How to Compare Queer Muslim Pilgrimage in Malaysia and Germany? Epistemological Challenges of an Anthropological Topos

Comparison in sociocultural anthropology is taken for granted as a method of analysis, yet, ‘impossible' to do so. This article demonstrates by comparing queer Muslim pilgrimage in two different but interconnected places (Malaysia and Germany) that a comparative study in anthropology dismisses its potential if it is merely understood as a methodology. Grounded in a combination and further development of Schnegg's (2014) method of ‘multilevel comparison' and de Matos Viegas' (2009) ‘comparison as epistemology,' it is revealed that this methodology needs to intersect with theory. To illustrate this point, the term ‘queer' is taken as an example. It demonstrates the necessity for a theoretical definition of the research object that encompasses both global and local dimensions. This approach eventually enables the identification and demonstration of tensions and challenges through comparison, only thereby establishing a productive source for comparison.