Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Seesemann
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Seesemann
Islamic Studies with a special focus on Africa
Academic Degrees
| 2004 | Habilitation: Islamic Studies, University of Bayreuth |
| 1993 | Doctorate: Islamic Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz |
| 1985 – 1991 | Studies in Islamic Studies, Islamic Philology, Social Anthropology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz |
Professional Background
| 2011 – 2016 | Heisenberg Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Bayreuth |
| 5/2010 | Visiting Professor, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris |
| 2005 – 2011 | Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Northwestern University Evanston, IL (successful completion of tenure process and promotion to Associate Professor in 2011) |
| 2000 – 2004 | Research Associate in SFB/FG 560 "Local action in Africa in the context of global influences" at the University of Bayreuth (Project: "The Islamic Education System in East Africa") |
| 1999 – 2000 | DFG – Habilitation fellowship, University of Bayreuth |
| 1997 – 1998 | DFG – Research fellowship, University of Bayreuth |
| 1996 | Research Associate, SFB 214 "Identity in Africa", University of Bayreuth |
| 1994 – 1995 | Adjunct Lecturer, Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Khartoum (Sudan) |
| 1993 – 1995 | Postdoc fellowship, research training group “Intercultural Relations in Africa”, University of Bayreuth |
Other
| Since 2016 | Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of African Religions, University of Pennsylvania Press |
| Since 2015 | Deputy Director, Institute of African Studies, University of Bayreuth |
| Since 2015 | Member of the Advisory Board of the journal Islamic Africa, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden |
| 2012 – 2013 | Vice Dean, Bayreuth International School of African Studies (BIGSAS), University of Bayreuth |
| 2011 – 2012 | Guest Editor, Oxford Islamic Studies Online (West Africa Regional Spotlight) |
| 2011 | Consultant of the Islam Research Programme, Leiden |
| 2010 – 2014 | Deputy Editor of the journal Islamic Africa, Northwestern University Press |
| 2010 | Associated Student Government Faculty Honor Roll, Northwestern University Evanston (IL; distinction for teaching) |
| 2008 – 2011 | Member of the Steering Committee of the Islamic Mysticism Group, American Academy of Religion |
| 2007 – 2008 | Faculty Fellow, Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Northwestern University Evanston, IL |
| Since 2005 | Editor of the series Islam in Africa, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden (with Knut S. Vikør) |
Islamic Studies with a special focus on Africa
Regional:
- Sudan
- Mauritania
- Kenya
Research Topics:
- Islamic education
- Sufism
- Islam and politics
Islamic Studies with a special focus on Africa
Selected publications
2024
Africa*n Relations : Modalities Reflected
publ: Vierke, Clarissa; Seesemann, Rüdiger; Kroeker, Lena
Bayreuth 2024. - VIII, 121 page . - (University of Bayreuth African Studies Online; 11)
doi:10.15495/EPub_UBT_00007499 ...
2023
Eisenhuth, Philipp; Fichtner, Myriel; Frede, Britta; Seesemann, Rüdiger
Developing Crosslingual Ontologies in WissKI : Transcontinental Research Collaboration in the A ...
in Modern Languages Open (2023) issue 1
doi:10.3828/mlo.v0i0.445 ...
2022
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J.; Seesemann, Rüdiger; Vogt-William, Christine
African Studies in Distress : German Scholarship on Africa and the Neglected Challenge of Decol ...
in Africa Spectrum volume 57 (2022) issue 1. - page 83-100
doi:10.1177/00020397221080179 ...
2016
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Changes in Islamic knowledge practices in twentieth-century Kenya
Islamic Education in Africa : writing boards and blackboards
Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 2016. - page 212-233
Spies, Eva; Seesemann, Rüdiger
Pluralicity and Relationality : New Directions in African Studies
in Africa Today volume 63 (2016) issue 2. - page 132-139
doi:10.2979/africatoday.63.2.19 ...
2015
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Embodied knowledge and "The Walking Qur’an" : Lessons for the study of Islam and
Africa
in Journal of Africana Religions volume 3 (2015) issue 2. - page 201-209
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/579178/pdf
Sufism and literary production in the nineteenth century
publ: Chih, Rachida; Mayeur-Jaouen, Catherine; Seesemann, Rüdiger
Würzburg : Ergon, 2015. - 579 page . - (Mitteilungen zur Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte der islamischen Welt; 37)
2011
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The divine flood : Ibrahim Niasse and the roots of a twentieth-century Sufi revival
Oxford : Oxford Univ. Press, 2011. - XVI, 331 page
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Lesson Plan: "Islam in East Africa"
in Oxford Islamic Studies Online (2011)
http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/lessonplan_5.h ...
