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Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations
Orientalism – the idea that the standpoint of Western writers on the East greatly affected what they wrote about the East, the "Other" – applied also in Russia and the Soviet Union, where the study of the many exotic peoples incorporated into the Russian Empire, often in quite late imperial times, became a major academic industry, where, as in the West, the standpoint of writers greatly affected what they wrote. Russian/Soviet orientalism had a particularly important impact in Central Asia, where in early Soviet times new republics, later states, were created, often based on the distorted perceptions of scholars in St Petersburg and Moscow, and often cutting across previously existing political and cultural boundaries. The book explores how the Soviet orientalism academic industry influenced the creation of Central Asian nations. It discusses the content of oriental sources and discourses, considers the differences between scholars working in St Petersburg and Moscow and those working more locally in Central Asia, providing a rich picture of academic politics, and shows how academic cultural classification cemented political boundaries, often in unhelpful ways.
Muslim Religious Authority in Central Eurasia
Thirty years after the fall of Soviet power, we are beginning to understand that the experience of Muslims in the USSR continued patterns of adaptation and negotiation known from Muslim history in the lands that became the Soviet Union, and in other regions as well; we can also now understand that the long history of Muslims situating religious authority locally, in the various regions that came under Soviet rule, in fact continued through the Soviet era into post-Soviet times. The present volume is intended to historicize the question of religious authority in Muslim Central Eurasia, through historical and anthropological case studies about the exercise, negotiation, or institutionalization...
God Save the USSR
It surprises many to learn that millions of Soviet Muslims fought on the frontlines against Hitler's armies. During the Second World War, as the Soviet Red Army was locked in brutal combat against the Nazis, Stalin ended the state's violent, decades-long persecution of religion. Religious elites of all faiths were suddenly tasked with rallying Soviet citizens to a "Holy War" against Hitler. Using evidence from many sources (in several languages including Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, Uzbek, and Persian), God Save the USSR recounts the wartime "religious revolution" that ensued, with a focus on the Soviet Union's Muslims.
Jihadism in the Russian-Speaking World
This book contends that the discourses of jihadism in Russia's North Caucasus, and their offshoots in other parts of the Russian Federation, are not just reflections of jihadi ideologies that came from abroad, rather that post-Soviet jihadism is a phenomenon best understood when placed in the broader cultural environment in which it emerged, an environment which comprises the North Caucasus, the whole of Russia, and beyond. It examines how post-Soviet jihadism is also part of global processes, in this case, global jihadism, explores how post-Soviet jihadism bears the imprint of the preceding Soviet context especially in terms of symbols, discursive tools, interpretational frameworks, and dissemination strategies, and discusses how, ironically, Russian-speaking jihadism is an expansionist idea for uniting all Russian regions on a supra-ethnic principle, but an idea that was not born in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Overall, the book demonstrates that Russian-speaking jihadism is a completely new ideology, which nevertheless has its origins in the intellectual and cultural heritage of the Soviet era and in the broader trends of post-Soviet society and culture.
Russia's Islam and Orthodoxy beyond the Institutions
Islam and the Orthodox Church in contemporary Russia are usually studied in isolation from each other, and each in relation to the Kremlin; the latter demands the development of a home-grown and patriotic ‘religious traditionalism, as a bulwark against subversive ‘non-traditional’ imports. This volume breaks new ground by focusing on charismatic missionaries from both religions who bypass the hierarchies of their respective faith organizations and challenge the ‘traditionalism’ paradigm from within Russia's many religious traditions, and who give new meanings to the well-known catchwords of Russia's identity discourse. The Moscow priest Daniil Sysoev confronted the Russian Orthodox...
Languages of Islam and Christianity in Post-Soviet Russia
In her book, Gulnaz Sibgatullina examines the intricate relationship of religion, identity and language-related beliefs against the background of socio-political changes in post-Soviet Russia. Focusing on the Russian and Tatar languages, she explores how they simultaneously serve the needs of both Muslims and Christians living in the country today. Mapping linguistic strategies of missionaries, converts and religious authorities, Sibgatullina demonstrates how sacred vocabulary in each of the languages is being contested by a variety of social actors, often with competing agendas. These linguistic collisions not only affect meanings of the religious lexicon in Tatar and Russian but also drive a gradual convergence of Russia's Islam and Christianity.
Retranslating the Bible and the Qur’an
Despite the lively scholarly discourse on retranslation and its manifest value for uncovering dynamics of cultural change, interpretation, and reception, the retranslation of religious texts has received only fragmented attention in recent years. By spanning both historical and current aspects, and by treating the Bible and the Qur’an together, this book breaks new ground and paves the way for future research on the myriad discursive and religious aspects of retranslation. This carefully curated collection of articles compellingly argues that the retranslation of canonical religious texts is a multi-faceted phenomenon. With cases ranging in time from the early Reformation to the present, a...
Insight Turkey / Fall 2018 - The Struggle Over Central Asia
This issue of Insight Turkey comes with a different format and brings to its readers two different topics that require special attention when we consider the latest regional and global affairs. The planned topic was Central Asia; however, the early presidential and parliamentarian elections in Turkey led us to cover a second topic in the issue. First, the current issue focuses on a forgotten but very important region of Central Asia. The second section of the journal comprises commentaries and articles on the latest elections in Turkey, how to understand them and what could be the future of the presidential system. Central Asia is one of the most geostrategic and penetrated regions in the wo...
Reassessing Orientalism
Orientalism as a concept was first applied to Western colonial views of the East. Subsequently, different types of orientalism were discovered but the premise was that these took their lead from Western-style orientalism, applying it in different circumstances. This book, on the other hand, argues that the diffusion of interpretations and techniques in orientalism was not uni-directional, and that the different orientologies – Western, Soviet and oriental orientologies – were interlocked, in such a way that a change in any one of them affected the others; that the different orientologies did not develop in isolation from each other; and that, importantly, those being orientalised were active, not passive, players in shaping how the views of themselves were developed.
Among Arabic Manuscripts
I.Y. Kratchkovsky (Ignatii Iul'ianovich Krachkovskii) was an iconic scholar, and Among Arabic Manuscripts, Memories of Libraries and Men gives us a good indication of what made him so outstanding. Hugely influential in its time, especially in Eastern Europe, it inspired several now-noted Arabists to start their studies in this field. It is beautifully written and, with the rising relevance of Arab-Russian relations has new historical importance. A memoir of a life in Orientalism, this autobiographic text is the result of strong will and endurance, and of total dedication to Arabic literature and language. It tells of Kratchkovsky's enormous achievements in the field, in a very personal manner and in an easily accessible form. The present publication is the English translation of the first 1953 Brill edition, accomplished by Tatiana Minorsky (d. 1987), with a new introduction by Michael Kemper.
