Embracing Islam in Switzerland: (Re-)Conversion Between Searching for the Meaning of Life and Social Ties
BP2-STS
- Nollert, Michael ORCID Universität Freiburg
- Sheikhzadegan, Amir ORCID Universität Freiburg
- 23.04.2023
Published in:
- Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. - Informa UK Limited. - 2023, p. 1-16
English
The pioneer conversion model of Lofland and Stark suggests that people adopt a religion because experiences in their biography motivate them to seek answers regarding the purpose of life, and because they encounter followers of a religion that happens to provide them with convincing answers. We draw on the Lofland-Stark model while considering Lofland’s and Skonovd’s concept of conversion motifs to gain a deeper insight into the convert’s story of adopting a new faith. Furthermore, we integrate Paloutzian’s concept of spiritual transformation into our theoretical framework to cover both conversion and reconversion (reversion). Against this conceptual background and applying a combination of narrative-autobiographical interviews with qualitative network analysis, we interviewed 24 converts and reconverts in Switzerland. Based on the findings, we propose a typology along the dimensions of “seeking answers” and “social contacts”.
- Faculty
- Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
- Department
- Département de travail social, politiques sociales et développement global
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Demography, sociology, statistics
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1080/13602004.2023.2202044
- ISSN 1360-2004
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/324887
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