Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MeMuRu (Places of Remembrance in Muslim Russia: Islamic Heritage and Moral Landscapes)
Période du rapport: 2021-10-01 au 2022-09-30
The five million-strong, predominantly Sunni Muslim Volga Tatars are Russia’s largest ethnic minority, inhabiting the Volga-Ural region since the Middle Ages. Islam is Russia’s second most widespread religion, which gives the country an important if awkward place in the broader Muslim world. This project explores the moral and civic life of post-Soviet Muslims in Putin's Russia through an emphasis on the places, practices, and politics of Islam in the Volga-Ural region.
Since the fall of the USSR, a fledgling body of literature has emerged on the topic of Islam in the post-Soviet realm. However, few theoretically advanced works specifically concerning Muslim communities in the Russian Federation have been published, and almost none with an ethnographic focus on the Volga Tatars. This is the gap I intend to address with this research project, which lies at the intersection of social anthropology, Islamic and Russian studies, cultural geography, and critical theory.
A study of grassroots Islam in Russia is important on a number of levels. In the context of analysing Islam in Europe, the centuries-old Sunni ethnic community of the Volga-Ural region offers a valuable case study for comparison with more recently established Muslim communities further west. Russia’s long and unique history of interconfessional coexistence, marred by colonialism but also characterised by forms of interethnic collaboration, is of considerable interest to audiences worldwide. Furthermore, the post-Soviet Islamic revival finds points of resonance with the global context: the emergence of scripturalist movements has linked Russia's Muslims to the global Muslim Ummah, raising hopes and concerns in the eyes of the Russian state and civil society.
Exploring the vicissitudes of Russia’s Muslims can open a unique window into the pulsations of civic life not only in Russia, a particularly urgent task nowadays, but in the global ecumene at large. To this end, this project brings the methodologies and conceptual frameworks of anthropology and neighbouring disciplines to bear on Islamic moral landscapes in the Volga region, exploring key sites of Muslim life: places, such as mosques and memory-laden historical monuments, practices, such as halal consumption and pilgrimage, and political processes, such as the mushrooming of piety milieus, their interactions with state institutions, and the regimentation of remembrance.
Since the fall of the USSR, a fledgling body of literature has emerged on the topic of Islam in the post-Soviet realm. However, few theoretically advanced works specifically concerning Muslim communities in the Russian Federation have been published, and almost none with an ethnographic focus on the Volga Tatars. This is the gap I intend to address with this research project, which lies at the intersection of social anthropology, Islamic and Russian studies, cultural geography, and critical theory.
A study of grassroots Islam in Russia is important on a number of levels. In the context of analysing Islam in Europe, the centuries-old Sunni ethnic community of the Volga-Ural region offers a valuable case study for comparison with more recently established Muslim communities further west. Russia’s long and unique history of interconfessional coexistence, marred by colonialism but also characterised by forms of interethnic collaboration, is of considerable interest to audiences worldwide. Furthermore, the post-Soviet Islamic revival finds points of resonance with the global context: the emergence of scripturalist movements has linked Russia's Muslims to the global Muslim Ummah, raising hopes and concerns in the eyes of the Russian state and civil society.
Exploring the vicissitudes of Russia’s Muslims can open a unique window into the pulsations of civic life not only in Russia, a particularly urgent task nowadays, but in the global ecumene at large. To this end, this project brings the methodologies and conceptual frameworks of anthropology and neighbouring disciplines to bear on Islamic moral landscapes in the Volga region, exploring key sites of Muslim life: places, such as mosques and memory-laden historical monuments, practices, such as halal consumption and pilgrimage, and political processes, such as the mushrooming of piety milieus, their interactions with state institutions, and the regimentation of remembrance.
For the first leg of MeMuRu (months 1-3), I went on secondment to the University of Amsterdam's School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies, one of the major hubs for the study of Islam in the former Soviet space. This visit allowed me to gain insight into the fields of memory studies and the history of personhood and emotions. The main part of my MSCA (months 4-24) took me to the University of California Berkeley's Anthropology Department. My stay at Berkeley has allowed me not only considerably to expand my academic network, but also to train in a broad range of intellectual and methodological domains across disciplines, from philosophical and critical theory to area studies. Throughout my stay, I attended courses, workshops, and seminars organised by the Anthropology Department, the Institute of Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies, the Institute of Asian Studies’ Central Asia Working Group, and the Townsend Center. I have also become involved with Cal’s Humanities and Social Sciences Associations (HSSA), eventually taking on the position of HSSA’s Vice President - thereby broadening my skillset beyond the "stricly academic". In months 25-26, I was on secondment at the University of Cambridge's Anthropology Department and the Mongolia and Inner Asia Research Unit (MIASU). There, I worked with a group of researchers specialising in post-socialist Eurasia, as well as benefitting from scholarly activities on religion, ritual, and space & infrastructure. Lastly, in months 26-36 I worked at my return institution, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, becoming part of a lively scholarly community bringing together anthropologists, historians, and geographers, as well as Russia and MENA region specialists from neighbouring disciplines.
