Farid Hafez

Farid Hafez at the Bruno-Kreisky-Anerkennungspreis 2010

Farid Hafez (born 23 December 1981) is an Austrian political scientist, currently teaching and doing research at the Political Science Department at the University of Salzburg.

Early life

Hafez was born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria on 23 December 1981. After moving to the capital city Vienna, taking his first degree in political science, he finished his studies and earned his PhD at University of Vienna in 2009.

Academic career

Shortly before submitting his dissertation, in which he analyzed parliamentary debates on the ban of mosques and minarets in two Austrian counties,^[1] he published his first book ‘Islamophobia in Austria’ together with Middle East scholar John Bunzl. The book was awarded the prestigious Bruno-Kreisky-Anerkennungspreis of the Dr. Karl-Renner-Institut ^[2] for the political book of the year 2009.

Since then, Hafez is known for his work on Islamophobia. In 2010, he founded the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook ^[3] In 2015, he created the European Islamophobia Report,^[4] which he now edits along with political scientist Enes Bayrakli for the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, based in Ankara, Istanbul, Cairo and Washington DC.

He is a member of the Affiliated Faculty of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) at University of California, Berkeley and member of the international advisory board at Georgetown University’s 'The Bridge Initiative', which deals with issues around Islamophobia and diversity and is led by John L. Esposito. He is also Affiliated Faculty and Scholars-member of the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley ^[5] and the editor of numerous works on Islamophobia.

From 2008 to 2010, Hafez did research at the Department of Law of Religion and Culture at the University of Vienna, before he started teaching at the Muslim Teachers Training College in Vienna (2009 to 2014). In 2014, he was Visiting Scholar at Columbia University.^[6]

Currently, he conducts research at the Department of Political Science at the University of Salzburg.^[7]

During the academic year 2016/17, he is Fulbright-Botstiber Visiting Professor of Austrian-American Studies ^[8] at UC Berkeley.^[9] Hafez had taught at the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Vienna as well as at the University of Klagenfurt. Hafez publishes regularly in Austrian and international news media like Der Standard and Die Presse and is interviewed by news media such as The Washington Post.

His current research focuses on Muslim youth movements in Europe.^[10]

Hafez was a guest lecturer at University of Istanbul, Istanbul 29 Mayıs Üniversitesi, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, Columbia University in New York. As a visiting lecturer, he taught hip hop at the University of Chicago,^[11] Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota, Queensborough Community College in New York, City University of New York, and the Amerika Haus in Vienna. He also teaches at a number of academic non-universitarian institutions such as the Global Citizenship Alliance [28]. In 2015, he was part of the faculty of The Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship and many other institutions.

Rewards

The Austrian Culture Magazine named Farid Hafez as one of 100 „Austrians with a special future“.^[12]

Books

Hafez has more than 50 publications.^[13]

As sole author:

• Mein Name ist Malcolm X: Das Leben eines Revolutionärs.
• Islamophober Populismus: Moschee- und Minarettbauverbote österreichischer Parlamentsparteien
• Anas Schakfeh: Das österreichische Gesicht des Islams'
• Islamisch-politische Denker: Eine Einführung in die islamisch-politische Ideengeschichte
• Jung, muslimisch, österreichisch.

As (co-)editor:

• Islamophobie in Österreich (together with John Bunzl)
• Jahrbuch für Islamophobieforschung
• From the Far Right to the Mainstream: Islamophobia in Party Politics and the Media (together with Humayun Ansari)
• since 2016 European Islamophobia Report (together with Enes Bayraklı)

Journal Publications:

• 2015: Das Islamgesetz im Kontext islamophober Diskurse: Eine Policy Frame-Analyse zum Politikgestaltungsprozess des Islamgesetz 2015, in: Juridikum, (2), 160–165.
• 2014: Disciplining the „Muslim Subject“: The Role of Security Agencies in Establishing Islamic Theology within the State’s Academia, in: Islamophobia Studies Journal, Vol. 2(2), 43–57.
• 2015: MuslimInnen als BürgerInnen zweiter Klasse? Eine vergleichende Analyse des Entwurfes eines neuen Islamgesetzes 2014 zum restlichen Religionsrecht, in: Jahrbuch für Islamophobieforschung 2015, 26–54.
• 2014: Shifting borders: Islamophobia as the cornerstone for buildingpan-European right-wing unity, in: Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 48, No.5, December 2014,pp. 1–21.
• 2014: Gedenken im „islamischen Gedankenjahr“. Zur diskursiven Konstruktion des österreichischen Islams im Rahmen der Jubiläumsfeier zu 100 Jahren Islamgesetz, in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlands, nr.104 (2014), S. 63-84.
• 2013: Der Gottesstaat des Essad-Bey. Eine Muhammad-Biographie aus der Sicht eines jüdischen Konvertiten zum Islam unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Dimension des Politischen, in: Journal of Arabicand Islamic Studies, 13 (2013), S.1-21.
• 2013: 'Islamophobe Weltverschwörungstheorien ... und wie Obama vom Muslim zum Muslimbruder wurde, in: Journal für Psychologie, Jg. 21, Ausgabe 1, S. 1-22.

External links

• Works by and about Farid Hafez at the German National Library
• Homepage of Farid Hafez
• Islamophobia Studies Yearbook
• review of Islamophobie in Österreich
• panel discussion at New York Public Library
• presentation about Islam in Austria at Goethe Institute in Chicago

References