Ken Chitwood

I am a religion scholar and journalist, whose research explores Islam, migration, and global religious life in an increasingly interconnected world. I am a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Bayreuth, where I co-lead the DFG/UKRI-funded project ‘The Global Landscapes of Muslim Lives: Latin American and Caribbean Intersections.’ My ethnographic research focuses particularly on Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx United States, while my broader interests include religious minoritization, cosmopolitanism, Christian-Muslim relations, interreligious dialogue, urban religion, and the relationship between religion and media. 

My current work also examines how religious actors navigate globality in everyday life, including in Berlin. I joined AGYA to deepen scholarly exchange across Arab and German contexts, contribute perspectives from the study of religion and Islam to interdisciplinary conversations, and collaborate with researchers committed to building bridges between academic communities and societies. 

I see AGYA as a unique space to explore how scholarship can foster dialogue, mutual understanding, and meaningful engagement across cultural and disciplinary boundaries.

Academic career