Although Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine partly disrupted plans to conduct fieldwork in Russia, the wealth of data that was already in my possession thanks to my long-term engagement with the Volga-Ural region meant that such disruptions did not critically affect MeMuRu's goals. This project allowed me successfully to document a variety of social, cultural, religious, and political dynamics at play among Volga-Ural Muslims. Particularly, I have focused on Muslims' relationships with state institutions, the capitalist marketplace, and the puglic at large, through an analysis of the main nodes in the Volga-Ural region's sometimes contested Islamic landscape, from heritage sites to halal infrastructures. I published six (for now) contributions between journal articles, book chapters, and commentaries aimed at different readerships, as well as writing a monograph that I expect to publish soon. I have disseminated my project's results at more than a dozen events, ranging from intimate specialist workshops, to large academic conferences, to public lectures - and I intend to keep engaging with interested parties both whithin and outside academia.
Although Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine partly disrupted plans to conduct fieldwork in Russia, the wealth of data that was already in my possession thanks to my long-term engagement with the Volga-Ural region meant that such disruptions did not critically affect MeMuRu's goals. This project allowed me successfully to document a variety of social, cultural, religious, and political dynamics at play among Volga-Ural Muslims. Particularly, I have focused on Muslims' relationships with state institutions, the capitalist marketplace, and the puglic at large, through an analysis of the main nodes in the Volga-Ural region's sometimes contested Islamic landscape, from heritage sites to halal infrastructures. I published six (for now) contributions between journal articles, book chapters, and commentaries aimed at different readerships, as well as writing a monograph that I expect to publish soon. I have disseminated my project's results at more than a dozen events, ranging from intimate specialist workshops, to large academic conferences, to public lectures - and I intend to keep engaging with interested parties both whithin and outside academia.
This project has already begun pushing the state of the art in studies about post-Soviet Islam in Russia. In published or soon-to-be-published works, I have documented hitherto understudied dynamics pertaining to halal consumption, pious lifestyles, and heritage-making, revealing how Muslim moral landscapes intersect with and transform the physical, administrative, and cultural landscapes of the Volga-Ural region. Through these contributions, I intend to intervene in debates about the politics of Muslim piety in Russia, memory and subjectivity in the post-Soviet space, and religion and space in Islam.
I have also advanced theoretical contributions the scope of which extends beyond my specific case-study. Building on ongoing conversations on religion, ethics, and human ecology, my publications advance innovative conceptual tools such as 'ethical form-of-life,' ‘pietskscape,’ and ‘piety infrastructure’. The monograph in preparation proposes a highly original theoretical framework that brings Continental political philosophy in conversation with my Muslim case-study. I am optimistic that these work will have an impact even beyond the domains of Russian or Islamic studies.
MeMuRu speaks to different audiences. Through this project, I hope to furnish the social-scientific community with empirical and conceptual material that may allow us to better understand not only Muslim milieus and Russian society, but the politics and logistics of religion at large. Furthermore, I expect to contribute to a better understanding of internal dynamics (demographic, political, cultural) within the Russian Federation, a particularly urgent task in light of the critical current geopolitical situation. Such insight might benefit not only social scientists, but also decision-makers, investors, and other observers beyond academica. More idealistically, I hope this project aspires to work towards civil society empowerment and interethnic/religious understanding in a range of settings, including Russia, Italy, the EU, and the US.
I have also advanced theoretical contributions the scope of which extends beyond my specific case-study. Building on ongoing conversations on religion, ethics, and human ecology, my publications advance innovative conceptual tools such as 'ethical form-of-life,' ‘pietskscape,’ and ‘piety infrastructure’. The monograph in preparation proposes a highly original theoretical framework that brings Continental political philosophy in conversation with my Muslim case-study. I am optimistic that these work will have an impact even beyond the domains of Russian or Islamic studies.
MeMuRu speaks to different audiences. Through this project, I hope to furnish the social-scientific community with empirical and conceptual material that may allow us to better understand not only Muslim milieus and Russian society, but the politics and logistics of religion at large. Furthermore, I expect to contribute to a better understanding of internal dynamics (demographic, political, cultural) within the Russian Federation, a particularly urgent task in light of the critical current geopolitical situation. Such insight might benefit not only social scientists, but also decision-makers, investors, and other observers beyond academica. More idealistically, I hope this project aspires to work towards civil society empowerment and interethnic/religious understanding in a range of settings, including Russia, Italy, the EU, and the US.