Reflecting on Mosque Research in Europe Positionality, Infrastructure, Governmentality, and Transnationalism

Over the past decades, research on mosque communities has shown that mosques have become not only focal points of public debates concerning Islam’s place in European societies but also important sites where belonging, gender relations, and religious authority are actively negotiated. In light of this vast body of research, we believe it is essential to pause and critically reflect on mosque research itself. How is research on mosques influenced by political, societal, and disciplinary contexts? Who studies mosques and for what reasons? What theoretical and methodological approaches are used? And how is research on mosques complicit in constructing an image of Muslims and Islam in Europe? The contributions in this volume interrogate the epistemic foundations of a field long shaped by suspicion, security politics, and integration debates. They show how positionality, methodological choices, and infrastructural lenses (from architecture to governmental dispositifs) shape knowledge production about mosques, and trace transnational flows of religious education, governance, and identity. By conceptualizing mosques as relational spaces and researchers as active participants in the production of knowledge, this volume opens up new opportunities for reflexive mosque research.