Organisational Structure

Involved Disciplines

Currently more than 90 scientists from the fields of Anglistics, Assyriology, Anthropology of South Asia, Egyptology, Ancient, Medieval and Modern History, South Asian History, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Classical and Modern Indology, East Asian Art History, Medical Psychology, Musicology, Religious Studies as well as Theology are involved in 22 subprojects.

The collaborative research center SFB 619 unites a large part of them in the following project areas:

Project Area A "Ritual Dynamics Between Tradition and Recent Religious Practice"
Head of subproject:
Prof. Dr. Michael Bergunder, Faculty of Theology, University of Heidelberg
Prof. Dr. William S. Sax, Anthropology of South Asia, South Asian Institute at Heidelberg University

Project Area B "Reconstructing Processes of Ritual Dynamics in Bygone Cultures"
Head of subproject:
Prof. Prof. Dr. Bernd Schneidmüller, Department of History, University of Heidelberg
PD Dr. Jörg Gengnagel, Department of Modern Indology, South Asian Institute at Heidelberg University

Project Area C "Ritual Transfer in European and Middle East Societies"
Head of subproject:
Prof. Dr. Gregor Ahn, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Heidelberg
Prof. Dr. Susanne Enderwitz, Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near East / Islamic Studies / Arabic Studies, University of Heidelberg

Research Areas

The research of the 21 subprojects subsumed in the project areas A to C refer to ritual practices and processes that transcend everyday life: death and initiation rituals / rituals of aging, dying and ancestor worship / power and leadership rituals / temple and celebration rituals / trance and hieratic rituals as well as ritualizations of cultural transfer, adolescent drug consumption, and internet presentation.