2010
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Alfā Hāshim
The Encyclopaedia of Islam. 3. edition. Band [10] = 2010,1
Leiden : Brill, 2010. - page 77-79
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Sufism in West Africa
in Religion Compass volume 4 (2010) issue 10. - page 606-614
doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00241.x ...
2009
Seesemann, Rüdiger; Soares, Benjamin F.
"Being as Good Muslims as Frenchmen": on Islam and Colonial Modernity in West Africa
in Journal of Religion in Africa volume 39 (2009) issue 1. - page 91-120
doi:10.1163/157006609X409067 ...
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Islam in sub-Saharan Africa
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Band 3. Interest - Metalwork
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2009. - page 87-98
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Musulmans kényans, les suites du 11 septembre et la "guerre contre le terrorisme"
Islam, état et société en Afrique
Paris : Éd. Karthala, 2009. - page 243-273 . - (L'Afrique Politique)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Three Ibrāhīms: Literary Production and the Remaking of the Tijāniyya Sufi Order in Twentieth-C ...
in Die Welt des Islams volume 49 (2009) issue 3-4. - page 299-333
doi:10.1163/004325309X12458504137789 ...
2007
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Between tradition and reform : the Hadrami model of Islamic learning in 20th-century Kenya
Bildungsformen und Bildungsträger zwischen Tradition und Moderne
Halle : Orientwiss. Zentrum der Martin-Luther-Univ. Halle-Wittenberg, 2007. - page 37-60 . - (Orientwissenschaftliche Hefte; 22)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Kenyan Muslims, the aftermath of 9/11 and the "war on terror"
Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa
New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. - page 157-176
Seesemann, Rüdiger
"Thinking in terms of black and white is dangerous" : Interview with Rüdiger Seesemann
in Development and Cooperation = Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit volume 48 (2007) issue 10. - page 372-375
2006
Seesemann, Rüdiger
African Islam or Islam in Africa? : Evidence from Kenya
The global worlds of the Swahili : interfaces of Islam, identity and space in 19th and 20th-century East Africa
Münster : LIT, 2006. - page 229-250 . - (Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 26)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Between Sufism and Islamism : the Tijâniyya and Islamist rule in the Sudan
in Princeton Papers volume 15 (2006) . - page 23-57
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Competing approaches to Islamic education in Kenya
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Islamic Civilisation in Eastern Africa : Kampala, Uganda 15-17 December 2003
Istanbul : IRCICA, 2006. - page 171-179 . - (Sources and Studies on the History of Islamic Civilisation Series; 13)
The Global Worlds of the Swahili : Interfaces of Islam, Identity and Space in 19th and 20th-Cen ...
publ: Seesemann, Rüdiger; Loimeier, Roman
Münster : LIT, 2006 . - (Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 26)
Seesemann, Rüdiger; Loimeier, Roman
Introduction : interfaces of Islam, identity and space in 19th and 20th-century East Africa
The global worlds of the Swahili : interfaces of Islam, identity and space in 19th and 20th-century East-Africa
Münster : LIT, 2006. - page 1-14 . - (Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 26)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Sub-Saharan Africa
Anti-Americanism in the Islamic world
London : Hurst, 2006. - page 197-208
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Ziyāra: Funktionen und Bedeutungen in der Tiǧānīya (Westafrika)
in Der Islam volume 83 (2006) issue 1. - page 157-169
doi:10.1515/ISLAM.2006.006 ...
2005
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Islamism and the paradox of secularization : the case of Islamist ideas on women in the Sudan
in Sociologus volume 55 (2005) issue 1. - page 89-118
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Kenia - Muslime im politischen Wandel
in Informationsprojekt Naher und Mittlerer Osten (2005) issue 41. - page 9-12
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The quotidian dimension of Islamic reformism in Wadai (Chad)
L’ Islam politique au sud du Sahara : identités, discours et enjeux
Paris : Éd. Karthala, 2005. - page 327-346 . - (Hommes et Sociétés)
2004
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Nach der "Flut" : Ibrāhīm Niasse (1900 - 1975), Sufik und Gesellschaft in Westafrika
Bayreuth, 2004
(habilitation, 2005,
)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The shurafâ’ and the "blacksmith" : the role of the Idaw 'Alî of Mauritania in the career of th ...
The transmission of learning in Islamic Africa
Leiden : Brill, 2004. - page 72-98 . - (Islam in Africa; 2)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Verfall des Sufismus?
Geschichte und Erinnerung im Islam
Göttingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004. - page 171-194 . - (Formen der Erinnerung; 15)
doi:10.13109/9783666355745.171 ...
