Anthropology of Islam. Research in Moscow region

On May 21, 2019 the HSE Institute for Social Policy in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Russia held an International Workshop.

The international workshop on the anthropology of Islam heard recent researches on the everyday practices of Muslims in Moscow and the Moscow region. Everyday Islam (everyday lived Islam) is concise and convenient concept that establishes a basis for anthropological enquiry beyond mosques, formal religious institutions, sacred places, and halal shops. Looking at Islam within the framework of everyday life of believers, localizing Muslim outside the traditional Muslim field allows researchers to better understand the identity of modern Muslims, trace the religious dynamics of individuals, try to move away from the norm in the field of research of living and flexible religion. The concept returns the agency to ordinary Muslims, "legitimizes" doubts, reflection, emphasizes the anthropologist's often overlooked dimensions and manifestations in the religious field - personal experience of informants, the dynamics of their religiosity, their ideas about Islam and about themselves as Muslims.

The Moscow region is the most dynamic and large-scale migration magnet of the entire post-Soviet space, it is one of the main Muslim centers of Russia. The workshop provided an opportunity for researchers and all interested to look at the diversity of the Moscow Muslim space in the context of modern migration and urban development, translocal and transnational processes.

Please see the following link for more information about the event.