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- Convenors:
-
Liliya Karimova
(NVCC, Annandale)
Svetlana Peshkova (University of New Hampshire)
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- Theme:
- REL
- Location:
- Room 112
- Sessions:
- Saturday 12 October, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Long Abstract:
This panel explores new developments in Tatarstan's religious landscape and analyzes in what ways once-established concepts, structures, and practices have undergone a change. We cover a wide range of topics, all of which discuss various aspects of Islam, as well as Islam's and Muslims' interaction with the state and the wider society, which have a direct impact on everyday lives of ordinary Muslim Tatars. Local Islamic education, seen as a foundation of a "locally-grown" umma, remains an important, yet controversial topic in present-day Tatarstan. Similarly, homeschooling, which is becoming popular among practicing Muslim families, is a fairly new practice that is met with curiosity and suspicion. Sufism, which has been gaining traction in Tatarstan over the past few years, is both an old and new phenomenon that has also been met with suspicion and controversy by non-practicing and some practicing Muslims alike. An analysis of a growing Halal industry in Tatarstan serves as a window into the state's cooperation with official religious structures in the context of a growing demand for Halal products. Finally, an ethnographic-research-based presentation on gender roles among practicing Muslim Tatars today suggests a changing perception of gender norms and gender dynamic in the region. As a whole, the panel contributes to an important, yet still fairly limited, body of knowledge about new and ongoing policies, processes, practices, and sensibilities that take place in Tatarstan's Islamic landscape today.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 12 October, 2019, -Paper long abstract:
Based on recent qualitative research (July-August 2018), I examine how Muslim Tatar women negotiate gender roles within and outside the home, thereby challenging dominant perceptions of gender roles and Muslim piety in the region. Ten-fifteen years ago, at the peak of the Muslim revival, many practicing Muslim women were going against the grain of the dominant Soviet social norms. They actively advocated for their right to stay home and devote their lives to the private domain of caring for the family and children, based on their understandings of Islam and Muslim piety. Ten years later, some of these women are continuing to go against another grain—dominant perceptions of Muslim women as primarily wives and mothers that they had once advocated for. Faced with the reality of failed marriages or inability of the spouses to meet gender expectations they once held normative, these women are actively re-negotiating gender roles within and outside the home, advocating for their right to the public domain and personal growth, and ultimately challenging their own and others' prevalent popular and analytical assumptions about Muslim piety, Muslim women, and gender roles. This presentation is part of a longitudinal ethnographic study in Tatarstan, Russia, that examines how Muslim Tatar women draw on Muslim piety to achieve personal and social transformation.
Paper long abstract:
Founded in 2016, the Bolgar Islamic Academy (the Academy) is aimed to consolidate the efforts of the official Islamic clergy in Russia in forming a "deeper and more conscious understanding of Russia's national interests among its Muslim population" and to contribute to the development of the higher religious education in the country. Reportedly, the Academy seeks to become the center of Islamic education in Russia. How and why did the idea about the need for such institution come about? What does it tell about intrafaith and state-Islam relations in contemporary Russia? This study aims to examine the founding principles of the Academy and shed light on the role it plays in spiritual growth in the region as well as the regulation of religious affairs in the country. I will rely on the analysis of the founding charter, mission statement, and ethnographic data collected from fieldwork in Bolgar and Kazan between 2017 and 2019 to assess the emergence of the Academy and its development within the fast-changing political, social, and economic context in the country. Religious education remains a site of contest and, as this study illustrates, the historical legacy continues to shape contemporary educational and knowledge discourses in Russia.
Paper long abstract:
In Tatarstan's social and religious discourse, there has been a consistent advancement of the idea of rethinking the Sufi heritage as a tool for preserving ethno-national and religious identity, as well as reviving Sufism as a 'traditional' form of Islam and an alternative to Wahhabism. To what extent is the revival of the structures and ethics of Sufism in present-day Tatarstan possible, granted a nearly complete loss of practices associated with the transfer of knowledge in Sufism? Is the revival of Sufism a tradition, an export, or an expansion? This presentation looks at modern ideological and institutional transformations related to the revival of Sufism in Tatarstan. It is based on field research in Kazan in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2018, in the Arsky district in 2012, 2018, and in the Aznakaevsky district of Tatarstan in 2016, 2018. The data include observations during ceremonies of sohbet and zikr, individual practices of zikr, yasin, as well as thirteen individual semi-structured interviews and eight informal interviews with followers of tariqats, supporters and opponents. The work examines Sufi communities of Kadiri, Shazili, various branches of the Nakshbandi: Khalidia, which includes the Jamaats of Topbashia and Khakkania, as well as the branches of the Mujadidiyah - Mahmudia, Husayniya, and followers of the sheikh of the Deoband school of Ahmad Zulfikar. The activity of Tijania and Yasawiya brotherhoods was also observed. Тhe author analyzed the following aspects of practitioners of Sufism in the region: relationships with mentors, particularities of the ritual practice, attitudes to other groups and branches, the individual spiritual experiences of Sufis. Based on the data, it is possible to conclude that the revival of Sufism is part of the larger Islamic revival in the region. Sufism is supported by the state as an alternative to more conservative forms of Islam and as part of "traditional Islam." Sufi practitioners, however, distance themselves from official religious structures and position themselves as seekers of truth and spiritual fulfillment that can rarely be found among advocates for "traditional Islam."
Paper long abstract:
Based on an analysis of Russian and Tatar periodicals, publications on the Internet, social networking sites, specialized forums and chats, audio and video materials, publications of official documents and statistics, and interviews with target respondents, this presentation examines the degree and nature of the Russian state's involvement with Islam through the lens of the Halal industry in Tatarstan. What makes this involvement different from other spheres of religious life that are also regulated by the state is the fact that Halal products are a growing industry that has development in response to a market demand, and it presents an attractive business potential. Despite article 14 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation stipulating that religious bodies are separated from the state, in Tatarstan since the late 1990s, de facto religious institutions including those that are part of the Halal industry, have been incorporated by the state.In the 1990s and the 2000s there was an emergence of Halal products and industry, which developed spontaneously and without state control. This created a need for standardizing the industry, with the tacit participation of state structures. This work toward standardization began in 2003, but received official status in October 2004, when a new Department, the Halal Standard Committee, began to function in the Department of Idel-Hajj under the Muslim Spiritual Board of the Tatarstan. Currently, the number of consumer of Halal products is growing and includes both practicing Muslims and non-Muslims who perceive Halal products as healthier and environmentally-friendly. However, the industry has its problems. In the summer of 2018, Tatarstan'sPresident Rustam Minnikhanov created an official Commission under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic, which was tasked with ensuring production compliance of all products that carry the stamp of "Halal" on Tatarstan's market. The creation of the Commission was necessitated by an incident in which traces of pork were found in a product marked "Halal." These examples illustrate that the Halal industry is one area where religious institutions and the state actually need each other in order to function successfully. The state's regulation of the Halal market can ensure quality of the products while the growing demand for Halal products can boost local production and business development.