L.I.S.A. Wissenschaftsportal Gerda Henkel Stiftung

Rallies and public gatherings have long been a central part of the public life in East African countries. In Tanzania, a very multi-religious state, in which, however, Christians are in the majority and dominate public life in many areas, Muslims have felt underrepresented and discriminated against. In the last 30 years a large variety of religious styles of public performances – that had started in the evangelical christianity – emerged that resonated strong in the Muslim communities. In their public gatherings, the so called mihadhara, existencial concerns are expressed in shrill performances. In her lecture, Prof Dr Felicitas Becker analyses these performances and sermons and the world-rejecting disposition displayed in them. Felicitas Becker's research project "Local debates and trans-regional exchange among producers, purveyors and users of recordings of Swahili-language Muslim sermons and disputations from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda" was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the special programme Islam.