national histories and philosophies of integration and different traditions around the place of religion in social and political life, but also by local variations on national policies, to better understand how different types of positive, neutral and negative relations might arise.
At the national scale, this includes an examination of the varied migration and colonial histories, and of the classical models often attributed to European countries-British "pluralism", French "republicanism", German "federalism", each involving a different settlement between confessional life and public life and between national and ethnic identities. However, the picture can look radically different zooming in from the national to the local level. Thus the project will be grounded in specific urban sites: two city-regions in each country, with diverse populations, including significant Jewish and Muslim populations or histories, distinctive patterns of settlement, and distinctive approaches to urban governance.
We propose an interdisciplinary collaboration across six leading European research universities, involving sociologists, anthropologists, urbanists and migration policy experts, with a proven history of collaboration. The core of the project methodologically will be intensive, granular participative observation in areas of potential Muslim-Jewish encounter, combined with quantitative analysis of attitudes and discourse analysis of public discourse in the sites. The project will foster dialogue across academic disciplines and with societal stakeholders, drawing on local urban knowledges and skills from the cities and their neighbourhoods. We build on complementary academic expertise - urban and postcolonial studies (Britain), quantitative data, media discourse analysis and interfaith studies (France) and the curation and management of diversity/pluralism (Germany). Public engagement is vital to the research too, given scholarship's potential to address the silo working among Muslim and Jewish community stakeholders, and the urgent need to foster better relations.
Publications
Becker E
(2023)
Introduction: Decolonizing the metropolis
in Patterns of Prejudice
Druez É
(2025)
Music and dance beyond boundaries? Emphasizing Muslim-Jewish North African commonalities, avoiding politics
in European Journal of Cultural Studies
Egorova Y
(2022)
Jews and Muslims in Europe - Between Discourse and Experience
Egorova Y
(2024)
Time, Materiality, and History in UK-Based Interfaith Solidarity Work
in Material Religion
Egorova Y
(2023)
Common difference: Conceptualising simultaneity and racial sincerity in Jewish-Muslim relations in the United Kingdom
in Anthropological Theory
Egorova Y
(2023)
Ethics without borders: solidarity and difference in inter-community dialogue
in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Egorova, Y
(2022)
Solidarity and Jewish-Muslim Dialogue in the UK
Emmerich A
(2025)
Urban renewal, contested memories and the politics of cultural production: The case of Jewish-Muslim encounters in Germany
in European Journal of Cultural Studies
Emmerich A
(2022)
Masks, Mosques and Lockdowns: Islamic Organisations Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany
in Entangled Religions
| Description | Dynamics of encounter: Jewish/Muslim encounter occurs across a vast range of domains, from commerce to culture, from street life to the town hall, although it is often not explicitly named as "Jewish/Muslim", which highlights the slipperiness and ambiguity of these classifications. We are sharply aware of the ways in which the trope of "Jewish/Muslim encounter" can essentialise the complex lives and identifications of our participants, and that our research carries ethical risks. We identified several patterns or types of encounter, ranging from hostility and conflict to conviviality and cohesion. The most common patterns, however, are ambivalence, indifference and avoidance. In neighbourhoods where both Jews and Muslims live, relations are most frequently marked by living "together apart" - side by side but not together. This is punctuated by: Relatively spontaneous "bottom-up" fleeting contacts emerging from shared needs, shared histories, commercial interdependencies, and across generations: curiosity, nostalgia and exoticism. More deliberately staged "top-down" dialogue and collaboration driven by institutional imperatives. Outbreaks of conflict relating to the conflict in Israel/Palestine, patterns of fear and suspicion, and latent antisemitism and Islamophobia. However, the lines between these three forms of encounter are constantly blurred, with rapid movement between them. We observed the significance of internal diversity within communities. There is no singular discrete and homogeneous "Jewish community" or "Muslim community" in any of our cities, but instead unstable, internally plural formations marked by their own normative mainstreams and margins, relative insiders and outsiders, power imbalances, and by differences of denomination, ethnicity, language, migration background, degree of religiosity, and political orientation, intersecting with diversity along several lines including gender, sexuality, age and class. Internal