“Clan crime” in Germany: Development and Risk Factors

“Clan crime” in Germany: Development and Risk Factors  

The so-called Mhallamiyye, known in the public discussion as “Arab clans” (German: Arabische Clans) or “extended families” (German: Arabische Großfamilien), settled in different German urban centres such as Berlin, Ruhr area, and Bremen in the 1980s. Recently, they have been subjected to a high level of government and media scrutiny and accused of establishing a “mafia” based on their family structure and networks. In my presentation, which is based on findings from over 6 years (2015 to 2021) of ethnographic fieldwork in Germany, I will address the impact of family, social, economic and religious networks on the emergence of so called “criminal clans” in Germany. By using participant observation and in-depth interview data, my primary objective is to explain how, and under what conditions, have “clan crimes” emerged and been constructed in Germany. 

Mahmoud Jaraba, Erlangen Centre for Islam and Law in Europe (EZIRE), Erlangen, Germany

Mahmoud Jaraba is a Research Fellow at the Erlangen Centre for Islam and Law in Europe (EZIRE) and is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany. Dr. Jaraba has been researching ethnographically the milieu of Arab-Kurdish extended families (so-called Mḥallamīya) for several years, focusing on the topic of “clan crime” in Germany. In his ethnographic fieldwork, he aims to investigate how extended families and the various cultural and religious norms and institutions contribute to shaping so called “clan crimes”.