The DFG Center for Advanced Studies – Erlangen (CAS-E) investigates practices that are marked as esoteric and negotiated in relation to hegemonic claims of rationality. In the first funding phase (2022–2026), an interdisciplinary research space was established at the intersection of Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Area Studies (including Sinology), alongside contributions from other disciplines. This work had initially built on the Käte Hamburger Kolleg „Fate, Freedom and Prognostication: Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe“ that existed from 2009 until 2021 as its predecessor. The second funding phase (2026-2030) introduces a generational shift and a conceptual reorientation under the new leadership of Giovanni Maltese (Religious Studies), Dominik Müller (Cultural and Social Anthropology, CAS-E Spokesperson), and Eva Pils (Human Rights Law). The focus now lies on the situated and globally entangled practices of marking and boundary-making through which practices are identified or (de-)legitimized as esoteric. These include attributions, translations, and (re-)contextualizations that frame practices as legitimate, dangerous, irrational, or alternative. A central emphasis lies on epistemic orders, power asymmetries, and the positionality of researchers. Legal and human rights perspectives are newly integrated to address fields of normative tension surrounding practices marked as esoteric. An “analytical double helix framework” (AHDF) connects heuristic comparison with performativity-theoretical approaches.