Katharina Wilkens is a scholar of religion with a wide range of interests, particularly in the fields of African religions and aesthetics of religion. After graduating in the study of religion, anthropology and Islamic studies at the University of Bayreuth, she taught at the universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Bayreuth, Zurich, Salzburg and Leipzig. Her PhD project was a case study of Catholic exorcism and healing in Tanzania. She has published on religious healing, spirit possession, the practice of drinking the Quran, travelogues written by Africans and the aesthetics of material texts.

The Formation of ‘African’ Culture and Religion in African Socialism

In her current project, Katharina Wilkens studies the formation of religion, both as a discursive category and a social practice, under the auspices of African socialism from the 1950s to 1980s. In opposition to Marxism in the USSR, proponents of non-aligned African socialism insisted on the importance of religion for human society. While leaders such as Leopold Senghor and Julius Nyerere favoured Islam and Christianity, they neglected traditional religions and rather celebrated traditional arts and culture. The project examines global and local factors that contributed to this development.