This paper looks at dynamics of intra- and inter-group conflicts and their contribution to the construction of the Molokan ethnic identity in Ivanovka.
Paper long abstract:
Throughout its conflicts with the Orthodox Church, Molokanism, historically embedded in Russian peasantry, has given rise to an ethno-religious community known as Molokan. It may be asserted that different and opposing religious and denominational propensities from Russia served as an ideological vehicle in the process of identity-formation. Religious differences that played an important role in the formation of a Molokan identity as against the Russian Orthodox one are continuing to serve as an important ideological tool in face of the Muslim "others", who are newcomers in Ivanovka, within the Ismailly department of Azerbaijan. The transactionalist approach views the religious and denominational differences as border markers that differentiate and distance ethnicities. This paper looks at dynamics of intra- and inter-group conflicts and their contribution to the construction of the Molokan ethnic identity in Ivanovka.