“Top-down” desecularization of islam in Kabardino-Balkaria: 1940s – beginning of the XXI century
https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2023-4-124-140
EDN: FJJELO
Abstract
The study is about Kabardino-Balkaria’s state policy toward Islam from the Great Patriotic War until the beginning of the twenty-first century. Desecularization “from above” is used as the main conceptual approach of the study. This approach is viewed as a state-controlled, rather than a grassroots movement led, rebirth of religion from private to public space. It is noted that the growing Islamic mobilization, being also under the influence of external political technologies, required the Soviet and Russian state to create a “top-down” desecularization strategy in order to avoid the emergence of autonomous centers of violence and separatism. Ultimately, despite changes in the political regime since the middle of the 20th century not only had the state kept religious processes within certain limits, sometimes using authoritarian methods, but also integrated existing potential into a productive political agenda, be it ensuring internal security and stability or foreign policy strategies.
About the Author
Azamat Amurovich Tatarov
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov, Nalchik, Russia. Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nalchik, Russia.
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
1. AKKIEVA S.I. Islam v Kabardino-Balkarskoj respublike [Islam in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic]. IN: Rossija i musul'manskij mir. – 2010. – № 10. – P. 44-54. (In Russ.).
2. AKKIEVA S.I. Islam v Kabardino-Balkarskoj Respublike [Islam in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic]. – Moscow: Logos, 2009. – 133 p. (In Russ.).
3. AKKIEVA S.I., SAMPIEV I.M. Sostojanie i problemy musul'manskogo obrazovanija v Ka-bardino-Balkarskoj respublike [The state and problems of Muslim education in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic]. IN: Teorija i praktika obshhestvennogo razvitija. – 2015. – № 22. – P. 158-163. (In Russ.).
4. BABICH I.L., JARLYKAPOV A.A. Islamskoe vozrozhdenie v sovremennoj Kabardino-Balkarii: perspektivy i posledstvija [Islamic revival in modern Kabardino-Balkaria: prospects and con-sequences]. – Moscow, 2003. – 143 p. (In Russ.).
5. ZHIROMSKAJA V.B., Kiselev I.N., Poljakov Ju.A. Polveka pod grifom «sekretno»: Vse-sojuznaja perepis' naselenija 1937 goda [Half a century classified as “secret”: All-Union Population Census of 1937]. – Moscow: Nauka, 1996. – 152 p. (In Russ.).
6. ZALUZHNYJ A.G. Gosudarstvo i religija v Rossii: problemy vzaimodejstvija [State and reli-gion in Russia: problems of interaction]. IN: Rossija reformirujushhajasja. Ezhegodnik. Iss. 7 / Edited by M.K. Gorshkov. – Moscow: Institut sociologii RAN, 2008. – P. 493-503. (In Russ.).
7. Kabardino-Balkarija v gody Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojny. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov [Kabardino-Balkaria during the Great Patriotic War. Collection of documents and materials] / Edited by M.H. Shekihachev. – Nal'chik: Jel'brus, 1975. – 798 p. (In Russ.).
8. KAROV A.H. Religii i gosudarstvenno-konfessional'nye otnoshenija v sovremennoj Kabardi-no-Balkarii (opyt, problemy i puti reshenija) [Religions and state-confessional relations in modern Kabardino-Balkaria (experience, problems and solutions)]. – Nal'chik: Jel'-fa, 2008. – 549 p. (In Russ.).
9. KARPOV V. Konceptual'nye osnovy teorii desekuljarizacii [Conceptual foundations of the the-ory of desecularization]. IN: Gosudarstvo, religija, cerkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom. – 2012. – № 2 (30). – P. 114-164. (In Russ.).
10. KISRIEV Je. Islam i social'nye konflikty na Severnom Kavkaze [Islam and social conflicts in the North Caucasus]. IN: Religija i konflikt / Edited by A.V. Malashenko. – Moscow: ROSSPJeN, 2007. – P. 107-129. (In Russ.).
11. Koncert ansamblja terskih kazakov [Concert of the Terek Cossacks ensemble]. IN: Pjati-gorskoe jeho. 1942. № 29. 20 sentjabrja. (In Russ.).
12. MALASHENKO A. Islam dlja Rossii [Islam for Russia]. Moscow: ROSSPJeN, 2007. 191 p. (In Russ.).
13. MALASHENKO A.V. Islamskie orientiry Severnogo Kavkaza [Islamic landmarks of the North Caucasus]. – Moscow: Gendal'f, 2001. – 180 p. (In Russ.).
14. TAKOVA A.N. “Moljashhajasja” musul'manskaja molodezh' kak subkul'tura kabardino-balkarskogo obshhestva [“Praying” Muslim youth as a subculture of Kabardino-Balkarian society]. IN: Gosudarstvo, religija, cerkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom. – 2016. – T. 34. – № 2. – P. 255-280. (In Russ.).
15. TAKOVA A.N. Ateisticheskaja rabota i povsednevnye religioznye praktiki v Kabardinskoj ASSR v 40–50-h gg. XX v. [Atheistic work and everyday religious practices in the Kabardian Autono-mous Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1940-1950s]. IN: Religiovedenie. – 2021. – № 4. – P. 56-63. (In Russ.).
16. TAKOVA A.N. Musul'manskoe duhovenstvo Kabardino-Balkarskoj ASSR 40–80-h gg. XX v.: osobennosti funkcionirovanija social'noj gruppy v uslovijah politiki gosudarstvennogo ateizma [Mus-lim clergy of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the 1940-80s: fea-tures of the functioning of a social group in the conditions of the policy of state atheism]. IN: Islam v sovremennom mire. – 2023. – № 19 (3). – P. 149-162. – DOI: 10.22311/2074-1529-2023-19-3-149-162 (In Russ.).
