
Dr. Patrick Desplat
Vertretungsprofessor
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Institut für Ethnologie
Studtstraße 21
D-48149 Münster
Tel.: +49 251 83-27311
Vertretungsprofessor
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Institut für Ethnologie
Studtstraße 21
D-48149 Münster
Tel.: +49 251 83-27311
Sprechstunde im Wintersemester 2022/23: nach Vereinbarung, per Zoom
I am a social anthropologist primarily interested in religion, youth, migration and sociality in urban Africa. I carried out fieldwork in East Africa and the Indian Ocean, particularly inKenya, Ethiopia and Madagascar. In my current manuscript “A tapestry of tensions. Envy, youth and suspicious sociality in urban Madagascar” I scrutinize envy discourses among young educated people in the Indian Oceanport city of Mahajanga. This study focuses on social tensions in regard to economic hardships and political crises in Madagascar. My analysis centers on individual migration projects and how the search for a better life changes the ways how young men and women navigate social proximity and distance in their everyday relationships.
My former research investigated religious debates among Muslims in the setting of East Africa. My main work has been on the role of saint veneration in Islam, practices of place-making and the culturalization of practices and discourses attached to shrines in Ethiopia. In addition, I took a close look at ethnic and religious boundary-making in the predominantly Christian country and explored the appropriation of global Islamic discourses into local frameworks of meaning and relevance.
During my career I worked, taught or held scholarships at the University of Mainz, Free University of Berlin, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Societies and Cultures, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient,TOPOI Berlin, University of Cologne, University of Mahajanga and University of Göttingen.
080820 |
Theorie und Geschichte der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie |
080875 | Kultur- und Gesellschaftsvergleich in historischer und aktueller Perspektive 13.10.22 - 02.02.23, Do 12-14, SCH 100.2 Einzeltermin, 10.11.22, Do 12-14, SCH 109.6 |
080882 | Institutscolloquium 14-täglich, 12.10.22 - 01.02.23, Mi 16-18, F 042 in Kooperation mit: Prof. Dr. Helene Basu |
080883 | Foundations of Empirical Research 19.10.22 - 01.02.23, Mi 14-16, STU 105 (2.10) |
080888 | Master- and PhD-Colloquium 13.10.22 - 02.02.23, Do 14-16, ULB 202 |
088886 |
Konzeption eines Forschungs- oder Berufsfeldprojekts |
088887 |
Forschungskolloquium |
088879 |
Institutscolloquium gemeinsam mit: Prof. Helene Basu |
088888 |
Writing a Project Proposal |
088889 |
Master- and PhD-Colloquium |
086820 | Theorie und Geschichte der Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie 13.10.21 - 02.02.22, Mi 12-14, SCH 100.2 |
086886 | Institutscolloquium 14-täglich, 20.10.21 - 02.02.22, Mi 16-18, DPL 23.402 |
086887 | Foundations of Empirical Research 19.10.21 - 01.02.22, Di 14-16, F 041 |
086893 | Religious plurality in Africa 19.10.21 - 01.03.22, Di 16-18, ULB 201 |
086895 | Master- and PhD-Colloquium 14.10.21 - 03.02.22, Do 12-14, AE 209 |
2002-2009 | Promotionsstudium in Ethnologie, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
1993-2001 | Masterstudium in Ethnologie, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
2009 | Dr. phil. in Ethnologie, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
2001 | Magister Artium (M.A.) in Ethnologie, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
2021-2023 | Vertretutungsprofessur, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institut für Ethnologie |
2019-2020 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Georg-August-Universität, Institut für Ethnologie und Ethnologische Sammlung |
2018-2019 | Vertretutungsprofessur, Georg-August-Universität, Institut für Ethnologie und Ethnologische Sammlung |
2018-2018 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Georg-August-Universität, Institut für Ethnologie und Ethnologische Sammlung |
2016-2018 | Postdoktorand, Forum für Interdisziplinäre Religionsforschung (FiReF), Georg-August-Universität Göttingen |
2012-2015 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, DFG-Projekt, Institut für Ethnologie, Universität zu Köln |
2011-2012 | Vertretung der Juniorprofessur, Institut für Ethnologie, Universität zu Köln |
2010-2011 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Institut für Ethnologie, Universität zu Köln |
2008-2009 | Postdoc, Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Societies and Cultures, Freie Universität Berlin |
2003-2008 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Sonderforschungsbereich 295: „Kulturelle und sprachliche Kontakte“, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
2001-2002 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |
2022 | Doubting the Malagasy Remedy. Rumors and Suspicion during COVID-19 in Madagascar. In Slovenský národopis/Slovak Ethnology 70 (3): 411-429.