differences and intra-communal encounters are often significant in mediating external differences and opening or closing intercultural encounters. For example, gender and sexuality provide lines of connection for Muslim and Jewish women and LGBTQ+ people. Engagement in interfaith and intercultural activity can itself make a difference to intra-communal politics, for instance in conferring or contesting communal legitimacy. For instance, a faith leader might gain authority in their own community (as well as in the eyes of other local actors) by being pictured alongside other faith leaders. We observed the significance of unique personal and interpersonal stories that both followed and defied these patterns. In particular, we found the importance of: The role of brokers, sometimes powerful insiders and sometimes relative outsiders in their own communities, who play a key part in creating (and sometimes gate-keeping) opportunities for meaningful encounter. The role of stable cross-communal relationships, often forged in long-term civil society or municipal structures and initiatives, which can appear at first to be superficial, policy-driven and performative, but which also allow for the slow cultivation of trust over time, which can be mobilised in particular at times of emergency. We found a range of individual and collective strategies in relation to encounter, including: Strategies of avoidance of conflict, in which various "elephants in the room" (in particular relating to the Middle East) are made taboo in order to sustain fragile positive relations. Strategies of performance to repertoires, in which national and municipal cognitive frames and policy discourses provide scripts which local actors can perform in order to maintain social positions within the political landscape (including for funding opportunities). Strategies of self-interested coalition-building (including across lines of apparently starkly antagonist politics), in which actors seek out interlocutors and allies from across cultural or communal lines to pursue their own or common goals, for example to legitimate their role in relation to municipal structures, to deflect allegations of intolerance, or to secure shared objectives around religious and cultural needs. Strategies of ethical solidarity, in which, sometimes out of theological commitment, values of care and empathy are enacted in relation to the other. Crucially, these dynamics of encounter do not take place in a purely bilateral context but always in relation to a European societal ethos structured by the power of the secular-Christian majority and the (local and national) secular-Christian state. Muslim/Jewish encounter is rarely untouched by the central role of local and national state/governance. We saw this play out differently in each site: mediated by Federal level funding of specific denominations (Germany), marked by the ambiguity of religious communities at odds with an secular civil society and inconsistently represented at very local governance levels (France), or shaped by fragmented and at times strongly communal lines of local governance (UK). Jews and Muslims have differential relationships to discourses of national belonging and racialisation. For example, some Jews in the three countries can orientate to whiteness and nativism, while some Muslims orientate towards Blackness and decoloniality, creating an asymmetrical relationship with the state and normative discourse. The role of community media: The project intensively analysed Jewish and Muslim community media in each of our three countries during the fieldwork period. We found enormous variations from country to country, but also significant common discourses, figures and patterns. These are shaped by the same national discursive repertoires and cognitive frames that we observed in the municipal governance of religious and cultural diversity, and both shaped and reflected (but sometimes were at odds with) the attitudes circulating and practices enacted in our field sites. We identified the following discourses: Communities standing together - including images of brothers/sisters in interfaith; shared religious needs and traditions (without explicit interfaith action); the figure of the ordinary other as proof of co-existence; and a stronger discourse of intercommunal solidarity. Solidarity with the other as victim - recognition of the other as a victim: of racism in general, of its extremists, of the extreme nationalists, or of politicians. This includes the figure of the fellow victim of racism and terrorism. Competitive indifference and non-solidarity - the other is seen as acting for their own sake. For instance, the non-solidarity of the other is denounced when "we" face racism or "unjust" political action. Competitive victimhood/framing the other as a privileged minority - discourses of "Islamo-leftism" (especially in France), claims that "Jews don't count" (especially in the UK), or claims that Jews are privileged in a "hierarchy of racisms" (in all three countries). The exceptional other - individuals or groups who can be singled out as critical towards its own group (or parts of it or its institutions), as capable of "solidarity without consensus" or of criticising one's own religion/community - for instance, "good", "moderate" Muslims who speak against Muslim antisemitism or Islamism, or "good", anti-Zionist Jews who speak against Israel - are frequently praised. [p.3-4] The determinants of encounter: We identified a number of determinants of the patterning of encounter. These occur at several levels or scales which are analytically separate but impossible to disentangle in practice, as they are always already mutually interdependent. In each of our three countries we observed the importance of the interpenetration of geopolitics in the local, and it is a key finding of the project that a transnational perspective is required to understand local Jewish/Muslim encounters. The key global and transnational factors that determine patterns of encounter are: Geopolitics/soft power: The presence of the Israel/Palestine conflict to Jewish and Muslim life in Europe was a constantly arising feature of our research. Although solidarity activism create some opportunities for positive encounter, and responding to the conflict motivated several interfaith and intercultural initiatives, most often Israel/Palestine disrupts and closes down emerging and even long-term relationships. This intensifies when the conflict escalates (e.g. May 2021; since Jan 2023), but also de-intensifies in contexts where Israel/Palestine is less salient (e.g. in relation to the Syrian revolution or war in Ukraine). The diplomatic "normalisation" between Israel and several Arab/Muslim states (notably the Abraham Accords, with their distinct framing of Judeo-Islamic kinship along cultural lines) also impacts on our sites. Diasporic formations: Jews are a paradigmatically diasporic population, and European Muslims are also often members of diasporic formations. Their cultural lives are therefore shaped by lateral connections and identification across diaspora as well by orientation to the real and imagined homelands. Sending country politics: Many of our research participants were transnationally networked and embedded in transnational social space, and states and institutions of sending countries continued to play a role in their lives in Europe. For example, the Moroccan, Turkish and Israeli states sponsor and foster activities in France, Germany, and all of our countries respectively. Transnational faith organisation: Similarly, Jewish and Muslim denominational affiliations are often transnational, and global institutions such as Chabad or Gülen were active in our field sites. For example, multi-faith forums in many of our sites had active members embedded in such structures. The key national factors that determine patterns of encounter are: National-level policy and political repertoires - such as republican laïcité in France, integration and corporative hinkende trennung (limping secularism) in Germany or cohesion and conservative pluralism in the UK - have a profound role in determining the structure of institutional interfaith activity locally. But they also help open or close possibilities of encounter beyond formal structures, by determining the available language in which to make claims, articulate conflict or build coalitions. For example, communities of faith are regular stakeholders in municipal activity in the UK but seen as "communitarian" and suspect in France. Colonial histories are an often-overlooked factor in shaping Muslim and Jewish encounters in Europe, as colonial histories both bind and separate the two populations. For instance, in France most Jews and most Muslims share histories in the colonial Maghreb, but the differential position of Jews and Muslims in colonial space generates asymmetries and antagonisms. In the UK, the colonial story of the Jewish community is important but less visible, and only a potential rather than real source of solidarity, while in Germany the competitive memory politics between the Shoah and postcolonialism has become a divisive factor in Jewish/Muslim encounters. Although our three-country study brought national level differences into view, working in six cities we were able to see the extent in which national models were belied by variations at a local level. The key local factors that determine patterns of encounter are: Policy framing at local level was found to be a consistently important factor across our cities. Local (and in some cases regional) policy frames departed from national ones in important ways. For example, Strasbourg (and the Alsace region) has historically been a partial exception to rule of republican laïcité, while city-region leadership in London and Manchester has had a more cosmopolitan approach to diversity in the period when national policy has retreated from pluralism to an emphasis on cohesion. Municipal-level narratives and memory cultures are also important. For example, cosmopolitanism and Jewish responsibility towards other minorities is central to Frankfurt's self-image, and this has helped enable a far higher level of both Jewish and Muslim representation in local politics than many other German cities. The presence or absence of key entrepreneurs of encounter and of particular sustained human relationships also makes a difference. A single charismatic individual who brokers positive contacts can create space that cannot be explained solely by structural factors. Within each of our cities we also conducted fieldwork at a neighbourhood level, in areas with demographically and/or symbolically significant Muslim and Jewish presence. The key micro-local factors that determine patterns of encounter are: Features of urban morphology - the physical shape of the neighbourhood, the density and flows of settlement and commerce - can make a difference to the patterning of encounter. For instance, an inner urban arrival quarter such as Neukoln, characterised by transport flows and the interpenetration of residential, associational, cultural and commercial life, provides many more opportunities for fleeting encounter than a more isolated, low density outer-city area such as Sarcelles. Urban change and in particular gentrification emerged as important in several of our sites. The visible presence of minorities (e.g. Middle Eastern or South Asian food cultures) and sites of cultural memory (e.g. former synagogues) can play a role in areas becoming high value "cultural quarters", opening up commercial opportunities in which Muslim/Jewish encounter might be a marketable asset (as in the gastronomic economy of Frankfurt or Berlin), but also leading to minority residents being displaced. Neighbourhood-level narratives and memory cultures: As at the municipal level, the presence or absence of endogamous micro-local stories or memories of shared culture and history made a significant difference to the possibility of positive encounter. At the level of the individual and interpersonal, we found: The central importance of ambivalence rather than positive or negative attitudes to the other. In particular, we frequently observed a gap between discourse and practice. On one hand, research participants who articulate positive attitudes to the other do not necessarily experience meaningful positive relations in practice - while long-term, trusting and intimate relations emerged among participants who held quite negative representations of the other. Non-verbal registers - embodied/corporeal, musical, gastronomic - are harnessed in shared sensorial experience (hearing, seeing, tasting), carrying affective power due to intercommunal histories of migration and emerging as a site for staged encounter: in food (British multi-faith tea and samosas), music-making (North African dance classes and musical ensembles in France), and art/literary initiatives (re-siting a utopian Middle East in Germany through kebab/falafel culture). The emotional power of such experience - in which ascribed identities can be valorised but also forgotten - underlies the ambivalence of encounters and the gap between language and life, and grounds an emerging European urban micro-level memory culture that uses transmigrant stories to generate conviviality and cohesion. |
| Exploitation Route | We are currently completing our policy briefings from the project, but we are finalising the identification of "promising practices" and practical lessons from the project relevant for both local actors and policy-makers and national funders and sponsors of those actors |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Environment Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | Digital Interreligious Encounters in Urban Contexts (DIEU.X) |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Digital Humanities Network |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Encounters team supported the development of this project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Digital humanities programme, Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge 2020-21, led by Sami Everett Session 1, 22 February 2021 Virtual ethnography with Orthodox communities: benefits & challenges (guest speaker Ben Kasstan) Session 2, 25 February 2021 Digital surveys & attitudes towards the religious Other: focus on Sarcelles on the Parisian periphery (guest speakers Nonna Mayer and Vincent Tiberj - Encounters France team) Session 3, 2 March 2021 On-line discourse analysis: the ethics of conducting research on Muslim community media in France (guest speaker Hanane Karimi - Encounters France team) |
| Impact | Development of digital research toolkit |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Ethnographie du religieux - Université de Strasbourg 2021-22 |
| Organisation | University of Strasbourg |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK Encounters PI contributed one session |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborative advanced training programme developed by Sami Everett, German Encounters team member |
| Impact | Development of digital research toolkit |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | The Dynamics of Jewish-Muslim Interaction in Maghribi Popular Culture (ZOUJ) |
| Organisation | IMéRA |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project was on the French Institutes for Advanced Study (FIAS) programme was supported by the Encounters research team. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sami Everett, of the German Encounters team, was the resident fellow for this project. |