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Vom Gesang der Wale, oder: Warum man einen Marabout alimentiert
Blick nach vorn : Festgabe für Gerd Spittler zum 65. Geburtstag
Köln : Köppe, 2004. - page 186-199
2003
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Antiamerikanismus in Afrika südlich der Sahara
Antiamerikanismus in Nordafrika, Nah- und Mittelost : Formen, Dimensionen und Folgen für Europa und Deutschland
Hamburg : Deutsches Orient-Institut, 2003. - page 279-294 . - (Mitteilungen des Deutschen Orient-Instituts im Verbund der Stiftung Deutsches Übersee-Institut; 68)
Seesemann, Rüdiger; Hunwick, John; Kane, Ousmane
Senegambia. I. The Niassene tradition
Arabic literature of Africa. Band 4. The writings of Western Sudanic Africa
Leiden : Brill, 2003. - page 272-307 . - (Handbuch der Orientalistik : Abteilung 1, Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten; 13,4)
2002
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Ein Dialog der Taubstummen : französische vs. britische Wahrnehmungen des Islam im spätkolonial ...
in Africa Spectrum volume 37 (2002) issue 2. - page 109-139
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40174928?Search=yes&re ...
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Murîdiyya
Religions of the World : a Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. Band 3. K-R
Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-Clio, 2002. - page 901-902
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Sufi leaders and social welfare : two examples from the Sudan
Social welfare in Muslim societies in Africa
Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002. - page 98-117
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Ziyâra (West and Central Africa)
Encyclopaedia of Islam. New edition. Band 11. W-Z
Leiden : Brill, 2002
2000
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The history of the Tijâniyya and the issue of tarbiya in Darfur (Sudan)
La Tijâniyya : une confrérie musulmane à la conquête de l’Afrique
Paris : Éd. Karthala, 2000. - page 393-437 . - (Hommes et Sociétés)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Der lange Arm des Ibrâhîm Sâlih : Erfahrungen eines deutschen Forschers mit dem Netzwerk eines ...
Die islamische Welt als Netzwerk
Würzburg : Ergon-Verl., 2000. - page 135-161 . - (Mitteilungen zur Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte der islamischen Welt; 9)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The writings of the Sudanese Tijānī shaykh Ibrāhīm Sīdī (1949-1999), with notes on the writings ...
in Sudanic Africa volume 11 (2000) . - page 107-124
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25653342?seq=1#page_sc ...
1999
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Internationalisierung des "afrikanischen Islam"? : Das Beispiel von Ibrâhîm Sâlih
Afrika und die Globalisierung
Münster : LIT, 1999. - page 325-336 . - (Schriften der Vereinigung von Afrikanisten in Deutschland; 18)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Der Sudan und die islamistische Verfassung
in Informationsprojekt Naher und Mittlerer Osten (1999) issue 17. - page 42-45
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The takfīr debate. Part II : The Sudanese arena
in Sudanic Africa volume 10 (1999) . - page 65-110
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25653327?seq=1#page_sc ...
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Where East meets West : the development of Qur'anic education in Darfur
in Islam et Sociétés au Sud du Sahara volume 13 (1999) . - page 41-61
1998
Seesemann, Rüdiger
The takfīr debate : Sources for the study of a contemporary dispute among African Sufis. Part I ...
in Sudanic Africa volume 9 (1998) . - page 39-70
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25653311?seq=1#page_sc ...
1997
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Die jihâd-Ideologie im islamistischen Sudan
Forschungen im Sudan : Ergebnisse der interdisziplinären Sudantagung im Februar 1996 in Erfurt
Erfurt : Institut für Geographie, 1997. - page 203-208 . - (Erfurter geographische Studien; 5)
1996
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Islam, Arbeit und Arbeitsethik : die zâwiya der Tijâniyya in el-Fasher (Sudan)
Arbeit in Afrika
Hamburg : LIT, 1996. - page 141-160 . - (Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung; 12)
1995
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Ba‘d malâmih al-ta‘lîm al-dînî wa-l-khalâwî fî Dârfûr (Some aspects of religious education and ...
in Dirāsāt ifrīqīyah volume 13 (1995) . - page 93-116
1993
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Ahmadu Bamba und die Entstehung der Murîdîya : Analyse religiöser und historischer Hintergründe ...
Berlin : Schwarz, 1993 . - (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen; 166)
Seesemann, Rüdiger
Zwischen Verklärung und Erbfeindschaft : das westliche Islambild als abendländisches Konstrukt ...
in Umbrüche volume 7 (1993) . - page 10-18
Islamic Studies with a special focus on Africa
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Seesemann
University of Bayreuth
95440 Bayreuth
Phone: 0921 / 55-3553
E-mail: rüdiger.seesemann@uni-bayreuth.de
Homepage: Homepage of the Contributor