Plural concepts of time in (trans)local contexts
Roman Loimeier
Hassan Mwakimako
In the research project „plural concepts of time in (trans)local
contexts“ the major focus of research will be the question
as to how the coexistence and competition of different (trans)local
concepts of time are expressed in the everyday lifes and everyday
agency of human communities with a particular reference to Muslim
communities. Which concepts of time do gain particular importance
in which specific context and how do processes of negotiation
develop with respect to questions over hegemony of definition.
How do concepts of time acquire particular relevance with respect
to the (trans)local competition of times and conceptions of time.
The major question is whether particular concepts of time that
claim universal validity prevail in processes of social change
against locally established concepts of time.
Project publications 
Part 1
Local and translocal times in East Africa: Zanzibar and Dar
es Salam as localities for the negotiation of time(s) in cosmopolitan
contexts
Roman Loimeier
Zanzibar and Dar es-Salam are characterized by historically different
forms and experiences of embedding in different translocal contexts
(see above) that are again characterized by different experiences
with respect to the evolution of concepts of time. Zanzibar as
well as Dar es-Salam have developed, thus, since the late 19th
century, different time-scapes, that have acquired, in the form
of specific concepts of time, orders of time and time-budgets,
relevance for the everyday life of people. Loimeier´s project
will focus on the development of different orders of time in the
sphere of education. The central question will be as to how specific
concepts of time have been translated, in three different types
of school, ie. government schools, mission schools and Qur´ânic
schools, since the late 19th century, into social realities and
to ask how specific orders of time, such „punctuality“
have been imposed in that process. In addition, the project will
ask how the competition between different models of education
has influenced the development of the specific time-budgets in
the different types of school and thus influenced the social relevance
of these models of education.
Part 2
Changing Times: Muslim religious debates in old and new cosmopolitan
Mombasa and Nairobi
Hassan Mwakimako
In his project, Mwakimako will focus on question as to how disputes
and discussions over issues of time are negotiated in concrete
terms in two historically different time-scapes, namely, the „old
cosmopolitan centre“ of Mombasa and the „new cosmopolitan
centre“ of Nairobi. These disputes and discussions over
issues of time may result from competition between Islamic and
non-Islamic concepts of time, but may also result from conflicts
that reflect internal Muslim dynamics, in particular, when set
in the temporal context of the annual disputes over the sighting
of the moon for the month of Ramadhan. These disputes do not have
an only local character any more, but should be seen, on account
of the increasing density of communication in the Islamic umma,
as being part of translocal disputes withing the Islamic world
as such.
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