| Impact | Development of cultural/heritage dimension of project |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Arndt Emmerich interviewed on Frankfurt fieldwork |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Alexander Jürgs, editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung, interviewed our Frankfurt fieldworker, Arndt Emmerich, on the project and his findings, drawing out the implications for major public debates |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/frankfurt-juedisch-muslimische-netzwerke-im-bahnhof... |
| Description | BLAULICHT, ROTLICHT, NEPP - UND TOLERANZ? Jüdisch-muslimische Begegnungen im Frankfurter Bahnhofsviertel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jüdisch-muslimische Begegnungen im Frankfurter Bahnhofsviertel Translated title of the contribution: BLUE LIGHTS, RED LIGHTS, FRAUD - AND TOLERANCE? Jewish-Muslim encounters in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel Arndt Emmerich Original language: German Place of Publication: GEDIBBER - OUR BLOG Publisher: Jewish Museum Frankfurt Published - 24 Feb 2025 In December 2024, we spoke about Jewish and Muslim communities in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel at the " Lived Diversity" event at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. In this article, the participants take a look back and summarize some of the results of the evening. By Arndt Emmerich with the participation of James Ardinast, Nazim Alemdar and Friedrich Tietjen. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/blog/juedisch-muslimische-begegnungen/ |
| Description | Berlin event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Project event in Berlin, including session for third sector/interfaith activists and public lecture |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.mmg.mpg.de/events/35505/1105955 |
| Description | Beyond Encounters |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The team produced a short podcast series, with three main episodes in English, plus an overview podcast in German. The podcast series "Beyond Encounters" is a production of the "Encounters: Muslim-Jewish relations in urban Europe" research project, where a team of researchers did research on Jewish-Muslim relations in six European cities. Moderated by Dr. Vanessa Rau and Shai Hoffmann, the podcasts present in-depth conversations with researchers from the UK, France and Germany and discusses insights, results and the challenges of doing research in these turbulent times. Episode I: Dr. Alyaa Ebbiary and Dr. Dekel Peretz Episode II: Prof. Dr. Nonna Mayer and Dr. Sami Everett Episode III: Dr. Daniella Shaw and Dr. Ben Gidley |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.mmg.mpg.de/1333244/beyond-encounters1 |
| Description | Dialogue in times of Crisis. Muslim-Jewish Encounters in Berlin in the Shadow of the October 7th Israel-Gaza War |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | UA Ruhr Action Days against Antisemitism and Racism Dekel Peretz (Max Planck Göttingen): Dialogue in times of Crisis. Muslim-Jewish Encounters in Berlin in the Shadow of the October 7th Israel-Gaza War (online lecture in English) Public event online The UA Ruhr Action Days against Antisemitism and Racism explore the manifestations, effects, and areas of tension surrounding antisemitism and racism. Adopting a human rights-oriented educational perspective, Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund, and the University of Duisburg-Essen collaboratively open up university spaces for critical and nuanced exchange. Given the increasing number of incidents at universities, it is crucial to clearly identify and critically examine misanthropic and dehumanizing narratives without pitting different forms of discrimination against one another. The Anti-Discrimination Network of the University Alliance Ruhr warmly invites all university members and the interested public to participate in the three-week campaign period to gain knowledge, reflect, and engage in discussions through lectures, workshops, and activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://einrichtungen.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/en/ua-ruhr-action-days-against-antisemitism-and-racism |
| Description | Encounters Twitter/X account |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Social media account with 231 followers at the point of reporting (March 2025). Multilingual, used to publicise our activities, events, publications and those of our partners and collaborators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022,2023,2024,2025 |
| URL | https://x.com/EncounterSeu |
| Description | Europe: Inflamed and haunted by Israeli-Palestinian conflict |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Ben Gidley for Courthouse News on Europe in the aftermath of 7 October |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.courthousenews.com/europe-inflamed-and-haunted-by-israeli-palestinian-conflict/ |
