Mapping the sacred: Including students’ research in seminars

The session concerning inclusion of a student-conducted mapping project into a seminar, has a strong focus on methodology and practicalities (survey, training, software).

Students often find it difficult to relate to topics that are discussed in abstract, theoretical, and ideological terms.To address this issue, a mapping project realized by the students allows them to grapple with political trends and contiguities. In this session, I discuss how students in my ‘Islam and Politics’ class are guided to conduct research on the local religious field and to visualize their results in a shared digital environment. Mapping mosques and transnational religious actors in Bishkek, increases the students’ research and digital capacities, as well as their understanding of the realpolitik and inhowfar they are even subjected to current religio-political developments. Simultaneously, students are encouraged as young researchers by implementing their results in a seminar.