Islam in the Post-Soviet States

elective courses
general courses

Classes are intended for students of humanities such as ethnology or cultural studies, as well as all other university students. In addition to the basic ability to analyze texts in the field of humanities, participants do not need to have any special competences.

Classroom

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the issues of religious, cultural, social and political life of Muslims in the Post-Soviet area. The lecture will focus mainly on followers of Islam in Russia, Ukraine and the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia and cover topics such as religious revival in the Soviet and post-Soviet period, the organization of Muslim communities and religious divisions among the Post-Soviet Muslims. Political problems of the Muslims of former Soviet Union, including the relationship between Muslim communities and the state will be also discussed.

1. Introduction: Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Islam.

2. Overview of the studies on Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Islam.

3. Geography, ethnography and demography of Muslim nations of Post-Soviet Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia).

4. Geography, ethnography and demography of Muslim nations of the North Caucasus.

5. Geography, ethnography and demography of Muslim nations of Post-Soviet South Caucasus.

6. Geography, ethnography and demography of Muslim nations of Post-Soviet Central Asia.

7. Islam in Eastern Europe before Russian Empire: historical background.

8. Islam in the European part of Russian Empire: historical background.

9. Islam in the European part of the Soviet Union: historical background.

10. Islam in the North Caucasus: historical background.

11. Islam in the South Caucasus. Pre-colonial period.

12. Islam in the South Caucasian part of Russian Empire: historical background.

13. Islam in the South Caucasian part of the Soviet Union.

14. Islam in Central Asia. Pre-colonial period.

15. Islam in Central Asian part of Russian Empire: historical background.

16. Islam in the Central Asian part of the Soviet Union.

17. Muftiat or Muslim Spiritual Board: the administration of Muslim-populated regions in Russian Empire and USSR.

18. The proposals of political reform and modernisation programmes among Muslims of the Russian Empire in 19th and 20th centuries.

19. Islam in the Soviet Union: the Soviet – Muslim alliance against imperialism. The case of Mirsaid Sultan Galiyev.

20. The USSR and the world of Islam. The issue of immigration of Muslims to the USSR.

21. Soviet repressive policies towards Muslim nations. Purges of Muslim nations’ elites. Deportation of the nations under Joseph Stalin.

22. Post-war Islam in the Soviet Union: the policy of atheisation, underground religiosity versus official Muslim structures.

23. The Soviet Muslims’ revival in the times of perestroika and the demise of the Soviet Union.

24. Post-Soviet Islam in Ukraine: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

25. Post-Soviet Islam in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

26. Post-Soviet Islam in the North Caucasus: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

27. Post-Soviet Islam in the South Caucasus: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

28. Post-Soviet Islam in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

29. Post-Soviet Islam in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan: ethnic structure, institutions, confessional divisions, main social and political issues.

30. Summary, conclusions

J. Rohoziński, Święci biczownicy i czerwoni chanowie. Przemiany religijności muzułmańskiej w radzieckim i poradzieckim Azerbejdżanie, Wrocław 2005.

S. Zapaśnik, „Walczący islam” w Azji centralnej. Problem społecznej genezy zjawiska, Wrocław 2009.

J. Danecki, Podstawowe informacje o islamie, Wyd. Ak. Dialog, Warszawa 2007.

I. Kaliszewska, Za Putina i za szarijat. Dagestańscy muzułmanie o Rosji i państwie islamskim, Wyd. Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2016.

Tatars of Crimea. Their Struggle for Survival, ed. E. Allworth, Duke University Press, Durham and London 1988.

A. A. Rorlich, A Profile in National Resilience, Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press 1986.

Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam, red. K. Górak-Sosnowska, Warszawa 2011.

T. Trier, G. Tarkhan-Mouravi, F. Kilimnik, Meskhetians: Homeward Bound..., Tbilisi 2011. (on-line: http://www.repatriation.ge/uploads/Meskhetians_Homeward_Bound_ENG.pdf)

M. Falkowski, On the periphery of global jihad. The North Caucasus: the illusion of stabilisation, Point of View, OSW, Warsaw 2014.

Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union, Galina Yemelianova, Routledge, 2010.

M. Brill Olcott, In the Whirlwind of Jihad, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2012.

T. Świętochowski, Azerbejdżan i Rosja. Kolonializm, islam i narodowość w podzielonym kraju, Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Warszawa, 1998.

E. E. Allworth, The Modern Uzbeks: From Fourteenth Century to the Present; A Cultural History, Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press 1990.

K_W02 has organized general knowledge (including terminology, theory and methodology) in the scope of studies on Post-Soviet Islam.

K_W05 has detailed and organized knowledge of literature and writings of chosen regions of Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam; can name and characterize most important phenomena/trends/literary texts/writings of chosen regions of Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam.

K_W10 can name and characterize basic cultural phenomena of Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam.

K_W16 demonstrates basic grasp of contemporary cultural life of Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam.

K_U02 can indicate sources of cultural differences between the regions of Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam.

K_U03 can use the basic terminology from the domain of philosophy and religion of a chosen region in Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam.

K_U04 can use the knowledge of history of chosen regions in Russia/post-Soviet states/world of Islam to analyze and interpret events taking place in the modern world.

- The evaluation of student’s activity and skills.

- Written exam.

- Attendance control.