| Description | Gelebte Vielfalt: Jüdische und muslimische Communities im Frankfurter Bahnhofsviertel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture and discussion with Dr. Arndt Emmerich on the Frankfurt case study at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.juedischesmuseum.de/besuch/detail/banhofsviertel-frankfurt/ |
| Description | Goettingen In Dialogue |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | IN DIALOGUE "Navigating a minefield - researching Muslim-Jewish Encounters" 17.00-18.30 Moderated conversation: Sami Everett, Dekel Peretz, Nonna Mayer, Vanessa Rau, Riem Spielhaus. Hybrid (in-person, but also broadcast online and recorded) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.mmg.mpg.de/1130515/2022-10-13-indialogue?c=1127414 |
| Description | INSIGHTS @mpimmg: Episode 7 with Dekel Peretz on Jewish-Muslim relations in Germany |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Three minute video, filmed in the field site, about the Berlin research of the Encounter project, as part of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious & Ethnic Diversity video series on YouTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqgcsACDCU |
| Description | Im Zweifel für die Zweiflers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Guest newspaper article by Arndt Emmerich in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, responding to a major TV series set in the the project's Frankfurt fieldwork site |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/die-zweiflers-juden-und-muslime-frankfurter-bahnhofsviertel-inter... |
| Description | Interview, AOC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Long feature interview in French online magazine AOC Media, which reaches a monthly audience of 30,000. One section of the interview discussed the project, in relation to UK/French comparisons. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | http://aoc.media/entretien/2024/02/09/ben-gidley-lantisemitisme-fait-partie-dune-culture-qui-impregn... |
| Description | Islamophobia and Antisemitism in Europe - Divergences and Interactions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | UA Ruhr Action Days against Antisemitism and Racism: online talk and webinar Prof. Dr. Yulia Egorova (Durham University) & Dr. Ben Gidley (University of London): Islamophobia and Antisemitism in Europe - Divergences and Interactions (Online Joint Lecture in English) The UA Ruhr Action Days against Antisemitism and Racism explore the manifestations, effects, and areas of tension surrounding antisemitism and racism. Adopting a human rights-oriented educational perspective, Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund, and the University of Duisburg-Essen collaboratively open up university spaces for critical and nuanced exchange. Given the increasing number of incidents at universities, it is crucial to clearly identify and critically examine misanthropic and dehumanizing narratives without pitting different forms of discrimination against one another. The Anti-Discrimination Network of the University Alliance Ruhr warmly invites all university members and the interested public to participate in the three-week campaign period to gain knowledge, reflect, and engage in discussions through lectures, workshops, and activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://einrichtungen.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/en/ua-ruhr-action-days-against-antisemitism-and-racism |
| Description | Jewish-Muslim Encounters in Urban Europe: Under Pressure (Berlin final event) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | In this conference, the research findings of the Encounters project set the stage for an exploration by leading academics, activists, and entrepreneurs of encounter from the UK, France and Germany of the shifts in encounter dynamics post-October 7th. Programme: 10:00 ? Opening: Steve Vertovec (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity), Matthias Koenig (Heidelberg University) 10:15-11:30 ? Session 1: Interfaith encounters Alyaa Ebbiary (Lancaster University) Dekel Peretz (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) Samia Hathroubi (Heidelberg University) Chair: Matthias Koenig (Heidelberg University) 11:45-13:00 ? Session 2: Representing the Other: media and cultural activism Anne-Sophie Lamine (Strasbourg University) Daniella Shaw (Birkbeck University of London) Yasemin El-Menouar (Bertelsmann Stiftung) Chair: Yulia Egorova (Durham University) 14:00-15:15 ? Session 3: Everyday spaces of encounters and community bridge building Nonna Mayer (Science Po) Vanessa Rau (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) Ali Amla (Solutions Not Sides) Chair: Alexander-Kenneth Nagel (Göttingen University) 15:30-18:30 ? Workshop: Shifts in encounter dynamics since the October 7th War (moderated by Shai Hoffmann and Ahmad Dakhnous with entrepreneurs of encounters from the UK, France and Germany) 18:30 ? Closing words: Ben Gidley (Birkbeck University of London), Sami Everett (Southampton University) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.mmg.mpg.de/events/38529/1105955 |
