"Germans without Footnotes: Islam, Belonging and Poetry Slam in Berlin"

  • Date: Oct 28, 2020
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Katarzyna Puzon (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
  • Katarzyna Puzon is an anthropologist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Institute of European Ethnology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
  • Location: Zoom Meeting
"Germans without Footnotes: Islam, Belonging and Poetry Slam in Berlin"

For more details please contact cziesielsky(at)mmg.mpg.de.

download flyer


This paper examines how young Muslim performers grapple with the dilemma of wanting to be seen as German, on the one hand, and holding on to their ‘Muslimness’, on the other hand. Situating their practices in the current German context, in which Islam has become an even more contentious subject, the chapter focuses on i,Slam, a collective of young German Muslim slam poets, and discusses the group’s activities as constitutive of the slam poets’ understandings of their belonging in Germany. It reflects on how this is articulated in their practices and draws attention to questions that arise when Islam is put on stage and what comes into play in these developments. In this respect, the stage becomes a public platform where different ideas and views are presented and identities are performed.

Go to Editor View