Healing Russia with Islam: Spiritual journeys, conversions, and belonging in the late Soviet and post-Soviet space, 1970-2020

This dissertation centers around the stories and aspirations of young, educated, engaged ethnic Russians whose intellectual and spiritual journeys led them to Islam in the period between 1970 and 2020 – a period of dramatic economic, political, and societal shifts in the Soviet and post-Soviet space as well as internationally. This project examines the socio-political and personal circumstances that led these young people onto their journeys and eventually to Islam; their image and expectations of Islam and the role they ascribed to it for their own lives, their community and society, and the world at large; and the place and responsibilities they imagined for themselves as Russians and Muslims within this world. Although deeply personal and full of contingencies, this project’s protagonists’ stories also demonstrate that they shared a thirst for knowledge, pursued continuous growth and change, and had a strong desire to make the world a better place. Although the young, educated, and engaged Russian Muslim converts foregrounded in this thesis are relatively small in number, and although they have mostly been kept outside of mainstream histories, their stories are anything but marginal and insignificant. Their experiences were firmly embedded in the major local, national, and global developments of their time. These were developments that shook people’s perception of morality, community and belonging, and sense of their place in the world, yet at the same time enabled them to imagine new futures and pursue new paths in their lives. This dissertation demonstrates that rather than separate from other communities, these protagonists navigated similar questions, shared similar hopes and fears, moved in the same spaces, and participated in a wide range of initiatives alongside non-Muslim and born Muslim counterparts. Indeed, an important shared characteristic was their desire to facilitate dialog and help overcome divisions between different religious, ethnic, and other communities. To take their voices seriously requires us to reassess established notions of what it means to be Russian, Muslim, a global citizen, a critical thinker, and a socially engaged young person seeking to live a good life and improve the lives of others. After a period of flexibility, creativity, and open-endedness in the late Soviet period and especially the 1990s, when people in the former Soviet space experienced unprecedented freedom to experiment with religion, culture, sexual orientation, and political ideologies, the 2000s made way for a new conservatism under Vladimir Putin’s presidency. The 2000s and 2010s increasingly saw a turn towards strong state control, state-inscribed identities, conservative gender norms, and nationalism. This shift went hand in hand with an increasingly hostile attitude towards political opposition, “anti-patriotism,” and “extremist” activities. This was further exacerbated by growing national and international fears of Muslim terrorism. These developments had a significant impact on the maneuvering space, activities, and forms of self-expression of Russian Muslim converts in the 2000s and 2010s. Whether consciously or not, it became more common among converts to reflect on their Russian identity as Muslims and vice versa, and to emphasize the compatibility of the two. More explicitly than in earlier decades, Russian Muslim converts in the 2000s and 2010s sought to serve as a bridge between different communities to overcome differences and enhance mutual understanding, improve the conditions of various minority groups, bring people together to work towards a shared goal, and help heal their communities and society.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Rogaar, Eva

Contributors dc:contributor

• Steinberg, Mark
• Cuno, Kenneth
• Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz
• Randolph, John

• Islam
• Soviet Union
• Russia
• Religion
• oral histories
• ethnicity
• conversion
• youth
• social movements
• health
• modernization

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Eva Rogaar

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115882

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115882