PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS - Università degli Studi di Messina

- The aim of both religions remains unaltered: to reach a level of holiness which evidently has
a different profile in the two contexts.
Paolo Scarpi, University of Padova, Italy
131
Wed 16 th , 15.00, Classroom 6
Dalla Storia delle Religioni alle Scienze delle Religioni: dal metodo al contenitore.
After Raffaele Pettazzoni and his School, the History of religions, in Italy, has been the object
of criticism aiming at depreciating its methodology. The state of the art of the discipline today
runs the risk both of loosing its specific label, acquiring, instead, the generic label “Science of
religions” and of being turned into a big "container" devoid of epistemological status where
distinct approaches and methodologies may coexist.
Oliver Scharbrodt, University of Cork, Ireland
Muslims in Ireland and their Societies of Origin in Asia and Africa
Wed 16 th , 9.00, Classroom 11
Despite the publication of various studies and the emergence of research projects on Muslims
living in Europe, only a few attempts to deal with the Muslim community in Ireland have been
undertaken in serious academic scholarship (see Sakaranaho 2003, Sakaranaho 2006, Flynn
2006, Marranci 2007). The Muslim population of Ireland has quadrupled in the last ten years
reaching a number of 32,000, according to the 2006 national census. Despite the rising
numbers and an increased public profile, not much attention has been given to the Irish
Muslim community in studies on European Islam. Given that hardly any research has been
undertaken on Muslims in Ireland, this paper constitutes highly original research. Two
elements of the Muslim experience in Ireland distinguish it from other European countries;
one is the very recent nature of Muslim migration to Ireland which began in the 1950s but has
only gained major momentum in the last 20 years. Hence, the vast majority of Muslims has
only recently settled in Ireland. In addition, Ireland has not enjoyed historical or colonial links
with particular countries or regions in the Muslim world. Therefore, Muslim immigration to
Ireland has been extremely diverse and has not been dominated by Muslims from a particular
ethnic or cultural background. While the first wave of Muslim migration to Ireland was
constituted of Muslim students from South Africa and the Middle East, a recent rise of South
Asian communities can be observed as well as an influx of refugees from former Yugoslavia
and various Sub-Saharan African countries. Hence, the Muslim community in Ireland is not
only one of the youngest but also one of the most diverse in Europe. Apart from providing a
brief sketch of the historical evolution of the Muslim community in Ireland, this paper focuses
on the development of institutional frameworks among Irish Muslims, by looking at various
organisations that have been established in Ireland. It will be investigated what cultural, ethnic
or sectarian orientations they have represented, and how successful they have been in
establishing organisational cohesion among Irish Muslims and in representing the very diverse
Muslim community in the Irish public. The negotiation of various forms of Muslim religiosity,
both cultural and sectarian, with the homogenizing tendencies of modern Muslim reform
movements such as the Salafiyya within these organisations will also be discussed and related
to similar dynamics of the construction of Muslim identities in other European countries.
Tue 15 th , 16.40, Classroom 6