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Placing Faith in Tatarstan, Russia

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Placing Faith in Tatarstan, Russia PLACING FAITH IN TATARSTAN, RUSSIA: ISLAM AND THE NEGOTIATION OF HOMELAND by MATTHEW ALLEN DERRICK A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Geography and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2012 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Matthew Allen Derrick Title: Placing Faith in Tatarstan, Russia: Islam and the Negotiation of Homeland This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Geography by: Alexander Murphy Chairperson Susan Hardwick Member Shaul Cohen Member Julie Hessler Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded March 2012 ii © 2012 Matthew Allen Derrick iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Matthew Allen Derrick Doctor of Philosophy Department of Geography March 2012 Title: Placing Faith in Tatarstan, Russia: Islam and the Negotiation of Homeland The Republic of Tatarstan, a Muslim-majority region of the Russian Federation, is home to a post-Soviet Islamic revival now entering its third decade. Throughout the 1990s, the Tatars of Tatarstan were recognized as practicing a liberal form of Islam, reported more as an attribute of ethno-national culture than as a code of religious conduct. In recent years, however, the republic’s reputation as a bastion of religious liberalism has been challenged, first, by a counter-revival of conservative Islamic traditions considered indigenous to the region and, second, by increasing evidence that Islamic fundamentalism, generally attributed in Russia to Wahhabism or Salafism, has taken hold and is growing in influence among the region’s Muslims. This dissertation explores how changing political-territorial circumstances are implicated in this transformation. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, and a variety of qualitative research methods, including textual analysis, semi-structured interviews, and ethnographic study, the dissertation demonstrates that the transformation in Islamic identity relates to changing understandings of this region as a political space. An examination of practices and representations of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Tatarstan and conflicting perspectives on landscape elements in the Kazan Kremlin shows that the meaning of Islam is being driven by political-geographic change. iv Analysis of these matters reveals that, as part of Tatarstan’s quest for wide- ranging territorial autonomy in the 1990s, government-supported institutions cultivated a preferred understanding of Islam that corresponded to visions of the region as the Tatars’ sovereign historic homeland. Over the past decade, amid a rapid recentralization of the federation, support has shifted to Islamic practices deemed “traditional to Russia” as part of a broader multinational Russian identity crafted to fit visions of the country as a powerful, unified state. Thus, the meaning of Islam in this particular place is mediated by competing visions of Tatarstan as a homeland. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Matthew Allen Derrick GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Geography, 2012, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Geography, 2005, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Russian and East European Studies, 2005, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, English, 1995, Augsburg College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Cultural and Political Geography Russia and Eurasia PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Instructor, August 2011-present Humboldt State University, Arcata, California Graduate Teaching Fellow, September 2001-June 2002; September 2004-June 2005; September 2006-June 2008 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon GIS Specialist/Cartographer, June 2007-November 2011 Sixel Consulting Group, Inc., Eugene Editor/Translator, September 2005-August 2006 Pulse (Newspaper), St. Petersburg, Russia Executive Office Intern, October 2003-December 2003 US Embassy, Moscow, Russia Teacher Trainer, June 1999-August 2001 Peace Corps, Narva, Estonia vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Doctoral Research Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2010 International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)/Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars’ Institute Regional Symposium Grant, 2009 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, 2008 Social Science Research Council (SSRC) International Dissertation Research Fellowship, 2008 Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF), 2007 National Security Education Program (NSEP), National Flagship Language Initiative, 2005 International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Individual Advanced Research Opportunities Program, 2005 Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, Indiana University, 2004 National Security Education Program (NSEP), David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship, 2003 International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), Russian-US Young Leadership Fellowship, 2002 PUBLICATIONS: Johnson, C. and M. Derrick. 2012. A Splintered Heartland: Russia, Europe, and the Geopolitics of Networked Energy Infrastructure. Geopolitics (forthcoming) Derrick, M. 2010. Kazan: The Religiously Undivided Frontier City. Caucasian Review of International Affairs 4(1): 82-86 Derrick, M. 2009. Contested Autonomy: Tatarstan under Putin (2000-2004). Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies 4(7): 45-74 (reprinted in S. Laçiner et al., 2010, USAK Yearbook of International Politics and Law Vol. 3. Ankara: International Strategic Research Organization, 355-382) vii Derrick, M. 2009. The Merging of Russia’s Regions as Applied Nationality Policy: A Suggested Rationale. Caucasian Review of International Affairs 3(3): 317-323 Derrick, M. 2009. The Implications of Climate Change for Russian Geopolitics in the Arctic. Journal of Eurasian Studies 1(2): 130-136 Derrick, M. 2009. Ethnic Russians Converting to Islam in Tatarstan: Challenging the Status Quo? Central Eurasian Studies Review 8(1): 16-20 Derrick, M. 2008. Revisiting Sovereign Tatarstan. Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies. 3(6): 75-103 (reprinted in S. Laçiner et al., 2009, USAK Yearbook of International Politics and Law Vol. 2. Ankara: International Strategic Research Organization, 283-306) viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my gratitude above all to Professor Alec Murphy, who, in his devotion to his students, department, and discipline, is a model for all aspiring academic geographers. Alec was involved in the preparation of this dissertation from its earliest planning stages, graciously providing support and guidance whenever needed along the way. I am particularly grateful to Alec for visiting me in the field, for allowing me to show him Kazan and other parts of Tatarstan and, in turn, helping me see these places more clearly. I also would like to thank the remaining members of my dissertation committee, Professor Susan Hardwick and Professor Shaul Cohen, along with Professor Julie Hessler, a Russianist historian whose deep regional knowledge helped sharpen sections of this manuscript. Beyond my committee, a number of individuals are deserving of recognition, including a host of graduate students (past and present), faculty, and staff in the Oregon Geography Department, who supported me and provided a challenging intellectual atmosphere. In addition, a special thank you is due to my wife, who, following our wedding ceremony, accompanied me to Kazan for the remaining seven months of my dissertation fieldwork. Spasibo, Sandra, for agreeing to spend our honeymoon in Russia! The year and a half I spent in the field was made possible by generous doctoral dissertation research fellowships from Fulbright and the Social Sciences Research Council. Financial assistance from the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund and the International Research and Exchanges Board provided support in the pre-fieldwork planning phases of this dissertation, and a Doctoral Research Fellowship from the University of Oregon provided support following my return from the field. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 Presenting the Problem .............................................................................. 1 Placing Faith in Its Political-Territorial Context ....................................... 4 Empirical, Trans-Disciplinary, and Disciplinary Relevance ..................... 8 Research Activities, Design, and Methodologies ...................................... 12 Structure of Dissertation ............................................................................ 18 II. CONTAINING THE UMMA? ISLAM AND THE TERRITORIAL QUESTION...................................................................................................... 22 The Social Sciences Approach the Umma ................................................. 22 Territory and Identity ................................................................................. 30 Historicizing Territory and the Nation-State ....................................... 32 Reinforcing Territorial Identities ......................................................... 39 The Territorial Bases of Muslim Identities ................................................ 44 The Modernity of the Umma and
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