The workshop aims to bring together post-Soviet, European and Turkish Muslim experiences of home, mobility and translocality to explore commonalities and differences between these regions through the lens of space and belonging. By drawing comparisons, the workshop also seeks to interrogate current theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of Muslim identities.

A central concern that the workshop wants to address is the tension between a “lived” Islam and efforts to develop discursive, secular conceptions of a normative Islam. How does the legacy of rational, secularist ideals influence the way in which Muslims live and practice their religion? How are contemporary theoretical approaches to Islam, in particular the debate about everyday Islam, transposed in the particular post-Soviet context? Do we need new approaches to approach Muslim experiences in this region?

Another key area of exploration and comparison is the question of the local and transnational dimension of Islam. The workshop aims to investigate the formation or recreation of a Muslim space between the post-Soviet space, Europe and Turkey after the end of the Soviet Union in the form of connections and linkages established by networks of Muslim migrants, students and traders and religious organisations. What experiences and conceptions of regional Muslim identities emerge in these networks, for example in relation to the notion of a “Eurasian Islam”? How do post-Soviet Muslims relate to their religion while travelling for knowledge in countries such as Turkey or during migration experiences in European countries? How do Muslim transnational networks challenge or nurture the idea of a locally defined Islam? Finally, we aim to discuss the place of Islam in the current dichotomy between a “liberal West” and a “conservative East” (within the discussion about Russia and the West) and the way Muslims experience, react to and challenge this conceptual boundary.

Organisers:

Lili Di Puppo (HSE University)

Dmitry Oparin (HSE University; Moscow State University)

List of participants

Marie-Laure Boursin (Aix en Provence University)

Lili Di Puppo (HSE University)

Iwona Kaliszewska (University of Warsaw)

Dmitry Oparin (HSE University)

Katarzyna Puzon (Humboldt University)

Eva Rogaar (Illinois University)

Jesko Schmoller (Perm State University / Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin)

Manja Stephan-Emmrich (Humboldt University)

Fabio Vicini (Istanbul 29 Mayis University / School of Religious Studies, McGill University)

Jeremy F. Walton (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity)

Ahmet Yarlikapov (MGIMO)

If you need a pass in order to enter HSE, please contact dimaoparin@hotmail.com before 12.00 on October 23, 2019.

Programm on the link