17. TIBI B. Javljaetsja li islam politicheskoj religiej? [Is Islam a political religion?]. 2002 // Gor'kij Media: website. URL: http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2002/6/tib1.html (date of access: 16.11.2023). (In Russ.).
18. Upravlenie central'nogo gosudarstvennogo arhiva Arhivnoj sluzhby Kabardino-Balkarskoj Respubliki [Office of the Central State Archives of the Archival Service of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic]. (In Russ.).
19. Upravlenie centra dokumentacii novejshej istorii Arhivnoj sluzhby Kabardino-Balkarskoj Respubliki [Office of the Center for Documentation of the Modern History of the Archival Service of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic]. (In Russ.).
20. FILATOV S.B. Tradicionnye religii, «russkaja civilizacija» i suverennaja demokratija [Tradi-tional religions, “Russian civilization” and sovereign democracy]. IN: Religija i konflikt / Edited by A.V. Malashenko and S.B. Filatov. – Moscow: ROSSPJeN, 2007. – P. 15-46. (In Russ.).
21. HAJDAROVA M.S. Formirovanie i razvitie musul'manskogo prava v Arabskom Halifate: XII-XIII vv. [Formation and development of Muslim law in the Arab Caliphate: XII-XIII centuries]: dis. … kand. jurid. nauk. – Moscow, 1985. – 222 p. (In Russ.).
22. CAVKILOV B.H. Prichiny zhivuchesti religioznyh perezhitkov i puti ih preodolenija [Reasons for the persistence of religious survivals and ways to overcome them]. – Nal'chik: Kabardino-Balkarian Book Publ., 1959. – 62 p. (In Russ.).
23. Chekisty Kabardino-Balkarii [Chekists of Kabardino-Balkaria] / Edited by A.Zh. Gubashiev. – Nal'chik: Jel'brus, 1987. – 228 p. (In Russ.).
24. JARLYKAPOV A.A. “Narodnyj islam” i musul'manskaja molodezh' Central'nogo i Sever-Zapadnogo Kavkaza [“People’s Islam” and Muslim youth of the Central and North-Western Cauca-sus]. IN: Jetnograficheskoe obozrenie. – 2006. – № 2. – P. 59-74. (In Russ.).
25. JARLYKAPOV A.A. Islamskoe obrazovanie na Severnom Kavkaze [Islamic education in the North Caucasus]. IN: Islamovedenie. – 2014. – № 1. – P. 104-106. (In Russ.).
26. BENNIGSEN A. Soviet Strategy and Islam. – London: Macmillan, 1989. – 182 p. (In English).
27. BERGER P. 2008: Secularization falsified // First Things: website. URL: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/02/secularization-falsified (date of access: 21.11.2023). (In English).
28. BERGER P. The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview // Resurgent Religion and World Politics / Edited by P. Berger. – Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999. – P. 1-18. (In English).
29. BERGER P., LUCKMANN T. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. – New York: Penguin Books, 1966. – 249 p. (In English).
30. BRAGINSKAIA E. Official Discourses and Patterns of State Engagement with Muslim Com-munities in Britain and Russia // Diversities. – 2010. – No 12 (1). – P. 41- 58. (In English).
31. BRAGINSKAIA E. State Approaches to Muslim integration in Russia, France and Britain in Comparative Perspective Russia and Islam // Russia and Islam: State, society and radicalism / Edited by R. Dannreuther and L. March. – London & New York: Routledge, 2010. – P. 44-62. (In English).
32. CASANOVA J. Public Religions in the Modern World. – Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1994. – 320 p. (In English).
33. DANNREUTHER R. Islamic Radicalization in Russia: An Assessment // International Affairs. – 2010. – No 86 (1). – P. 109-126. (In English).
34. FOX J., FLORES D. Religious Freedom in Constitutions and Law // Religion, Politics, Society, and the State / Edited by J. Fox. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. – P. 27-52. (In English).
35. KURU A. Reinterpretation of Secularism in Turkey: The Case of the Justice and Development Party // The Emergence of a New Turkey: Islam, Democracy, and the AK Party / Edited by H. Yavuz. – Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2006. – P. 136-159. (In English).
36. KURU A. Secularism, State Policies, and Muslims in Europe: Analyzing French Exceptional-ism // Comparative Politics. – 2008. – No 41. – P. 1-19. (In English).
37. LISOVSKAYA E., Karpov V. Orthodoxy, Islam, and the Desecularization of Russia’s State Schools // Politics and Religion. – 2010. – No 3. – P. 281. (In English).
38. LUCKMANN T. The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society. – New York: MacMillan Publ., 1967. – 128 p. (In English).
39. PELKMANS M. Post-Soviet Space and the Unexpected Turns of Religious Life // Conversion after Socialism: Disruptions, Modernisms, and Technologies of Faith in the Former Soviet Union / Edited by M. Pelkmans. – Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2009. – P. 1-16. (In English).
40. SHAYKHUTDINOV R. Accommodation of Islamic Religious Practices and Democracy in the Post-Communist Muslim Republics // Politics and Religion. – 2013. – No 6. – P. 646-670. (In Eng-lish).
41. TURNER B. Religion in a Post-secular Society, in: The New Blackwell Companion to the So-ciology of Religion / Edited by B. Turner. – Wiley-Blackwell: Blackwell Publ., 2010. – P. 649-667. (In English).
Review
For citations:
Tatarov A.A. “Top-down” desecularization of islam in Kabardino-Balkaria: 1940s – beginning of the XXI century. E-Journal “Kavkazologiya”. 2023;(4):124-140. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2023-4-124-140. EDN: FJJELO
Views:
6
Email this article 