| Description | Jewish-Muslim encounters in European cities, before and after 7 October (Paris final event) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A two-day workshop in Paris in English with invited guests from other projects, but including a public event in French at which an artistic performance was presented. On 3 and 4 December, the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics hosted the final gathering of social scientists involved in the "Encounters" project, a trans-European initiative dedicated to exploring the interactions between Jewish and Muslim communities across six major European cities: Paris (for which Nonna Mayer was lead researcher), Strasbourg, London, Manchester, Berlin, and Frankfurt. Halfway through the workshop, Sciences Po also hosted the performance TA'AM by compagnie Safra. The performance provided a tangible example of encounter, embodying the interplay between Jewish and Arabic musical traditions, between the teamim (?????) - Hebrew cantillation signs at the heart of Jewish oral tradition - and the maqam (????) - a musical system from the Maghreb and the Near East. The piece sought to evoke the essence of this cultural meeting through its fusion of sounds and dances, offering a space that prioritized artistic expression over overt political messaging. Its open-ended nature allowed for diverse interpretations (including, conceivably, through the lens of recent political events), inviting the audience to engage with the performance on a sensory and emotional level. As choreographer and performer Jessica Bonamy emphasized in her commentary, Ta'am was, above all, designed to transport those watching and listening, creating a moment of shared resonance beyond words. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etudes-europeennes/en/news/jewish-muslim-encounters-in-european-cit... |
| Description | Juden und Muslime sind keine Feinde |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Arndt Emmerich in print edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the Frankfurt field site. "Emmerich researches Jewish-Muslim networks in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel district. His conclusion: Instead of conflicts, the relationship between the religions is characterized by respect." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/handle/2299/27821 |
| Description | Jüdische Räume in der Diaspora - Wo stehen wir? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Ein Gespräch mit Elisabeth Becker und Dekel Peretz Part of a regular series of "Jewish salons in Berlin" The Jewish Salon in the Green Salon is a project of the salonières Marion Kollbach & Sonia Simmenauer and the Kreuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism - KIgA e.V.. It is supported by the Berliner Sparkasse. It is a ticketed event, attended by ca.100 participants, and the audio is released as a podcast subsequently. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.salon-ich.berlin/programm/juedische-raeume-der-diaspora-wo-stehen-wir |
| Description | Kultursoziologe Arndt Emmerich im Gespräch (Radiointerview - Hessischer Rundfunk - hr2 Kultur) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Conflicts between Jews and Muslims are at the forefront of public perception, triggered by the current flare-up of the Middle East conflict. The international research project "Encounters" is dedicated to the question of what urban encounters between Jews and Muslims look like in six Western European cities. Arndt Emmerich took a close look at Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel. He is a cultural sociologist, teaches at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, is a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen and a scientific advisor at the Maimonides Jewish-Muslim Educational Center in Mainz. In this cultural discussion, Arndt Emmerich talks about how Jewish and Muslim networks have developed in Frankfurt and how they relate to each other. Broadcast: hr2-kultur, "Am Nachmittag", 09.01.2025, 17:10 h, 12:55 Min. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.hr2.de/podcasts/kultursoziologe-arndt-emmerich-im-gespraech,audio-102736.html |
| Description | Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | During the whole of our project, our team contributed regular posts to the MPI-MMG blog, highlighting different aspects of the fieldwork for a wide public audience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023,2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.mmg.mpg.de/blogs |
| Description | October 7th and its aftermath: The war over there and the war over here |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Online debate featuring Ben Gidley, hosted by Leo Baeck College Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKB0fcJxWzM |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://lbc.ac.uk/2024-fundraising-appeal/ |
| Description | Thinking about antisemitism and Islamophobia relationally |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Ben Gidley as part of a public event on nti-racism and anti-antisemitism at the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism. Over 100 registered attendees, including students, practitioners and members of the public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/43710/anti-racism-and-anti-antisemitism |