The project examines the interplay of practices and concepts that relate to Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy and Islam. It takes the SEKEM organization as a starting point and Egypt as a socio-cultural context—transculturally and globally connected to other African and European contexts. In times of climatic challenges, these ‘esoteric-Islamic’ practices and organizational structures seem to offer resilience strategies for coping with the global ecological crisis. What makes a practice ‘esoteric’ for the predominantly Muslim practitioners, and how is their practice linked to the creation of their ‘own’ rationality? How can anthroposophy- or Islam-related terminologies and practices still be distinguished? In which situations are certain practices applied in the fields of agriculture, education, business, culture, and science? Furthermore, SEKEM’s public, tourism, and educational interests challenge and renegotiate a dichotomous Eurocentric attribution of insider/outsider perspectives. In order to investigate these global-local entanglements, the approach includes analyses of various media, participant observation, and a survey of different groups of practitioners.
Lower Himalayan Region, India, South Asia
Kalindi Kokal