https://www.sav.sk/index.php?lang=sk&doc=journal-list&part=article_response_page&journal_article_no=28997 |
2022 | Facing Familiar Strangers and Potential Friends. Rumours of Betrayal, Ambiguous Friendships and the Dangers of Poison in Urban Madagascar. In Journal of Southern African Studies , DOI:10.1080/03057070.2022.2091350 |
2022 | On Belongings and Betrayals. Migratory Projects and Moral Obligations among Youth in Mahajanga/Madagascar. In Iain Walker and Marie-Aude Fouéré (ed.) Across the Waves. Strategies of Belonging in Indian Ocean Island Societies. Leiden, Boston: Brill. 127-156. |
2018 | Desplat, Patrick. 2018. “Closed circles of mistrust: Envy, aspirations and urban sociality in coastal Madagascar.” Africa: Special Issue “Urban Kinship”. Africa 88 (S1) 2018: S117–S139. |
2016 | Desplat, Patrick. 2016. “‘Heard about the Good-Deed-Sayers?’ Islam and everyday conversations on religious difference in Harar, Ethiopia.” Journal of Islamic Studies 35(1): 11–42. |
2013 | Desplat, Patrick. 2013. “Against Wahabism? Islamic reform, ambivalence and sentiments of loss in Harar.” In: Desplat, Patrick and Østebø, Terje (eds.). Muslim Ethiopia: Transforming Identities and New Representations. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. 163–184.Desplat, Patrick. 2016. “‘Heard about the Good-Deed-Sayers?’ Islam and everyday conversations on religious difference in Harar, Ethiopia.” Journal of Islamic Studies 35(1): 11–42. |
2013 | Desplat, Patrick and Østebø, Terje. 2013. “Introduction: Muslims in Ethiopia. The christian legacy, identity politics and Islamic reformism.” In: Desplat, Patrick und Østebø, Terje (eds.). Muslim Ethiopia: Transforming Identities and New Representations. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. 1-46. |
2013 | Desplat, Patrick and Ostebo, Terje. 2013. Muslim Ethiopia: Transforming Identities and New Representations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. |
2012 | Desplat, Patrick and Schulz, Dorothea. 2012. Prayer in the City: The Making of Muslim Places and Urban Life. Bielefeld: Transcript. |
2012 | Desplat, Patrick. 2012. “Introduction: Representations of space, place-making and urban life in Muslim societies.” In: Desplat, Patrick and Schulz, Dorothea (eds.). Prayer in the City: The Making of Muslim Places and Urban Life. Transcript: Bielefeld. 7–34. |
2012 | Desplat, Patrick. 2012. “Beyond the politics of ‘Othering’: Shifting representations of Christian-Muslim-relationships in Ethiopia.” Orient: German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture of the Middle East (Special Issue “Islam in Africa” 1): 6–11. |
2010 | Desplat, Patrick. 2010. Heilige Stadt – Stadt der Heiligen: Manifestationen, Ambivalenzen und Kontroversen des islamischen Heiligen in Harar/Äthiopien. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. |
2008 | Desplat, Patrick. 2008. “The making of a Harari city in Ethiopia: Constructing and contesting saintly places.” In: Stauth, Georg and Schielke, Samuli (eds.). Dimensions of Locality: The Making and Remaking of Islamic Saints and their Places (Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam 8). Bielefeld: Transcript. 149–168. |
2005 | Desplat, Patrick. 2005. “The articulation of religious identities and their boundaries in Ethiopia: Labeling difference and processes of contextualisation in Islam.” In: Journal of Religion in Africa 35(4): 482–505. |
2005 | Desplat, Patrick. 2005. “Äthiopien: Diaspora am Horn von Afrika? Inamo 41: 4–8. |
2003 | Desplat, Patrick. 2003. Islamische Gelehrte zwischen Text und Praxis: Wandlungsprozesse im Islam am Beispiel von Kenia/ Ostafrika. Arbeitspapier des Instituts für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Nr. 16. |
2002 | Desplat, Patrick. 2002. “Muslime in Äthiopien: Die Heiligenverehrung in Harar in Auseinandersetzung mit islamischen Reformströmungen.” Afrika Spektrum 2002(2): 141-157. |
2018 | Desplat, Patrick. 2018. “Madagascar.“ In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden (forthcoming). |
2018 | Desplat, Patrick. 2018. “Jimma.“ In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 138–139. |
2016 | Desplat, Patrick. 2016. “Harar.“ In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 77–80. |
2016 | Desplat, Patrick. 2016. “Husayn, Shayk.“ In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 102–105. |
2016 | Desplat, Patrick. 2014. “Dire Dawa.” In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 94–95. |
2016 | Desplat, Patrick. 2016. “al-Hararī, ‘Abdallāh b. al- Muḥammad b. Yūsuf.“ In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 133–134. |
2014 | Desplat, Patrick. 2014. “Dire Dawa.” In: Fleet, Kate et al. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Islam 3. Brill: Leiden. 94–95. |
2013 | Associated professor, Institut des Langues et Civilisations des Iles du Sud-Ouest de l'Océan Indien (ILC/ISOOI), Universität von Mahajanga, Madagasca |
2010 | Senior fellow, Topoi (The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations), Freie Universität Berlin |
2002 | Postgraduiertenstipendium von Rheinland-Pfalz, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz |